Earlier Monday, Romney released a video thanking the troops for their service. | REUTERS Romney: U.S. strength deters war

SAN DIEGO – Mitt Romney said the nation must choose between a weak and strong future, offering a Memorial Day crowd here a harrowing choice.

After reciting a laundry list of trouble spots around the globe, Romney – standing before a crowd of 5,000 people outside a veterans’ museum – made the implicit but unstated option between himself and President Barack Obama.


“The world is not safe,” Romney said at the ostensibly apolitical event, which featured none of the Romney campaign signs and buttons typical of his campaign. “We have two courses we can follow: One is to follow the pathway of Europe. To shrink our military smaller and smaller to pay for our social needs. And they of course rely on the strength of America and they hope for the best. Were we to follow that kind of course, there would be no one that could stand to protect us. The other is to commit to preserve America as the strongest military in the world, second to none, with no comparable power anywhere in the world. We choose that course. We choose that course for America not just so that we can win wars, but so we can prevent wars. Because a strong America is the best deterrent to war that ever has been invented.”

Romney spoke after Sen. JohnMcCain, who touted the presumptive GOP presidential nominee as “a great governor, and a man who I believe is fully qualified to be commander in chief.”

The two men laid wreaths to honor fallen Vietnam veterans before the event.

Earlier Monday, Romney released a video on Memorial Day thanking American troops for their service

Romney says in the new Web video, “ Thank You,” that every veteran “is the greatest of his generation.”

“We rightly call our fathers and mothers the greatest generation,” Romney says. “But every woman and every man who has or now defends American liberty share in their heritage of greatness. Every veteran is the greatest of his generation.”

“It’s time for us to come together, to carry this message across the country, that we’re restoring those principles that made America the great nation that it is. We’re going to keep America strong and worthy of the great sacrifice of America’s veterans and those young men and women who put their lives on the line for us even today,” he added.

And Romney, who said he was “honored” to celebrate Memorial Day with McCain, called the Arizona senator’s story “what today’s holiday is all about: sacrifice, valor, honor, courage, and love of country.”

“A lot of young Americans are risking their lives in distant battlefields today,” Romney said in a statement. “Memorial Day is a day to give thanks to them, and to remember all of America’s soldiers who have laid down their lives to defend our country. As we enjoy our barbecues with friends and families and loved ones, let’s keep them in our thoughts and in our prayers.”

Mackenzie Weinger contributed to this report.