Obama camp previews foreign policy debate with new ad

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign released a new television ad attacking Mitt Romney over foreign policy, the subject of the final presidential debate Monday night.

The 30-second spot, "Rebuilding," faults the GOP nominee for saying during the Republican primary that the president was wrong to withdraw troops from Iraq.

"I think we're going to find that this president by not putting in place a status in forces agreement with the Iraqi leadership has pulled our troops out in a precipitous way and we should have left 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 personnel there to help transition to the Iraqis' own military capabilities," Romney said in a Fox News interview last December.

His comments came days before the final U.S. combat troops were pulled from the country.

The Obama campaign ad highlight's the president's efforts to end the war.

"A decade of war that cost us dearly. And now, for president, a clear choice. President Obama ended the Iraq War. Mitt Romney would have left 30,000 troops there," the ad's narrator says. "It's time to stop fighting over there and start rebuilding here."

The commercial was released hours before the two candidates face off in the final presidential debate, which takes place at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Romney and Obama will focus on foreign policy, a subject that has already brewed sharp contention between the two.

Along with the ad, Obama's team sent out a memo by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying Romney doesn't pass the commander-in-chief test.

"He is an extreme and expedient candidate who lacks the judgment and vision so vital for the Oval Office, and he's at the top of the most inexperienced foreign policy ticket to run for president and vice president in decades," Kerry wrote.

In his latest foreign policy speech, Romney reiterated his criticism, saying the withdrawal was "abrupt."

"America's ability to influence events for the better in Iraq has been undermined by the abrupt withdrawal of our entire troop presence. The president tried-and failed-to secure a responsible and gradual drawdown that would have better secured our gains," Romney said on October 8 at the Virginia Military Institute.

His team has fended off attacks over foreign policy in the past, pivoting instead to the president's record on international affairs, as well as his campaign promises. On Monday, the campaign released a statement.

"At the 2008 presidential debates, Candidate Obama promised to implement a foreign policy that would protect our interests and allies abroad," Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement. "But four years later, America stands weakened around the world, with our safety threatened, our allies increasingly isolated, and hostile nations emboldened. Americans simply can't afford another four years like the last four years."