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Bush, Trump ridicule each other over foreign policy

WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (KUNA) -- Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and businessman Donald Trump blasted each other over their foreign policy platforms, late on Saturday, during the Republican Debate in South Carolina where the real estate mogul holds a significant lead in the week before the state's Republican primary vote.
While much of the debate centered on domestic issues such as taxes, the US economy, immigration, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's replacement, the candidates scorned each other during most of the evening.
In the foreign policy portion of the debate, Bush highlighted "lack of leadership" by the Obama administration in the fight against the so-called Islamic State. "Donald Trump brought up the fact that he'd want to accommodate Russia. Russia is not taking out ISIS. They're attacking our team ... It is absolutely ludicrous to suggest that Russia could be a positive partner in this," said Bush.
Trump responded, "Jeb is so wrong ... Right now you have Russia, you have Iran, and you have them with (Syrian President Bashar) Assad, and you have them with Syria. You have to knock out ISIS. They're chopping off heads. These are animals." He continued, "That's why we've been in the Middle East for 15 years, and we haven't won anything. We've spent five trillion dollars in the Middle East with thinking like that." Trump was heavily booed during this portion, to which he claimed, "That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking." Bush stressed, "The very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple basic fact." Trump recalled when he said going into Iraq post September 11 would "destabilize the Middle East," and that the US should, "attack the oil, take the wealth away, attack the oil and keep the oil." Bush responded, "I'm sick of Barack Obama for blaming my brother (Former President George W Bush) for everything he's had ... I am sick and tired of him going after my family ... while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe." As for the other candidates, Florida Senator Marco Rubio selected the US' top three major threats to be "North Korea and China," "the Shia (Shiite) arc Iran is trying to establish in the Middle East," and "rebuilding NATO" from Putin's threats.
Ohio Governor John Kasich, "The Egyptians, the Saudis, the Jordanians, the Gulf states, they all know they're at risk ... Everybody now is being threatened by radical Islam. We have an opportunity to lead ... the world needs us and we have an opportunity now to assemble a coalition of the civilized people." Texas Senator Ted Cruz said the "single greatest national security threat" to the US is a nuclear Iran and that the current administration's focus on "topping governments," "undermines national security." "We need overwhelming air power, we need to arm the Kurds who can be our boots on the ground, and if ground troops are necessary than we should employ them, but it shouldn't be politicians demonstrating political toughness," Cruz said.
All of the candidates were opposed to Obama's nomination of a replacement of Scalia who died earlier in the day regardless of if they believed it was in their constitutional power or not.
Cruz blasted trump as a liberal supporter in his past and pressed that the millionaire would nominate a left leaning court justice. "You probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are a single biggest liar," Trump yelled.
Cruz stressed, "Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment (gun rights), life, marriage, religious, liberty - every one of those hangs in the balance." (end) ak.rk