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ROMNEY: "When we look at the Middle East today — with Iran closer than ever to nuclear weapons capability, with the conflict in Syria threating to destabilize the region, with violent extremists on the march and with an American ambassador and three others dead likely at the hands of al-Qaida affiliates — it is clear that the risk of conflict in the region is higher now than when the president took office."
THE FACTS: Risk is always a matter of perception, so it doesn't fall easily into the realm of truth vs. fiction. But for the United States and the region, it's not clear that conflict has increased in the last four years. Obama entered office in 2009 with the United States still engaged in a conflict in Iraq. U.S. troops are no longer there. And he came as Israel and Hamas just finished a three-week war. That was two years after another war between Israel and an Iranian-backed force, in that case, Hezbollah in Lebanon.
There has been no significant Israeli military conflict since Obama has come into office. That said, Syria's conflict has become the region's deadliest since the Iraq war. The U.S. has stayed out of that conflict under Obama.
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Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE _ An occasional look at political claims that take shortcuts with the facts or don't tell the full story
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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