Hadley: Defends Bush, advises Obama

UPDATED:

Stephen J. Hadley, President’s Bush’s national security adviser, on Wednesday warned President-elect Barack Obama away from a toothless approach to Iran, during a speech intended to present the full range of foreign policy challenges awaiting the next administration.

“For the next Administration, the biggest challenge in this region is Iran,” Mr. Hadley said in an address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Negotiations with Iran, as some have proposed, without leverage on Iran will not produce a change in Iranian behavior or advance U.S. interests,” Mr. Hadley said, in a subtle swipe at Mr. Obama’s talk in the past of meeting Iranian leaders without “preconditions.”

Mr. Hadley argued that the Bush administration has increased cooperation with European countries that will give Mr. Obama “significantly increased leverage on Iran.”

“The issue is how the new team will use this leverage to produce a different Iranian policy on its nuclear program, terrorism, and Middle East peace,” he said.

“Working with our European partners, the next Administration should be able to enforce tougher sanctions on Iran.”

Mr. Hadley also warned of Russias “aggressiveness and uncertain intentions,” and signaled that Mr. Obamas relationship with the Kremlin will require special attention and a delicate touch.

The speech was a sweeping defense of Mr. Bush’s foreign policy by the soft-spoken, even-mannered national security adviser, who has served Mr. Bush for all eight years of his presidency.

The president, Mr. Hadley said, pursued a principled and idealistic vision in the Middle East and elsewhere that has been often criticized but will be respected over the long run.

“Few presidents have faced more challenges,” Mr. Hadley said of Mr. Bush.

Yet the address was also a sobering catalogue of the many foreign policy challenges that await Mr. Obama, who has been accused by some conservatives of wanting to focus more attention on healthcare and energy.

Mr. Hadley said Mr. Obamas biggest challenges besides Iran will be stabilizing Pakistan, denuclearizing North Korea, winning the war in Afghanistan, and finding a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Loose ends is putting it mildly,” Mr. Hadley said during a question-and-answer session after his speech. “Rarely has there been an incoming president that has as many challenges and opportunities as President-elect Obama.”

Mr. Hadley mentioned “increasing concerns” in the intelligence community “that North Korea has an ongoing covert uranium enrichment program” that would supplement their plutonium-based weaponry.

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