“When the Senate is in recess,” Pennsylvania’s senior senator said to a group of students on… “When the Senate is in recess,” Pennsylvania’s senior senator said to a group of students on Wednesday, “the country is safe – temporarily.”

“We live in a world surrounded by problems,” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said, referring to the Iraq war and the situations in Iran and North Korea, among other things. The senator talked for nine minutes Wednesday before opening the floor and spending the rest of the 45 minutes responding to student questions.

About the Iraq situation, Specter said, if the government had known that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction and if the intelligence had not been faulty, the United States wouldn’t have gone in there.

He said the country is facing a tough, unpopular war in Iraq and identified it as the dominant issue today.

“We’re trying to find a way to extricate without leaving instability there,” he said, adding that the United States is working to build up Iraq’s military and police, and that there may be new answers soon.

Specter went on to talk about the problems with Iran. He said Iran wants nuclear power, and the United States is fearful of nuclear weapons.

He called the Middle East a “tinderbox without nuclear weapons in Iran.” But there’s something even more worrisome when Iran’s president says he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.

“The Israeli values are similar to ours,” he said. “When we help Israel, we’re really promoting our own national self-interests,” he said.

Specter also spoke about the difficulties the United States has with North Korea, which recently tested a nuclear weapon.

“I think President [Bush] is right to try to get China, Japan, Russia and South Korea putting pressure on North Korea. I think there ought to be an additional step – direct bilateral talks,” he said.

He stressed that it is important to treat the North Korean government and people with dignity and respect.

One of the students’ questions regarded the prisoners at Guantanamo and the recent bill passed that takes away terror suspects’ rights to know why they’ve been detained and denies them access to the evidence against them.

Specter said because of the way the bill is written, it is possible that the court can strike down the restrictions. He said he fought very hard against the limitations on freedoms.

“I think courts will shoot down that part of the legislation,” he said. “The Constitution is explicit.”

One of the most important issues to Specter is the need for young people to get involved in the electoral process, because they have the biggest interest in the future.

“One of the things I’d like to urge you young professionals to become politically active,” he said. “I would urge you to become Republicans to provide more balance in our political system, and so that you can vote for me in the next primary if I’m a candidate.”

Urging students to get involved, he added, “Every election in America could be decided by the nonvoters.”

Specter spoke to Pitt students at an event sponsored by Panthers4Israel, College Republicans, Pi Sigma Alpha and Hillel at the Graduate School of Public Health.