I have been reading Mitt Romney’s memoir, ‘No Apology.’ It is as if Romney is two people, one a wise, thoughtful person who could work with Democrats and lead the country, the other an unreflective, unsophisticated ideologue who is dangerous.  

The chapter on health care shows a man who has done his homework. I know this field since I was once a health care researcher in Michigan Department of Social Services. I published an article and wrote two chapters in a book on this subject. Romney impressed me. He clearly knows the field, with all its complexities. He must have thought he could run for President on this expertise and how he created an innovative RomneyCare program of comprehensive coverage in the State of Massachusetts. His plan even had an Individual Mandate. Unfortunately, the Tea Party faction that dominates his party required that he run away from his greatest achievement and renounce ObamaCare, which is modeled on RomneyCare. 

When I read Romney’s chapter on foreign policy I came away with a very different conclusion.  I was afraid. He is unsophisticated, belligerent, militaristic, and unilateralist. He seems to lack basic information and lives in a world of hostile categories. He seems, to borrow a phrase, to be in search of enemies. He sees in  every disagreement with the U.S. a threat to our national welfare. 

His foreign policy advisers are heavily on the neo-conservative side. (You can Google the list). Remember that the policy team of a candidate would typically produce his National Security Adviser and other key officials. That chapter, and his campaign statements, have suggested that he could well entangle us in wars in Syria and Iran, wars that would be dangerous escalations. Syria is a honey trap, luring foolish people in with promise of sweetness but offering instead a bitter feast. Whatever would happen there after an American intervention would not be good. Iran is worse. Iran is not another Iraq, if that is considered a success. Iran is not similar to Iraq in any way, except for the letters I, R, and A.  It is a powerful state with a cohesive population that would strike back. 

The Israelis last December did a simulation of a possible war and found that they would have to evacuate their cities, which they are not organizationally prepared to do. They have spent the last nine months running what they euphemistically call “earthquake tests.”  The American Enterprise Institute did a more recent simulation of a U.S.-Iran war and discovered a terrifying escalation. There were serious misunderstandings on each side of what the other side was doing, and a deterioration that led to what some observers have called a catastrophic outcome. 

In the debate on foreign policy, Romney tried to portray himself as a moderate, cautious and reserved about the use of American power.  That makeover is not credible.  

-Ron Stockton is a professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and author.