Pressing for tougher national defense and updated trade deals, presidential candidate Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., spoke to students and community members in the basement of the Haldeman Center Monday night in an event sponsored by the Rockefeller Center and the College Republicans.
"I stand for a strong national defense, enforced borders and bringing back high-paying manufacturing and engineering jobs to the United States through the revamping of international trade deals," he said.
Hunter is the second of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates to speak at Dartmouth -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney spoke at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center earlier this month -- and will continue his campaign in South Carolina, another early primary state, on Wednesday.
Addressing the recent Democrat-dominated House of Representatives resolution condemning President Bush's troop surge, Hunter said that the problem with the move is that the troop surge has already been implemented.
"We have never before in our history condemned an operation as being a faulty operation that our military was already undertaking," he said. "[Doing this] gives inspiration to our enemies."
Hunter, a former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the U.S. interest in Iraq is spreading freedom. He cited American occupation of Japan after World War II and Reagan's peace agreement in El Salvador as examples he believes demonstrate successful democracy promotion.
"I disagree with the fact that we went in wrongly to Iraq, El Salvador was supposed to be our next Vietnam," Hunter said. "There are liberals who have died of old age waiting for the next Vietnam."
During a question-and-answer session following Hunter's speech, Mike Herman '07 asked Hunter why troops are still in Iraq if the majority of Americans and Iraqis want them pulled out of the country. Hunter responded by saying that the United States has given Iraq self-determination, and that it is now up to the Iraqi people to determine what goes on in their country.
"If the government of Iraq wanted us to go they would vote tomorrow and we would leave," Hunter said.
Hunter went on to cite abolishing and replacing current trade deals as another key issue. He cited the American trade agreement with China as one that needs to be significantly retooled.
"We are moving hundreds of billions [more] to them than they are moving to us in trade," he said. "With the money we are giving them, they are building weapon systems."
Hunter, who is from a Southern California district that borders Mexico, said that border security is another important issue facing the country.
"Since 9/11, border security is no longer an immigration issue; it's a national security issue," he said. "We have to know who's coming over here and what they're bringing."
The solution, says Hunter, is to build a fence across the most common smuggling areas. Hunter wrote the federal law that mandated building 854 miles of fence on the border, which was passed in October 2006.
"When I'm elected president I'm going to get that border fence built in six months," he said.
Hunter allowed everyone in attendance the opportunity to ask him a question, staying at the event for over two hours.
When asked questions about abortion and the appointment of Supreme Court justices, Hunter hinted that he would only appoint pro-life justices to the Court.
"I think a justice has got to have discernment, a justice who can look at a sonogram and not see human life does not have discernment," he said.
The event was interrupted for a brief moment for Hunter to conduct a live phone interview with Fox News. The phone call, however, was disconnected after a few minutes, prompting Hunter to ask the audience, "You don't think Hillary would do this do you?"
Christian Ginez '10, a member of the College Republicans, said he was impressed with Hunter.
"I thought he was very personable and very knowledgeable," he said. "He stayed a long time to answer everyone's question and went into a lot of detail."
Hunter is a Vietnam veteran and attended Western State University Law School in San Diego after returning from his deployment. Hunter was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1980, defeating incumbent Lionel Van Deerlin in a highly democratic district.
