I take issue with the Stribs recent Ed. 9/2/12 which stated that-"Obama's foreign-policy record is strong, and contrasts favorably with Romney's bellicose rhetoric.."

I find Mr. Romney's recent rhetoric refreshing, starkly contrasting the Obama Administration foreign policy of the past four years. "President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus, even as he has relaxed sanctions on Castro's Cuba. He abandoned our friends in Poland by walking away from our missile defense commitments, but is eager to give Russia's President Putin the flexibility he desires, after the election. Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty"- M. Romney 2012 RNC

The past four years of the Obama Administration has seen a clear shift away from supporting Americas allies and in support of the enemies of democracy. Some on the left call this a diplomatic balancing of foreign policy. Yet, this "balancing" includes the dumping of Americas traditional allies. This can only result in the strengthening of Americas foes who view American abandonment of its own friends as a policy of weakness, not strength.

As regards the Obama Administrations four-year-cold diplomacy towards Israel vs. its warming to Arab governments, there is "A clear-cut example of both the Obama administration's willingness to adhere to anti- Semitic policies of anti-Semitic governments and the Left's willingness to defend this bigoted behavior is the Obama administration's decision not to invite Israel to participate in its new Global Counterterrorism Forum. The GCTF was founded with the stated aim of fostering international cooperation in fighting terrorism. But for the Obama administration, it was more important to make Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, who supports the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups, feel comfortable, than it was to invite Israel to participate. Not only did the US exclude Israel, at the GCTF's meeting last month in Spain, Maria Otero, the State Department's under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, seemed to embrace the Muslim world's obscene claim that Israelis are not victims of terrorism because terrorism against Israel isn't terrorism….

So despite the fact that Israel is a major target of terrorism, and despite the fact that many of the states the US invited to its forum condone terrorism against Israel and support terrorist groups that murder Israeli Jews, Israel is better off being excluded, because the anti-Jewish governments invited by the Obama administration will somehow totally change their perspective on anti-Jewish terrorism as long as they don't have to suffer the irritation of sitting in the same room as real-live representatives of the Jewish state. "-C. Glick 8/24/12

The GCTF was launched officially in New York and jointly chaired by US Sec of State H. Clinton and the Turkish FM. According to the GCTF website, "The GCTF was committed to reducing the vulnerability of people everywhere to terrorism. Helping countries defend themselves against threats within their borders and regions crucial to achieving this goal." The GCTF includes several Arab nations but no Israel, a primary victim of international terrorism.

I believe that America and her friends could use a little more of what Mr. Romney calls Loyalty, and alot less of what the Stribs Ed. consider as the Obama Administraions Strengths. Comments?