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DUANE BOURNEIn a visit to Brooksville City Hall, the senator focuses on Iraq and says stability in that region is a top priority.
BROOKSVILLE - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson may not be running for the Democratic presidential nomination. But that didn't stop Florida's junior senator from sounding presidential at Brooksville City Hall on Thursday as he discussed domestic and foreign policy issues that have dominated the Bush administration.
"You can't figure out policy in a vacuum," said Nelson, 58. "You've got to give and take."
During his 10-day Senate recess, Nelson has been able to participate in a give and take with constituents at stops in cities across Florida.
Before taking questions from the audience of mostly senior citizens, Nelson addressed the "cooked up" intelligence reports that led to the Iraq invasion, nuclear proliferation by rogue nations and the status of America's space program.
He also talked about local issues, including the proposed closing of a Veterans Administration Hospital in Lake City and flood assistance to residents of Pasco County.
However, for the better part of an hour, Nelson honed in on Iraq - the war, the reconstruction and the future - saying that success in that war-torn country is in America's best interest.
"We can't undo what has already been done," Nelson said. "It is clearly in the interests of the United States to get the place stable."
Nelson said the rebuilding effort, if undertaken correctly, must enlist other nations, such as France and Germany, which vehemently opposed the war.
The bottom line is that rebuilding Iraq will cost billions of dollars, Nelson said. That, coupled with a less-than-robust economy and recent forecasts that the federal budget will plunge deeper into the red, paints a picture of a tough future many Americans must to be willing to accept, Nelson said.
Some in the audience Thursday could not accept the reasoning behind America's involvement in Iraq. Nelson has urged the Senate to establish a commission to investigate where the intelligence breakdown occurred.
"If someone is cooking the books, we've got to know that," Nelson said. "If we had to do it all over again, where are the weapons of mass destruction?" Stability in Iraq will ensure stability elsewhere, particularly in light of the Bush administration's Road Map to broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians and throughout the region, Nelson said.
And once that's done, he said, the Bush administration could focus its diplomatic efforts on North Korea and Iran - nations that, according to intelligence reports and recent weapons inspections, have the capability to produce and deliver weapons of mass destruction.
"So we've got our hands full" Nelson said. "Eventually, we will be successful. Eventually we will prevail."