Senate rivals differ on world affairs; views take suprising turns on Afghanistan Attorney General Martha Coakley and state Senator Scott Brown are at odds over many of the domestic and economic issues that have dominated their special election campaign for US Senate. But they also have some sharp differences on international affairs, most notably the troop surge in Afghanistan. Rivals square off in second debate. B3. In large part, the two candidates hew to views common in their respective parties: Coakley, a Democrat, emphasizes diplomacy over military action; Brown a Republican, takes a harder line on trying suspected terrorists and is more willing to embrace the use of force. Coakley said she generally supports President Obama's foreign policy approach, viewing the emphasis on using many diplomatic tools as an important break from the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush. 'The world viewed George Bush as sort of a cowboy who would send troops and forces and tell the world how tough we were,' she said. Brown views military strength as a cornerstone of the US role as 'a force for good in the world.' 'We need to maintain a leadership position in order to keep the world safe,' he said. On Afghanistan, their views of the role of the United States are, to some extent, informed by their experiences as college students. When Coakley, 56, was at Williams College, the Vietnam War was still raging, and she draws a parallel to that conflict as a basis for her opposition to President Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. 'We've been there for eight years and at great expense,' she said. 'If we went in there to go after Al Qaeda and they're not there any more, how do we justify sending more troops?' The analogy to Vietnam is not perfect, Coakley said, but she believes the similarities are hard to miss, saying that Afghanistan is a country that Americans do not understand, lacks a history of self-government, and is led by a corrupt regime. It is Brown, the Republican, who supports the Democratic president's plan. Now 50, he began his 30-year career in the Army National Guard while an undergraduate at Tufts University, and he was in high school when Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese. Like Obama, he rejects the analogy of Vietnam and Afghanistan. 'You cannot compare the threat of radical violent jihad to what happened in Vietnam,' he said. 'Jihad is a worldwide phenomenon. It's not limited to one country. The Viet Cong did not attack America on our own soil. They didn't have as their objective the destruction of our country.' He said he supports the Obama plan as a way to help stabilize the region and thwart the Taliban and Al Qaeda threat to neighboring Pakistan. But Brown criticized the president's decision to set July 2011 as the date to begin a phased withdrawal, calling it 'laying your cards on the table.' A third candidate, independent Joseph L. Kennedy, opposes a military buildup in Afghanistan. The special election to fill the Senate seat long held by the late Edward M. Kennedy will be on Jan. 19. Brown and Coakley also differ on the Obama administration's decision to try in a civilian court in New York five detainees being held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, in connection with the conspiracy that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. One is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind. Brown opposes the decision, saying they should be tried in military tribunals and not be afforded 'new constitutional rights for terrorist combatants' and the opportunity for publicity. 'We honor the laws of war; they do not,' Brown said. But Coakley called the decision by US Attorney General Eric Holder appropriate. 'It presents some challenges ... huge challenges for the world and the American public to see we have a system of justice that can address these types of terrorist attacks and administer justice,' she said. Neither candidate has weighty credentials on global issues and, to help shape their policies, Coakley and Brown have sought outside advice, including from individuals with controversial views. Brown, for instance, said he consulted former United Nations ambassador John R. Bolton, a hard-line figure in the Bush administration and a frequent critic of President Obama's foreign policy. He also met with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Lisa Curtis, a specialist on Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, who is a former aide to Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana. Coakley's campaign consulted with Stephen M. Walt, professor of international affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School, who drew a hail of criticism after coauthoring a 2006 working paper asserting that the 'Israel lobby' had distorted US policy in the Middle East. Walt has also criticized Obama's rationale for the troop surge in Afghanistan. Coakley has also sounded out James Walsh, a specialist on international security, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Matthew Bunn, a professor of international affairs at the Kennedy School and a former Clinton administration adviser, on controlling weapons-grade nuclear material. She said she spoke twice to Madeleine Albright, secretary of state in the Clinton administration. Albright, the first woman to serve as the nation's chief diplomat, sent her a copy of her 2008 book, 'Memo to the President Elect,' a prescription for dealing with challenges around the globe. Neither Brown nor Coakley has extensive experience traveling outside North America. In the National Guard, Brown, a lieutenant colonel, had brief assignments in Paraguay and Kazakhstan and, as a legislator, visited Taiwan as part of a trade mission sponsored by the Taiwanese government. He said he has also toured many western European countries, often with a team of amateur athletes representing the United States. Brown, a triathlete, competes in long-distance swimming, running, and cycling contests. Brown believes his military training is an asset, citing courses in Al Qaeda, Islam, and the Geneva Conventions and protocols that set forth international rules for the treatment of prisoners and victims of war. Coakley's foreign travel has mostly involved tourism trips to a number of Western European countries, Egypt, Japan, and India. In 1998, she spent 10 days on a 'civil rights tour' of Israel sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. 'Very few people go to the Senate or the House with foreign policy experience,' she said. 'Whoever wins this ((election)) will be the 100th junior senator; we're not going to be negotiating peace treaties.' 