"Fact-checking the third presidential debate" By Becky Bowers, Angie Drobnic Holan at PolitiFact

[applegrove]

Fact-checking the third presidential debate

By Becky Bowers, Angie Drobnic Holan at PolitiFact

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/oct/22/fact-checking-third-presidential-debate/

"SNIP...................................................

Obama accused Romney of living in the past, saying, "A few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia, not al-Qaida." Romney did describe Russia as "our No. 1 geopolitical foe," saying the Russians "fight for every cause for the world's worst actors." But he said that the biggest "threat" is Iran. We rated Obama's statement Half True.

Iraq

Obama said that Romney has conflicting signals on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. "Now, you just gave a speech a few weeks ago in which you said we should still have troops in Iraq," Obama said. "That is not a recipe for making sure that we are taking advantage of the opportunities and meeting the challenges of the Middle East." Romney has criticized the pace of the withdrawal and did so recently, saying too many troops were removed too soon. We rated Obama's statement Mostly True.

Iran

Obama claimed his administration "organized the strongest coalition and the strongest sanctions against Iran in history, and it is crippling their economy." We haven't rated that claim, but in a related fact-check we noted that the Congressional Research Service, which provides nonpartisan analysis to Congress, calls U.S. sanctions the "most sweeping sanctions on Iran of virtually any country in the world," and "what many now consider to be ‘crippling’ sanctions."

Romney criticized Obama for his reaction to protests that followed elections in Iran in 2009. "And then, of course, with regards to standing for our principles, when the students took to the streets in Tehran and the people there protested, the Green Revolution occurred, for the president to be silent I thought was an enormous mistake," Romney said. We reviewed Obama's public remarks and found that he showed a muted response in the days following the start of the protests. But it is an exaggeration to say that he was "silent." We rated Romney's statement Mostly False.

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[lexx21]

1. Good fact checking....

In relation to Iran and their Green Revolution, had we entered into the fray they would have lost ground almost immediately being labeled as "puppets of the west". So the fact that we did stay out of it as much as we did was a good thing.

Had Romney been president and used that as a political opportunity, it would have been a complete disaster for those people and given the Ayatollahs all the ammunition to justify to the rest of the middle east (at least the extremist parts) that we were behind the entire affair.

Another fine example of why Romney has no clue about foreign policy, nor do his minders.


Just my two cents....

[applegrove]

2. Absolutely. It was brilliant that Obama did not get involved in that green revolution. There is no

way the powers that be in Iran would have allowed any demonstrations that the US backed. Turns out they didn't allow demonstrations anyhow. Still, Obama did the right thing by being quiet.