Excerpt:
On December 7, the Republican presidential candidates spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition, except for Ron Paul who was not invited. The six contenders went before the influential organization to make their case that they'd be the best one to handle Israel, the Middle East and the war against radical Islam.
Newt Gingrich, the new frontrunner, said that the country is in the same spot in the struggle against radical Islam that it was in 1946 against the Soviet Union. He asserted that the U.S. prosecution of this struggle is "based on a pack of lies and a pack of self-deception," using the Justice Department's removal of all mentions of Islam from their counter-terrorism training materials as an example.
Gingrich said he'd support a policy of regime change in Iran and Syria. He would replicate the strategy used by Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II to bring down the Soviet Union. Iran's gas refinery should be sabotaged and "every dissident group" in Iran should get U.S. funding and other forms of assistance, like with communications. He admitted that the U.S. doesn't know what a post-Assad Syria will look like, but said it was worth the risk. He ruled out using U.S. forces to topple Assad, but favors helping the rebel forces.