Pajamas Media’s – whose network we joined recently – Roger L. Simon and Claudia Rosett had the opportunity to talk to Rudy Giuliani about the war on terrorism. The conversation is party of PJM’s “War on Terror Conversations” series for which PJM will talk with, I think, all of the Republican candidates. You can watch the conversation (or read the transcript) with Giuliani by clicking here.

When watching this video it quickly becomes clear why Giuliani is one of the favorites of foreign policy hawks. He knows what he’s talking about, it seems, with regards to the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, and he’s willing to fight this war for as long as it takes.

Giuliani made clear that he believes that the war in Afghanistan, not just Iraq, has to be won. If he’s president, he says, he’ll double the amount of American troops in this country. “Our job has to be to eliminate Al Qaeda and whatever else is left of the Taliban.” Roger tried to press Giuliani into saying something about Waziristan (Pakistan), but Giuliani isn’t willing to say that he’ll send US troops into Pakistan.

He’s also very clear about hypotheticals: he’s not going to answer hypothetical questions. If a coup takes place in Pakistan, the US will have to deal with it. For now, however, it isn’t useful to speculate about what may and may not happen. This is a good answer because everything a presidential candidate says with regards to foreign affairs can create a scandal, a controversy and chaos.

When Claudia Rosett asked Giuliani how we would get the state department to do what he wants them to do, the mayor didn’t give a very good answer. “Their principle role is to support the reputation of the United States of America. To make America more popular” he said. He’d “give that mission to the state department” who then has to improve America’s image which is, he says, undeservedly bad. But what if the State department doesn’t agree? What if the bureaucracy says isn’t willing to work with him? Giuliani’s answer: “you go back and try again.”

So? What will you do, try it ten times?

A little later he gave a somewhat better answer: you have to encourage people, you need incentives, you need a good secretary of state… all true, but even then it might be difficult to get the bureaucracy to move in the right direction.

Roger and Rosett also asked Giuliani about energy independence. He says that he’ll start a program much like the one to put a man on the moon and that this is a keystone of his program. This is popular among conservative voters, but as far as I understand it, the US will never become energy independent: it can only become less dependent on foreign countries. It would be great if one of the candidates would be forthright about that, also because a big program like the one Giuliani announces will cost the American tax payer a whole lot of money.

About how he would deal with the UN, Giuliani basically gave the answer conservatives like to hear (and I agree with them): America has to act in its own interest. Very often this means that the US should go to the UN in an attempt to get this organization to support its agenda, but sometimes it also means that the US has to decide to ignore the United Nations.

All in all, the conversation makes Giuliani look quite good. His ideas on foreign policy should appeal to a lot of hawks, most of whom are conservative. Of course, if you also read his Foreign Affairs contribution, you may have a somewhat nuanced view of his foreign policy plans (I know I do; wasn’t impressed to say the least), but it’s clear that – at least among Republican voters – this issue is one of Giuliani’s major strengths and that he knows it. A Giuliani administration will probably follow in Bush’s footsteps with regards to foreign policy. That’s very clear. That’s nothing new, but it’s interesting to hear one of the candidates talk about actual issues again.