US presidential hopeful, Democrat Barak Obama, outlines his foreign policy goals if elected to the White House.
At moments of great peril in the last century, American leaders such as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F Kennedy managed both to protect the American people and to expand opportunity for the next generation. What is more, they ensured that America, by deed and example, led and lifted the world - that we stood for and fought for the freedoms sought by billions of people beyond our borders.
Today, we are again called to provide visionary leadership. This century's threats are at least as dangerous as and in some ways more complex than those we have confronted in the past. They come from weapons that can kill on a mass scale and from global terrorists who respond to alienation or perceived injustice with murderous nihilism.
They come from rogue states allied to terrorists and from rising powers that could challenge both America and the international foundation of liberal democracy. They come from weak states that cannot control their territory or provide for their people. And they come from a warming planet that will spur new diseases, spawn more devastating natural disasters, and catalyse deadly conflicts.
To recognise the number and complexity of these threats is not to give way to pessimism. Rather, it is a call to action. These threats demand a new vision of leadership in the 21st century - a vision that draws from the past but is not bound by outdated thinking.
The American moment is not over, but it must be seized anew. To see American power in terminal decline is to ignore America's great promise and historic purpose in the world. If elected president, I will start renewing that promise and purpose the day I take office.
To renew American leadership in the world, we must first bring the Iraq war to a responsible end and refocus our attention on the broader Middle East. Iraq was a diversion from the fight against the terrorists who struck us on 9/11, and incompetent prosecution of the war by America's civilian leaders compounded the strategic blunder of choosing to wage it in the first place. We have now lost over 3,300 American lives, and thousands more suffer wounds both seen and unseen.
At the same time, we must launch a comprehensive regional and international diplomatic initiative to help broker an end to the civil war in Iraq, prevent its spread, and limit the suffering of the Iraqi people. To gain credibility in this effort, we must make clear that we seek no permanent bases in Iraq. Changing the dynamic in Iraq will allow us to focus our attention and influence on resolving the festering conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians - a task that the Bush administration neglected for years.
For more than three decades, Israelis, Palestinians, Arab leaders and the rest of the world have looked to America to lead the effort to build the road to a lasting peace. In recent years, they have all too often looked in vain. Our starting point must always be a clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel, our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy.
To do so, we must help the Israelis identify and strengthen those partners who are truly committed to peace, while isolating those who seek conflict and instability. Sustained American leadership for peace and security will require patient effort and the personal commitment of the president of the United States. That is a commitment I will make.
Throughout the Middle East, we must harness American power to reinvigorate US diplomacy. Tough-minded diplomacy, backed by the whole range of instruments of American power - political, economic and military - could bring success even when dealing with long-standing adversaries such as Iran and Syria.
Our policy of issuing threats and relying on intermediaries to curb Iran's nuclear programme, sponsorship of terrorism, and regional aggression is failing. Although we must not rule out using military force, we should not hesitate to talk directly to Iran. Our diplomacy should aim to raise the cost for Iran of continuing its nuclear programme by applying tougher sanctions and increasing pressure from its key trading partners.
Diplomacy combined with pressure could also reorientate Syria away from its radical agenda to a more moderate stance - which could, in turn, help stabilise Iraq, isolate Iran, free Lebanon from Damascus's grip and better secure Israel.
We must immediately begin working to revitalise our military. A strong military is, more than anything, necessary to sustain peace. We must retain the capacity to swiftly defeat any conventional threat to our country and our vital interests. But we must also become better prepared to put boots on the ground in order to take on foes that fight asymmetrical and highly adaptive campaigns on a global scale.
We must also consider using military force in circumstances beyond self-defence in order to provide for the common security that underpins global stability - to support friends, participate in stability and reconstruction operations, or confront mass atrocities. But when we do use force in situations other than self-defence, we should make every effort to garner the clear support and participation of others - as President George Bush [ father of the current President Bush] did when we led the effort to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991. The consequences of forgetting that lesson in the context of the current conflict in Iraq have been grave.
We must forge a more effective global response to the terrorism that came to our shores on an unprecedented scale on 9/11. From Bali to London, Baghdad to Algiers, Mumbai to Mombasa to Madrid, terrorists who reject modernity, oppose America and distort Islam have killed and mutilated tens of thousands of people just this decade. Because this enemy operates globally, it must be confronted globally.
Success in Afghanistan is still possible, but only if we act quickly, judiciously and decisively.
I will join with our allies in insisting - not simply requesting - that Pakistan crack down on the Taliban, pursue Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants, and end its relationship with all terrorist groups.
In the Islamic world and beyond, combating the terrorists' prophets of fear will require more than lectures on democracy. We need to deepen our knowledge of the circumstances and beliefs that underpin extremism. A crucial debate is occurring within Islam. Some believe in a future of peace, tolerance, development and democratisation. Others embrace a rigid and violent intolerance of personal liberty and the world at large.
To empower forces of moderation, America must make every effort to export opportunity - access to education and health care, trade and investment - and provide the kind of steady support for political reformers and civil society that enabled our victory in the Cold War.
Our beliefs rest on hope; the extremists' rest on fear. That is why we can - and will - win this struggle.
I intend to rebuild the alliances, partnerships and institutions necessary to confront common threats and enhance common security. Needed reform of these alliances and institutions will not come by bullying other countries to ratify changes we hatch in isolation. It will come when we convince other governments and peoples that they, too, have a stake in effective partnerships. Too often we have sent the opposite signal to our international partners. In the case of Europe, we dismissed European reservations about the wisdom and necessity of the Iraq war.
As the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases, America has the responsibility to lead. While many of our industrial partners are working hard to reduce their emissions, we are increasing ours at a steady clip - by more than 10 per cent per decade.
As president, I intend to enact a cap-and-trade system that will dramatically reduce our carbon emissions. And I will work to finally free America of its dependence on foreign oil - by using energy more efficiently in our cars, factories and homes, relying more on renewable sources of electricity and harnessing the potential of biofuels.
Finally, to renew American leadership in the world, I will strengthen our common security by investing in our common humanity. Our global engagement cannot be defined by what we are against; it must be guided by a clear sense of what we stand for. We have a significant stake in ensuring that those who live in fear and want today can live with dignity and opportunity tomorrow.
And since extremely poor societies and weak states provide optimal breeding grounds for disease, terrorism and conflict, the US has a direct national security interest in dramatically reducing global poverty and joining with our allies in sharing more of our riches to help those most in need.
As president, I will double our annual investment in meeting these challenges to $50 billion by 2012 and ensure that those new resources are directed toward worthwhile goals. Our rapidly growing international Aids programmes have demonstrated that increased foreign assistance can make a real difference.
As part of this new funding, I will capitalise a $2 billion global education fund that will bring the world together in eliminating the global education deficit, much as the 9/11 Commission proposed. We cannot hope to shape a world where opportunity outweighs danger unless we ensure that every child everywhere is taught to build and not to destroy.
If we act with boldness and foresight, we will be able to tell our grandchildren that this was the time when we helped forge peace in the Middle East. This was the time we confronted climate change and secured the weapons that could destroy the human race. This was the time we defeated global terrorists and brought opportunity to forgotten corners of the world. And this was the time when we renewed the America that has led generations of weary travellers from all over the world to find opportunity and liberty and hope on our doorstep.
It was not all that long ago that farmers in Venezuela and Indonesia welcomed American doctors to their villages and hung pictures of JFK on their living room walls, when millions, like my father, waited every day for a letter in the mail that would grant them the privilege to come to America to study, work, live or just be free.
We can be this America again. This is our moment to renew the trust and faith of our people - and all people - in an America that battles immediate evils, promotes an ultimate good, and leads the world once more.
This is an abridged version of a lengthier text which Barak Obama wrote for Foreign Affairs, a publication of the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-profit and nonpartisan organisation dedicated to improving the understanding of US foreign policy and international affairs. The full text may be read at www.ForeignAffairs.org.