The 2012 Republican presidential candidate says terrorists dislike Americans so much because “we are the defender of liberty around the world.”

Question: Why do the terrorists hate us?

Mitt Romney: I think that . . . that those that have led the movement of radical jihad from their beginnings many, many years ago in Egypt prior to the killing and assassination of Anwar Sadat . . . It is a religious belief held very deeply in their hearts that for a religious leader – a caliphate or an imam – to take over the world, that they must bring down all democracies – all governments of moderation and modernity. And it began with Islamic governments that they tried to bring down and continue to try and bring down as well as all western nations. It is a religious fervor associated with turning the clock back to the 7th or 8th century and going to a time when women had no rights, and when . . . when people were forced to join a faith at the point of a sword. That’s where they want to go. They . . . they dislike us so much because we are, if you will, the defender of liberty around the world. We have been time and again willing to stand up and say no to the barbaric acts of these radical Islamists. And they want to see us brought down, and their intent is to cause the collapse of our country, and the collapse of the west, and the collapse of all moderate governments and civilizations.

Recorded on: 11/26/07