US leadership essential for more peaceful world: Jeb Bush

WASHINGTON: American leadership is essential for a more peaceful world and it can not be achieved without a strong US military, leading Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has said as he termed president Barack Obama's foreign policy as "Alice in Wonderland".

"They ( Obama Administration) are negotiating with our enemies, unilaterally disarming, if you will, never getting any concessions in advance. They're pushing away our friends," Bush said.

"It's like Alice in Wonderland foreign policy, it's all backwards, it's all upside down. Our friends should know that we have their back, and our enemies should fear us," he said.

The Chinese are building a military base 100 miles into the South China Sea. The Russians are moving forward with impunity, because they know the US is weak, he said.

"These are serious times. It does not require for us to say, we're going to declare war on this country or that country. It simply means that we have to begin to lead again. American leadership is essential for a more peaceful world, and we need to rebuild the military to back it up," he said.

"ISIS is a caliphate created when as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama left Iraq, creating a void that now is a caliphate the size of Indiana, organised to destroy Western civilisation," Bush added.

Bush is scheduled to deliver a major foreign policy speech in California today.

The Bush campaign said his speech will focus on how to address the grave threat of radical Islamic extremism.