Last night’s Republican debate in Orlando was most notable for Rick Perry’s inept response to a question on Pakistan. Asked how he would respond if he received a phone call at 3am telling him that Pakistan had lost control of its nuclear weapons, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination mumbled something about building a “relationship in the region” before criticising the US for not selling more arms to Pakistan’s nuclear rival India:
“When we had the opportunity to sell India the upgraded F-16s we chose not to do that. We did the same thing with Taiwain. The point is, our allies need to understand clearly that we are their friends, we will be standing by there with them. Today we don’t have those allies in that region”.
In fact, as rival candidate Rick Santorum said: “Working with allies at that point is the last thing we want to do. We want to work in that country to make sure the problem is defused”. Just as embarrassing was Perry’s reference to Pakistan as “the Pakistani country”.
True, the question was a hypothetical one but this was an issue on which the Texas governor needed to display some heft. And he failed to do so. Kansas governor Sam Brownback, a Perry supporter, later told the Weekly Standard: “I thought the initial response was accurate … You gotta have a relationship to know what’s going on. I’ve worked with the Pakistanis, and particularly in Pakistan you need a relationship, because the country’s a pretty unstable place, and it’s run by the army. You gotta know the guy that’s the head of the place.”
So that’s all clear then.
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