'Hope is not a strategy': Romney attacks Obama's 'passive' leadership in the Middle East in major foreign policy in speech

Mitt Romney is to invoke the spectre of 9/11 in foreign policy speech today, stating that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans dead 'was likely the work of the same forces that attacked our homeland on September 11th' exactly 11 years earlier.

The Republican presidential nominee will accuse President Barack Obama of 'passive' leadership in the Middle East in a foreign policy address Monday at the Virginia Military Institute, declaring: 'Hope is not a strategy.'

Ambassador Richard Williamson, a senior Romney foreign policy aide, said on MSNBC that Romney would outline 'a foreign policy that's been in the bipartisan tradition of peace through strength from Harry Truman to John Kennedy through Ronald Reagan and beyond'.

Peace through strength: A senior aide to Romney said Romney will promise a foreign policy that is built on the bipartisan traditions from Harry Truman to John F Kennedy through to Ronald Reagan (right)

Romney will to call for more direct U.S. involvement in Syria, including arming forces opposing President Bashar Assad's dictatorial regime.

He will also slam Obama for its handling of events in Libya, especially the focus on blaming a crude anti-Islamic video made in California as the cause of the violence in Benghazi that left Ambassador Christopher Stevens, another state department official and two former U.S. Navy SEALs dead.

'Dark ideology': The presidential hopeful will say that the 'same forces' that were behind 9/11 were responsible for the terror attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi exactly 11 years later

Blame game: Romney will attack the White House for blaming the murder of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens on an anti-Islam video

According to excerpts released in advance, Romney will say: 'The attacks on America last month should not be seen as random acts. They are expressions of a larger struggle that is playing out across the broader Middle East - a region that is now in the midst of the most profound upheaval in a century. And the fault lines of this struggle can be seen clearly in Benghazi itself.

'The attack on our Consulate in Benghazi on September 11th, 2012 was likely the work of the same forces that attacked our homeland on September 11th, 2001.

'This latest assault cannot be blamed on a reprehensible video insulting Islam, despite the Administration’s attempts to convince us of that for so long.

'No, as the Administration has finally conceded, these attacks were the deliberate work of terrorists who use violence to impose their dark ideology on others, especially women and girls; who are fighting to control much of the Middle East today; and who seek to wage perpetual war on the West.'

Romney's tough rhetoric on Libya comes as a former head of a U.S. Special Forces 'Site Security Team' in Libya told CBS News that in spite of multiple pleas from him and other security officials on the ground for 'more, not less' security personnel, the State Department removed as many as 34 people from the country.

Lt Col Andy Wood is due to appear this week at a House Oversight Committee hearing that will examine security decisions leading up to the terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi.

Wood said when he found out that his own 16-member team and a six-member State Department force were being pulled from Tripoli in August, a month before the Benghazi assault, he felt 'like we were being asked to play the piano with two fingers and there 'was concern amongst the entire embassy staff'.

Arming the rebels: Romney will back giving military help to rebels fighting dictator Bashar Assad in Syria

In his speech, Romney will also cite George Marshall, the former general who gave his name to the post-war reconstruction programme the Marshall Plan, as a guiding influence in his foreign policy.

'Of all the leaders who have called Lexington, Virginia their home, none is more distinguished than George Marshall—the Chief of Staff of the Army who became Secretary of State and Secretary of Defence, who helped to vanquish fascism and then plan Europe’s rescue from despair. His commitment to peace was born of his direct knowledge of the awful costs and consequences of war.

'General Marshall once said, “The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.” Those words were true in his time - and they still echo in ours.'

The speech marks another attempt by Romney to put behind him the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attack, when he was widely criticised for focusing on a statement made by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo before the violent attacks.

Romney, who has described the Afghan surge, ordered by Obama in 2009, as a success, will call for 'a real and successful transition to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014'.

He has criticised Obama for setting a public deadline and disregarding requests by military commanders to allow some troops to stay for the entirety of this year's 'fighting season'. But there is essentially little difference between the Afghan policies of the two nominees.

'I will evaluate conditions on the ground and weigh the best advice of our military commanders,' Romney will say. 'And I will affirm that my duty is not to my political prospects, but to the security of the nation.'

On Syria, Romney will call for the U.S. States to arm the rebels. 'In Syria, I will work with our partners to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values and ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat Assad's tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets,' he will say.

Romney had previously said that the U.S. needed to 'be ready to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that we do not have any kind of weapon of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists' but to say that he would help the opposition forces obtain weapons is a significant step further.

The Republican candidate, who will face Obama in a presidential debate focused on foreign policy in Boca raton, Florida on October 22nd, will also call for fresh sanction against Iran, without saying whether he would order military force.

'I will not hesitate to impose new sanctions on Iran, and will tighten the sanctions we currently have. I will restore the permanent presence of aircraft carrier task forces in both the Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf the region - and work with Israel to increase our military assistance and coordination,' he will say.

Romney will also say that he will 'recommit America to the goal of a democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel' - a softening of the remarks he made at a private fundraiser in Boca Raton in May.

Then, he said that 'the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace'.

The Obama campaign, which views its foreign policy as a major strength, has mocked the speech in advance. Colin Kahl, a former senior Pentagon official under Obama, told MSNBC that Romney was all about 'swagger and not substance or strategy'.