Apparently he told Glenn Beck that he made the same proposal four years ago - which I must have missed.
Here is the link - and apologies if it has already been diaried.
And here's the key quote:
“It’s like, if all the tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail,” Santorum said. “Every problem that the State Department has, the answer is diplomacy. Why? Because if it’s not diplomacy, they don’t have a job.
(more below)
I try not to say much about my work here - but I will say that I have worked with colleagues in the Department of State, Department of Defense, and several other Departments/Agencies in some difficult places. (People that I've worked with at multiple locations have been injured - even killed.)
Many departments/agencies have a role in international affairs, but your two main options for dealing with international problems are diplomacy (State) and force (DoD). There are a variety of economic sanctions that one can utilize, but State generally plays a coordinating role for those - and for every other department/agency - except the military commands in those few countries in which we are utilizing force.
My impression is that my colleagues in DoD prefer to be the last resort rather than the first. There's even a strong sentiment within DoD to focus on missions that are of limited and defined scope rather than open-ended. (Toppling governments is much easier than the following state-building exercise. Fighting governments is much easier than fighting terrorists.)
I suppose that there are many outrageous statements being made by a variety of candidates. Santorum is hardly a top tier candidate, and I'm guessing this is not a top tier issue. But those are my two cents.