Ben Carson presidential campaign, 2016/Foreign affairs
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 Ben Carson |
Retired Pediatric Neurosurgeon |
 Republican candidate: |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
Iran nuclear deal
- On July 14, 2015, Ben Carson criticized the terms of the newly announced Iran nuclear deal. Carson said, "Without anywhere anytime surprise inspections, a full accounting of Iran’s past secret nuclear arms pursuits, elimination of Iran’s uranium stockpiles and the lifting of any sanctions only upon verification of Iranian compliance, this is not a good deal, but a recipe for disaster and the first fateful step toward a frenzied nuclear arms race in the Middle East."[2]
- On April 2, 2015, Carson posted the following statement on the Iran nuclear deal to his Facebook page: "After months of what President Obama deems 'tough, principled diplomacy', the United States has still solely achieved a 'framework for a deal' whose key details will be finalized over the next three months. Over the past few months of negotiations, it is the Iranian side which has achieved the most after all of the talks. Only a framework for a future potential deal has been achieved, while the Iranians have simultaneously increased their capability to enrich uranium. When negotiations resume, Iran will then insist on restarting the negotiations at a beginning stage with limited progress, if any. While Iran's installed centrifuges will be reduced from 19,000 to 6,000, it is unclear why certain provisions differ in terms of an expiration date, ranging from 10 years, 15 years, 25 years and 'indefinitely'. It is already clear that both sides differ in their interpretation of the 'framework for a deal'. Zarif has already stated that Fordow is not included in the framework. This is crucial, as Fordow maintains the best centrifuges. Sunset provisions on restrictions are misleading and are not indicative of a 'good deal', as coined by our leader. Let us hope that both Houses of Congress play a key role in the coming months regarding finalized decisions at the negotiating table. Reaching a deal that involves unfettered inspections, transparent communication, and safeguards the United States, Israel and the rest of our allies is absolutely critical. The main conclusion from these recent months of negotiations is that the Iranians are superior negotiators."[3]
Military preparedness and budget
- At the eighth Republican presidential primary debate on February 6, 2016, Ben Carson talked about veterans: "[There is a] 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again."[4]
- Carson called for reform of the veterans healthcare system in an op-ed for USA Today on September 14, 2015. He recommended offering veterans more choice and portability through health savings accounts, improving response time, making specialized treatment accessible and providing better transition services for veterans returning to civilian life.[5]
- In an interview on The Dave Ramsey Show on August 26, 2015, Carson said the Department of Veterans Affairs should be integrated into the Department of Defense. He added, “When a person applies for the military, they should be in a support system immediately from day one. Particularly when they go through combat because that is when all the trauma is occurring. And we should have people in place a year before their time of discharge to be working on their integration back into society. There shouldn’t be a period of unemployment when they come out of the military. And they should have a health savings account which allows them to go to any medical facility in the country and we should be delighted to take care of them. And we should use our VA facilities for specialized care for traumatic brain injury, limb replacements, and research."[6]
- Carson explained that as a member of ROTC he "gained great respect for the military and its role in procuring and maintaining our freedom. I also gained great appreciation for firearms, as well as an understanding of how they can be used for great good or great harm."[7]
National security
- At the eighth Republican presidential primary debate on February 6, 2016, Ben Carson discussed his support for renewed airstrikes in Libya: "I would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress."[8]
- On January 25, 2016, Carson wrote an op-ed in The Des Moines Register outlining his philosophy on foreign policy and national security, which included building up the military; rebuilding existing alliances and forging new partnerships with countries committed to peace, stability and freedom; pursuing diplomacy through strength; and modernizing America’s national security establishment by streamlining agencies. He wrote that “we must identify the threat of radical Islam by name and declare war on the Islamic State, counter Russian aggression through sanctions and lethal assistance to Ukraine and oppose Chinese adventurism through regional economic and military cooperation. A Carson administration will employ armed diplomacy, not unilateral disarmament.”[9]
- Carson released his cybersecurity plan on January 25, 2016. A keystone of his plan was the creation of the National Cyber Security Administration (NCSA), “a consolidation and unification of the countless and often redundant programs, initiatives and offices which operate disjointedly throughout the government.”[10]
- On December 15, 2015, Carson called on the State Department to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations for possibly supporting terrorists. He wrote, “The Department of State should designate the Muslim Brotherhood and other organizations that propagate or support Islamic terrorism as terrorist organizations, and fully investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and a supporter of terrorism.” The Washington Times reported on December 16, 2015, that "Mr. Carson and CAIR have had a tumultuous relationship in recent months. The advocacy group called Mr. Carson’s view on Muslims reprehensible after he said in an interview with NBC that a Muslim should not be president."[11]
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Carson discussed monitoring anti-American sentiment: “Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place – I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . [sic] We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, ‘they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us.’ We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are.”[12]
- In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News on December 13, 2015, Carson said he did not support “following [Muslims] around with the FBI,” but rather “monitoring” them through screening questions. When Stephanopoulos expressed incredulity that a terrorist would admit anything when questioned, Carson responded, “Well, again, we're going to have to be a little smarter. I mean, you've probably seen some of the questions that they ask in the screening: have you ever been a terrorist, are you planning a terrorist attack, you know, have you been trained with tactical -- give me a break. I mean, you know, we have to -- why don't we go to the Israelis and ask them how they do it? Why do we have to reinvent the wheel.”[13]
- Doug Watts, Carson’s spokesman, said on December 7, 2015, that the government should monitor all foreign visitors to the U.S. rather than summarily block Muslims from entering. “Everyone visiting our country should register and be monitored during their stay as is done in many countries. We do not and would not advocate being selective on one’s religion,” Watts said.[14]
- During a campaign stop in South Carolina on November 21, 2015, Carson said that FBI surveillance funding should be increased since it can only monitor “30 to 60 people” under its current budget. He also said he “would be in favor of monitoring a mosque or any church or any organization or any school or any press corps where there was a lot of radicalization and things that were anti-American.”[15]
- At the fourth Republican primary debate on November 10, 2015, Carson discussed his views on the influence of Russia and China in the Middle East. He said, "What we have to recognize is that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if -- outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us."[16]
| "Dr. Ben Carson on how he would address ISIS threat," February 16, 2015. |
- On November 1, 2015, Carson said he would increase the U.S.’s presence in the Baltics. "We need to reestablish ourselves in that area. We need to give Ukraine offensive weapons. We need to reestablish a missile defense system in the eastern bloc of countries so that we oppose [Putin]. Let's keep him on the run, we need to recognize that, you know, his fuel is oil. And we need to do everything we can to develop our energy resources at an economical rate so that we keep the oil prices down, which keeps him in his little box,” he said.[17]
- In an October 18, 2015, interview with George Stephanopoulos, Carson argued that George W. Bush could have created a different strategy for capturing Osama bin Laden. He said, "I think they would have been extremely concerned if we had declared—and we were serious about it—that we were going to become petroleum independent, because it would have had a major impact on their finances. And I think that probably would have trumped any loyalty that they had to people like Osama bin Laden." He also argued against the decision to invade Iraq. He said, “I personally don't believe that invading Iraq was an existential threat to us. I don't think Saddam Hussein was an existential threat to us. It's a very different situation right now. Now, we have global jihadists who want to destroy us and our way of life."[18]
- In an interview with Breitbart on October 7, 2015, Carson presented a four-point plan to combat instability in Syria. He said the U.S. should “maintain current engagements with air and ground forces,” “continue to assist Syrian insurgent forces in their conflict against pro-Assad and ISIS forces with advisors, intelligence and weapons,” work with Turkey to develop a no-fly zone along the country’s border with Syria and reject Russian calls for the U.S. to relinquish control of airspace over Syria.[19]
- Carson wrote an op-ed for The Hill on September 17, 2015, detailing his plan to undermine the growth of ISIS. He recommended waging “relentless ideological and information warfare...using allies, native-speaking assets and principle networks,” supporting the Kurdish Regional Government with arms, developing foreign policy that addresses the “interwoven” issues of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey, using military force under the “Just War Theory” and employing a team with “ruthless and relentless” authority.[20]
- When asked about ISIS during a March 2015 interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Carson said, "We can sit back and say, 'Nah, they're not that big a deal,' or we can recognize that the longer we allow them to grow, to spread, to root – get their roots well established – the more difficult it will be to eradicate them. We have to eradicate them now. We have to use every means possible to do that."[21]
- In a May 2014 op-ed discussing the Obama administration’s response to the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, Carson wrote, "When our top officials make decisions to abandon our own people because they feel the situation is hopeless, they also abandon the concept of American exceptionalism and create doubt in the minds of all future military participants about the intention of their superiors to expend maximum effort to preserve their lives when they have sacrificed everything for our nation."[22]
- In his op-ed in the Reno Gazette-Journal on March 29, 2014, Carson wrote, "Developing our natural energy resources, controlling our national debt, consistently supporting our allies and aggressively opposing our foes without playing politics will help improve our status in the world and make peace more likely. The stakes are too high to simply be reactive. We must act if we are to lead."[23]
International relations
- Ben Carson announced on December 7, 2015, that he would take a week-long trip to Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia at the end of December 2015. “I want to get an ideal from the people what the effects of Boko Haram are, what people are thinking, to see what the economic situation is there, and also there’s a medical school there named after me which I want to visit,” Carson said of his planned trip to Nigeria. He also said that he intends to visit Israel before the Iowa caucuses in February 2015.
- When asked about the “wet-foot, dry-foot policy” and Cuban Adjustment Act, which gives Cubans special immigration status, Carson said he was not familiar with either, in an interview with the Miami Herald on November 4, 2015. “I have to admit that I don’t know a great deal about that, and I don’t really like to comment until I’ve had a chance to study the issue from both sides,” he said.[24]
- In an interview with NPR on September 12, 2015, Carson emphasized the importance of using a sophisticated screening mechanism when accepting Syrian refugees. “We have to recognize that this is a splendid opportunity for the global jihadists to infiltrate those numbers with members of their own organization. So we would have to have in place a very excellent screening mechanism. Until we had such a mechanism in place, we should not be bringing anybody in,” said Carson.[25]
- Carson criticized Barack Obama’s foreign policy in a July 2014 op-ed. He wrote, "While Mr. Obama’s foreign-policy adventures have waxed and waned in the eyes of the American public, his indecisiveness in places such as Iraq and Syria has presented an image of weakness on the global stage."[26]
- In a July 2014 op-ed, Carson argued that the Obama administration should help "pro-democracy Ukrainians," press "Europe to look for alternatives to Russian natural gas to preclude being held hostage by Russian energy," and "reinforce our commitments to NATO and get the former components of the Soviet Union involved," in order to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin.[26]
- In his op-ed in the Reno Gazette-Journal on March 29, 2014, Carson proposed freezing "Russian financial assets," downgrading "trade associations" or establishing "energy production policies to free the European Union from the Russian energy stranglehold" in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.[23]
ISIS and terrorism
- Ben Carson wrote an op-ed for the Fox News.com website arguing that it was necessary for the U.S. to declare war on ISIS. He pointed to the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as an example of an organization using “social ‘lawfare’ tactics designed to silence criticism and advance the goal of imposing sharia” in the U.S[27]
- During the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, on January 14, 2016, Carson discussed his ideas for defeating Islamic State: “Well, there's no question that ISIS is a very serious problem, and I don't believe that this administration recognizes how serious it is. I think we need to do a lot more than we're doing. Recognize that the caliphate is what gives them the legitimacy to go out on a jihadist mission, so we need to take that away from them. The way to take that away from them is to talk to our military officials and ask them, "what do you need in order to accomplish this goal?" Our decision is, then, do we give them what we need. I say, yes, not only do we give them what they need, but we don't tie their hands behind their backs so that they can go ahead and get the job done. In addition to that... we go ahead and we take the oil from them, their source of revenue. You know, some of these -- these engagement rules that the administration has -- "we're not going to bomb a tanker that's coming out of there because there might be a person in it" -- give me a break. Just tell them that, you put people in there, we're going to bomb them. So don't put people in there if you don't want them bombed. You know, that's so simple. And then we need to shut down -- we need to shut down their mechanisms of funding and attack their command-and-control centers. Why should we let their people be sitting there smoking their cigars, sitting in their comfortable chairs in Raqqa? We know (ph) to go ahead and shut off the supply routes, and send in our special ops at 2:00 a.m. and attack them everywhere they go. They should be running all the time, then they won't have time to plan attacks against us.”[28]
- Carson released his seven-point plan to protect the U.S. from the Islamic State on December 28, 2015. Carson’s recommendations include declaring war on the Islamic State; establishing a military coalition that includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan; recruiting and training Sunni men from Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan; and forming an “emergency inter-agency task force” to evaluate visa and immigration policies. He also said that the U.S. should “fully investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and a supporter of terrorism.”[29]
- Carson said that although he “doesn’t want to just bomb people” like fuel truck drivers indiscriminately in ISIS-controlled territory, he would not hesitate to use force. “I would just say, ‘Hey, guys, any truck coming out of there is getting bombed. So if you don’t want your people to die, don’t put them in the truck.’ You know, that makes a lot more sense to me,” Carson said.[30]
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Carson discussed his strategy to defeat ISIS: “First of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are - ISIS is the richest terrorist organization there is. We have to take their oil, shut down all of the mechanisms whereby they can disperse money because they go after disaffected individuals from all over the place, and they're able to pay them. That makes a difference. As far as the command centers are concerned in Raqqa and to a lesser degree Mosul, cut those off. Do the same kind of thing that we did with Sinjar a few weeks ago, working with our embedded special forces with the Kurds, shut off the supply route, soften them up, then we go in with specials ops followed by our air force to take them over. Those are things that work. But also, you know, this whole concept of boots on the ground, you know, we've got a phobia about boots on the ground. If our military experts say, we need boots on the ground, we should put boots on the ground and recognize that there will be boots on the ground and they'll be over here, and they'll be their boots if we don't get out of there now.”[31]
- Carson wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post on November 18, 2015, with his “plan to defeat the Islamic State.” In addition to recommending the U.S. destroy or take control of “the oil fields along Syria’s eastern border,” Carson emphasized the importance of using social media to challenge the Islamic State’s online propaganda campaign. He wrote, “We can monitor social media by expanding the search algorithms already in place to safeguard against inappropriate behavior, including religious hate speech. Once flagged, we can notify platform providers and encourage them to censor communications (and block users) that violate the terms of constructive discourse. The hacker group Anonymous has already provided a model for accomplishing this.”[32]
- In opposition to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States, Carson requested on November 16, 2015, that Congress “defund all the programs that allow these people to be brought here — immediately, today.” In his official statement, Carson said, “We should do everything in our power to help these men, women, and children who have been forced to flee their country, but until we can sort out the bad guys, we must not be foolish. I call for increased aid to the refugees. We can and should do more to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. We must also protect them from being attacked by implementing immediately no fly zone over these camps.”[33] [34]
- During an interview on "Fox News Sunday" on November 15, 2015, Carson discussed whether the United States should accept Syrian refugees and how he would approach defeating ISIS. He said, "Bringing people into this country from that area of the world I think is a huge mistake, because why wouldn’t they infiltrate them with people who are ideologically opposed to us? It would be foolish for them not to do that."[35]
- Carson also commented on whether he would send combat troops to fight ISIS. He said, "I don’t want to put a specific number on it, or indicate what types of people there are, because those are decisions that I think are made by people who have a tremendous amount of military experience and capability. For me to pretend like I have all that knowledge and the ability to formulate all the specific plans and how to do it I think is foolish, and I think anybody else who thinks they know it all is foolish also."[35]
- Carson also called for religious leaders in the Muslim community to condemn ISIS. He said, "The clerics, we need to be putting pressure on them to disavow what ISIS is doing. You know, they can’t sit on the sideline here."[35]
- Carson said to combat the Islamic State he would "wage a counter-war...utilizing social media, and all the same mechanisms that they use" and place pressure on clerics "to disavow" the organization. He also emphasized the importance of coalition-building but twice declined to name one country he would invite to join such a coalition.[36]
- When asked if he was concerned with the consequences of the U.S. shooting down a Russian plane if a no-fly zone was established over Syria, Carson responded, "If they violate it, we will, in fact, enforce it. And, you know, we'll see what happened. You know, too, for us to always be backing down because we are afraid of a conflict, that's not how we became a great nation."[36]
Syrian refugees
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Carson discussed a long-term solution to the Syrian refugee problem: “Well, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, ‘What can Americans and other countries do?’ They said, ‘Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians.’ Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to - to choose the right choice, not these false choices.”[37]
- Carson argued December 8, 2015, that the narrative around settling Syrian refugees in the U.S. should be more nuanced. He said, “It's a false narrative that we only have two narratives: to bring in thousands of Syrian refugees or to turn our backs in cold-hearted indifference. We have another option and that is to support the safe havens that they have over there, you know, Jordan has plenty of space for them and all they need is more financial support.”[38]
- On December 4, 2015, Carson said the San Bernardino, Calif. mass shootings should end the debate on whether Syrian refugees can be properly screened. "If that vetting resulted in missing someone who could carry out such a horrendous crime, that should be the end of the argument right there. We shouldn’t even have to talk about this anymore," he said.[39]
- After visiting the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, Carson wrote in a December 1, 2015, op-ed in The Hill, that the solution to the Syrian refugee crisis is to have Arab countries to take in refugees. He wrote, “The media has focused on Europe and the United States’s willingness or unwillingness to welcome these refugees. This focus is all wrong. The solution to the Syrian refugee crisis is with Syria’s neighbors. Syrian refugee resettlement should be concentrated in Arab countries, which are in the best position to help. The rich Persian Gulf states — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates — have the resources to provide services that refugees require. With no language barrier and no religious or cultural gaps to overcome, refugees can find new and fulfilling lives with only enough support to make the transition. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other refugee aid organizations can best use their resources to train these Gulf states to provide housing and social services effectively.” He also wrote that other nations should provide support for the Arab countries that accept refugees.[40]
- Carson, who toured Jordan, said November 29, 2015, that the Syrian refugees he has spoken with during his tour have told him that “Their main desire is to be repatriated in their homeland.” He also said that the refugees want the United States to support the Jordanians. He explained, “The Jordanians have done a yeoman's job in terms of putting up these camps. But the reason that the camps are not full is because they are not supported by the international community. In terms of money, when I looked at the refugee camps in Jordan, there's about a three billion [dollar] shortfall annually. That's how much money we spent last year on Halloween candy.”[41]
- On November 19, 2015, Carson compared the risk of accepting Syrian refugees to having a “rabid dog” in your neighborhood during a campaign stop in Alabama. He said, “If there's a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you're probably not going to assume something good about that dog. And you're probably going to put your children out of the way. That doesn't mean that you hate all dogs. … We have to have in place screening mechanisms that allow us to determine who the mad dogs are.”[42]
- In opposition to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States, Carson requested on November 16, 2015, that Congress “defund all the programs that allow these people to be brought here — immediately, today.” In his official statement, Carson said, “We should do everything in our power to help these men, women, and children who have been forced to flee their country, but until we can sort out the bad guys, we must not be foolish. I call for increased aid to the refugees. We can and should do more to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. We must also protect them from being attacked by implementing immediately no fly zone over these camps.”[43] [44]
- During an interview on "Fox News Sunday" on November 15, 2015, Carson discussed whether the United States should accept Syrian refugees and how he would approach defeating ISIS. He said, "Bringing people into this country from that area of the world I think is a huge mistake, because why wouldn’t they infiltrate them with people who are ideologically opposed to us? It would be foolish for them not to do that."[35]
Recent news
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ USA Today, "Report: Ben Carson to run for president," May 3, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Dr. Ben Carson joins fellow GOP candidates in slamming Iran deal," July 14, 2015
- ↑ Facebook.com, "Ben Carson, April 2, 2015," accessed April 10, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript of the New Hampshire GOP debate, annotated," February 6, 2016
- ↑ USA Today, "Ben Carson: Veterans health care needs bold reform - I know from inside," September 14, 2015
- ↑ The Daily Caller, "Ben Carson: ‘We Don’t Need A Department Of Veterans Affairs,’" August 26, 2015
- ↑ Washington Times, “CARSON: Why did the founders give us the Second Amendment?" December 10, 2014
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript of the New Hampshire GOP debate, annotated," February 6, 2016
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Carson: A prescription for a stronger, safer America," January 25, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Carson proposes new federal agency to win 'cyberspace race,'" January 25, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Times, "Ben Carson calls CAIR ‘supporters of terrorism,’ demands investigation," December 16, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ ABC News, "'This Week' Transcript: Secretary of State John Kerry and Ben Carson," December 13, 2015
- ↑ Reuters, "Republican candidate Carson says all visitors to U.S. should be monitored," December 7, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Ben Carson says he would support monitoring of 'anti-American' groups, churches, press," November 21, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Who said what and what it meant: The 4th GOP debate, annotated," November 10, 2015
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Carson: Syria plan would focus on Putin," November 2, 2015
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Ben Carson: We could have caught bin Laden sooner," October 18, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Exclusive: Dr. Ben Carson outlines Syria strategy to weaken both ISIS and Assad," October 7, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Ben Carson: Obama needs new ideas to blunt ISIS," September 17, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Ben Carson on ISIS: 'Eradicate them now,'" accessed March 2, 2015
- ↑ National Review, "Unfit for Office," accessed March 2, 2015
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 RGJ.com, “Ben Carson: Energy can play a role in path to peace," March 29, 2014
- ↑ Miami Herald, "Cuba policy stumps Ben Carson in Florida," November 4, 2015
- ↑ NPR, "Ben Carson Says A Screening Mechanism Needed To Resettle Syrians," September 12, 2015
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Washington Times, “Rudderless U.S. foreign policy," July 29, 2014
- ↑ Fox News, "It's time to declare war on ISIS," February 15, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "6th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," January 14, 2016
- ↑ Business Insider, "BEN CARSON: Here's my 7-part plan to defeat ISIS," December 28, 2015
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Ben Carson: I Wouldn't Bomb ISIS Oil Truck Drivers, I'd Just Warn Them They'll Die," December 22, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Ben Carson: My plan to defeat the Islamic State," November 18, 2015
- ↑ NBC News, "Ben Carson Calls on Congress to Pull Funding for Syrian Refugees," November 16, 2015
- ↑ Ben Carson for President Facebook page, "Official Statement from Dr. Ben Carson," November 16, 2015
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 The Hill, "Carson: Obama refugee plan a 'suspension of intellect'," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Fox News, "Rep. Peter King on US response to Paris attacks; How Ben Carson would combat terror threat," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Times, "Carson: Syrian refugee crisis a 'false choice',' December 8, 2015
- ↑ Talking Points Meme, "Carson: CA Shootings ‘End Of The Argument’ For Admitting Refugees," December 5, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Refugee crisis can, and must, be solved by Syria’s neighbors," December 1, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Carson: Syrian refugees want to go home," November 29, 2015
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Ben Carson compares some refugees to 'rabid' dogs," November 19, 2015
- ↑ NBC News, "Ben Carson Calls on Congress to Pull Funding for Syrian Refugees," November 16, 2015
- ↑ Ben Carson for President Facebook page, "Official Statement from Dr. Ben Carson," November 16, 2015
