Huckabee says US has neglected diplomacy

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- It's not unusual to hear a presidential candidate speak passionately about the need to do better diplomacy, to make military action a last-ditch option, and talk with hostile or undemocratic nations.

It's a little less common to hear those words spoken by a Republican contender, as former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee did today.

In a well-received address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Huckabee bemoaned the lack of dialogue and knowledge of foreign nations that he said has accelerated the foreign policy troubles the United States faces.

``We haven't had diplomatic relations with Iran for almost 30 years ... and a lot of good it's done,'' Huckabee said. In Iraq, the former governor noted, US officials were out of touch with what was happening on the ground, and were instead relying on flawed information from Iraqi exiles before making the historic decision to go to war. Instead, the United States needs to shore up its diplomatic efforts and intelligence-gathering, he said.

``Before we put boots on the ground in the future, we better have wing-tips there first,'' Huckabee said.

The GOP candidate did stick to the view of nearly all of his fellow Republican primary opponents in saying the United States should not yet leave Iraq, saying a departure now would cause ``chaos'' in the country.

But future military conflicts could be avoided, Huckabee said, if the United States encourages moderate Islamic forces and helps build health and educations systems in the Islamic and Arab world so impoverished young people will not be lured into terrorist organizations.

``If we don't do the right thing and make life better in the Islamic world, then terrorists will step in and do the wrong thing,'' Huckabee said.

Huckabee had harsh words for Pakistan, which he called ``the corporate headquarters'' of al-Qaeda. In an interview after his address, Huckabee said he would not close off the possibility of taking unilateral action against terrorist cells in Pakistan if it was necessary to protect the American people from al-Qaeda. Further, Huckabee said his administration would meet with rogue leaders to keep a dialogue going.

That issue has been a point of contentions between Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, with Obama pledging to be open to the possibility of such meetings, and Clinton saying she did not want to be used as a ``propaganda'' tool by troublesome foreign leaders.

It's ``bullheaded to say we're not going to have any conversations with these people,'' Huckabee said.