共和黨有望參選總統人士在艾奧華州尋求支持

Eleven U.S. Republican presidential contenders gathered in Iowa on Saturday to appeal to party activists on why they should get the party's 2016 presidential nomination.

The forum was sponsored by the Iowa Republican Party and was dominated by discussions of Iran, Islam and the unrest in the Middle East, with several candidates calling for a tougher stance against Tehran and more attacks on Islamic State insurgents.

The prospective candidates called for a stronger American presence in the world but differed on just how tough the U.S. should be on its enemies.

Former Senator Rick Santorum's answer for handling Iran was to "load up our bombers and bomb them back to the seventh century." But Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian Republican, questioned whether the 2003 invasion of Iraq was worth it, considering the more recent rise of the Islamic State.

Other Republicans blamed the rise of the Islamic State on Democratic President Barack Obama for not leaving a post-war force in Iraq after the U.S. troop withdrawal at the end of 2011. Several of the prospective candidates accused Mr. Obama of not taking the threat of Islamic militants seriously.

One leading Republican contender, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, is viewed by many Republicans as a political moderate compared to others seeking the party's presidential nomination. But he assured the Iowa activists that he governed his state as a conservative.競選共和黨總統候選人的11名共和黨人星期六在美國中部艾奧華州聚會，尋求共和黨活動人士的支持，解釋他們爲何應當得到黨的2016年總統候選人提名。

此次論壇會議是由艾奧華州共和黨主辦，討論的議題集中在伊朗、伊斯蘭和中東地區的動盪局勢方面，幾位候選人呼籲對德黑蘭採取更爲嚴厲的立場，對伊斯蘭國叛亂分子實施更多打擊。

這些有望角逐總統大位的候選人要求美國應當擴大其國際存在，但對究竟多麼嚴厲地打擊敵人方面意見分歧。

前國會參議員桑特羅姆認爲，對付伊朗，美國應當“用轟炸機和炸彈把他們炸回到7世紀”。但是肯塔基州聯邦參議員、自由派共和黨人蘭德·保羅則質疑，由於伊斯蘭國近期的崛起，2003年美國入侵伊拉克是否值得。

其他共和黨候選人把伊斯蘭國組織的崛起歸咎於奧巴馬總統在美軍2011年底撤離伊拉克時沒有留下戰後部隊。還有幾人指責奧巴馬沒有認真看待伊斯蘭國的威脅。

其中一位呼聲很高的共和黨總統候選人、前佛羅里達州州長傑布·布什，被很多共和黨人視爲比其他尋求黨內總統競選提名的候選人在政治方面更爲溫和。但是他向艾奧華州的活動人士保證，他是以保守派的方式治理佛羅里達州的。