Biden says Romney favours war with Syria and Iran

YORK, Pennsylvania (AP):

Vice-president Joe Biden said yesterday that Republican rival Mitt Romney is "ready to go to war in Syria and Iran" while hurting the middle class.

The warning came during a campaign stop in York, Pennsylvania, designed to promote President Barack Obama's economic policies among white, working-class voters. The thrust of Biden's pitch has been that America is digging out from the 2008 economic collapse and that Romney would take the country backwards. But Biden, a foreign policy heavyweight, also cautioned voters that Romney would adopt policies that favour confrontation over cooperation.

"He said it was a mistake to end the war in Iraq and bring all of our warriors home," Biden said of Romney. "He said it was a mistake to set an end date for our warriors in Afghanistan and bring them home. He implies by the speech that he's ready to go to war in Syria and Iran."

Biden made the claim about Syria and Iran without offering specifics; his campaign did not immediately respond to a request for details.

Romney's campaign dismissed the criticism. "It's no wonder that a politician who has been wrong about every major foreign policy question of the last 30 years is wrong on every count about Governor Romney's strategy to restore America's leadership role in the world," spokeswoman Amanda Hennenberg said.