18th District Congressional Candidates: The Middle East
By: Matthew Fuchs
Updated: October 9, 2012
In the race for the 18th Congressional
District seat, Republican Aaron Schock is facing Democrat Steve Waterworth.
Our Question: have we
accomplished our goal of bringing peace to the Middle East?
Steve Waterworth:
I just think we need to be out of there, and
that's one of the things. If we were more energy independent, if we weren't so
dependent on oil that comes from the Middle East, we'd be in a much stronger
position to influence that region and we're not.
We need to get with this energy independence
and we failed miserably to do that. Once we do that, we'll be able to influence
that area at a much greater degree than we do today.
Aaron Shock:
I think the Middle East is going through
their own renaissance, if you will. It's yet to be seen what the outcome is going
to be. Certainly the Arab Spring in Egypt has brought about new leadership
there. It's uncertain what their precedent is going to mean to the United
States as well as to our ally, Israel, in that region.
It's uncertain what the uprising in Syria is
going to mean. Certainly in Libya, they have new leadership. So, I'm not sure
the United States is responsible for all of the outcomes in the Middle East,
but to the degree we can support democracies and free and fair elections, that
can be a goal we can work towards.
