Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016/Foreign affairs
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 Ted Cruz |
U.S. Senator (Assumed office: 2013) |
 Republican candidate: |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
Iran nuclear deal
- During his speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference on March 21, 2016, Ted Cruz said that under his administration “America will stand unapologetically with the nation of Israel.” He also criticized the Iran nuclear deal, saying, “I will rip this catastrophic Iranian deal to shreds. … Either you [Iran] will shut down your nuclear programme. Or we will shut it down for you. … I believe this Iranian deal is Munich in 1938.”[2]
- Speaking at the Values Voter Summit on September 25, 2015, Ted Cruz implied the United States should kill the ayatollah of Iran if he tried to acquire nuclear weapons. He said, “If you vote for me, under no circumstances will Iran be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. And if the ayatollah doesn’t understand that, we may have to help introduce him to his 72 virgins.”[3]
- Cruz strongly opposed the Iran deal during the September 2015 GOP debate, despite challenges from John Kasich on the stage. “If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal,” Cruz stated.[4]
- Cruz published an op-ed in USA Today on September 10, 2015, to protest the Iran nuclear deal. He argued the agreement makes the Obama administration “the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism,” “abandons” four American hostages held in Iran and facilitates Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons.[5]
- On September 1, 2015, American Thinker released on interview with Cruz where he stated his opposition to the Iran deal. “The U.S. and Israel are joined by the Iranian rhetoric that calls Israel ‘The Little Satan,’ and the U.S. ‘The Big Satan.’ Their intention is to murder both of us. We face an enemy that hates us and has been very explicit that they intend to do everything they can to kill Israelis and us. These enemies are driven by a radical theological view that glorifies death and suicide. This deal harkens back to the Munich Deal of 1938, allowing homicidal maniacs to acquire weapons of mass murder,” said Cruz. He continued, “The Obama Administration will become the leading financier of radical Islamist terrorism. Billions of dollars will go to Iran that will be passed on to terrorists across the world to murder Americans and Israelis. A consequence of this deal will be that the Obama administration will have directly financed the next 9/11.”[6]
- Cruz introduced a resolution on July 30, 2015, to delay the 60-day review period of the Iran nuclear deal until the Obama administration released all materials related to the agreement, including “side deals” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.[7]
- On July 21, 2015, Cruz discussed his thoughts on the possible repercussions of the Iran deal. Cruz said, "If Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, one of the most dangerous things it could do with it is load that weapon onto a ship anywhere in the Atlantic, fire the warhead straight into the air, into the atmosphere. If you get high enough and detonate that warhead, it would set off an electromagnetic pulse, what is called an EMP. That EMP could shut down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, could take down our stock market, our financial systems, but even more importantly could take down food delivery, water delivery, heat, air conditioning, transportation. The projections are that one nuclear warhead in the atmosphere over the Eastern seaboard could result in tens of millions of Americans dying."[8]
- On July 14, 2015, Cruz called the final Iran deal "staggeringly bad." He also said, "It is a fundamental betrayal of the security of the United States and of our closest allies, first and foremost Israel."[9]
- On April 17, 2015, Cruz sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry arguing that because "discrepancies on key elements of the (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) framework have come to light," the P5+1 and Iran should "make public a joint framework agreement outlining the parameters that have been agreed upon, and those that will be addressed in the event negotiations continue in both classified and unclassified form." To read Cruz's letter click here.[10]
- On April 3, 2015, Cruz released the following statement on the Iran nuclear deal: "President Obama's agreement with Iran, the details of which he has largely kept secret, is as he said 'historic' because of the catastrophic risk it poses to the security of the United States and our allies. The so-called deal, unilaterally arranged without any consultation with Congress, lifts sanctions and effectively puts Iran on the path to the bomb after a 10-year horizon. The likelihood of Iran using those weapons against Israel, which its leaders call ‘little Satan' and have explicitly said they would like to 'erase off the map' and America, which it calls 'the Great Satan,' is unacceptably high. Under no circumstance should a U.S. President lift sanctions and grant nuclear capability to a nation that proudly chants 'Death to America.' ...This is a very bad deal and it is a grim day for America. President Obama is right to be concerned that it will likely face considerable opposition from the American people and their representatives in Congress. Because absent Congress' consent, it will not be binding when President Obama leaves office."[11]
Military preparedness and budget
- During a campaign event on February 16, 2016, in South Carolina, Ted Cruz discussed rebuilding the military and the culture of “political correctness” at the Pentagon. Veterans are a significant voting block in the state and the speech comes as Marco Rubio has criticized Cruz for voting against military spending. Cruz said, "I am confident that if we put in the hard work we can, as Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s, rebuild our military so it will be so feared by our enemies and trusted by our allies that, God willing, we won't have to use it. That is the essence of what President Reagan used to call 'peace through strength.'" He added, "That's why the last thing any commander should need to worry about is the grades he is getting from some plush-bottomed Pentagon bureaucrat for political correctness or social experiments -- or providing gluten-free MREs.”[12]
- Cruz broke from other Republicans on February 7, 2016, saying he did not support requiring women to register for the draft. Said Cruz, “My reaction was, 'Are you guys nuts?' We have had enough with political correctness especially in the military. Political correctness is dangerous and the idea that we would draft our daughters to forcibly bring them into the military and put them in close combat, I think is wrong. And if I am president, we ain't doing it! I'm the father of two little girls, and I love those little girls with all my heart. They are capable of doing anything in their heart's desire. But the idea that their government would forcibly put them in a foxhole with a 220-pound psychopath trying to kill them doesn't make any sense at all. It's yet one more sign of this politically correct world where we forget common sense.”[13]
- At the eighth Republican presidential primary debate on February 6, 2016, Cruz discussed the current military rules of engagement: "I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into [sic] fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating ISIS, we should use it. We should use overwhelming force, kill the enemy and then get the heck out. Don't engage in nation-building but instead, allow our soldiers to do their jobs instead of risking their lives with politicians making it impossible to accomplish the objective."[14]
- During a 2014 interview, Ted Cruz said, "I think it is a mistake to confuse war-weariness with an unwillingness of the American people to defend our national security interests. So for example, if you look at the willingness of the American people to act, and to act if necessarily (sic) militarily, to prevent the nation of Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons capability, you see considerable support among the American people for protecting our national security, not for invading a nation and staying there for decades, but for acting to defend ourselves against clear and present dangers. I don’t think the American people have retreated from a willingness to defend our nation."[15]
National security
- During a press conference on March 23, 2016, President Obama criticized Ted Cruz for recommending U.S. Muslim communities be monitored for radicalization. He said, “As far as the notion of having surveillance of neighborhoods where Muslims are present, I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which by the way, the father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free. The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. It's contrary to who we are. And it's not going to help us defeat ISIL.”[16]
- While defending his proposal to surveil Muslim communities during a CBS interview on March 23, 2016, Ted Cruz pointed to a similar but now defunct program enacted in New York City following the September 11 terrorist attacks. When CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell challenged that that initiative had not been effective, Cruz said, "It is true that the de Blasio political henchman say that. It is also true that the NYPD said it provided valuable intelligence." NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton responded that Cruz had "no idea what the hell he's talking about."[17]
- In response to the terrorist attacks that took place on March 22, 2016, in Brussels, Belgium, Ted Cruz issued a statement calling for the U.S. government to stop accepting refugees from “countries with a significant al-Qaeda or ISIS presence” and “to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.” Alice Stewart, a spokesperson for Cruz, added, "We know what is happening with these isolated Muslim neighborhoods in Europe. If we want to prevent it from happening here, it is going to require an empowered, visible law enforcement presence that will both identify problem spots and partner with non-radical Americans who want to protect their homes."[18]
- Ted Cruz expressed concern about the future of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base during a televised town hall on CNN on February 17, 2016. He said, “I fear by the end of this year President Obama plans to give the Guantanamo Navy Base back to Cuba. I hope he doesn’t do that. I think it is a profound risk.”[19]
- At the fifth GOP primary debate on December 15, 2015, Cruz said his foreign policy would focus on national security, which he argued would be a change in focus from President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Cruz said, “I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton - and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans - have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led NATO in toppling the government in Libya. They did it because they wanted to promote democracy. A number of Republicans supported them. The result of that - and we were told then that there were these moderate rebels that would take over. Well, the result is, Libya is now a terrorist war zone run by jihadists. Move over to Egypt. Once again, the Obama administration, encouraged by Republicans, toppled Mubarak who had been a reliable ally of the United States, of Israel, and in its place, Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood came in, a terrorist organization. And we need to learn from history. These same leaders - Obama, Clinton, and far too many Republicans - want to topple Assad. Assad is a bad man. Gadhafi was a bad man. Mubarak had a terrible human rights record. But they were assisting us - at least Gadhafi and Mubarak - in fighting radical Islamic terrorists. And if we topple Assad, the result will be ISIS will take over Syria, and it will worsen U.S. national security interests. And the approach, instead of being a Woodrow Wilson democracy promoter...we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill ISIS rather than creating opportunities for ISIS to take control of new countries.”[20]
- In a December 3, 2015, speech at the Jewish Republican Coalition presidential forum, Cruz also said that a Clinton presidency would lead to Iran gaining nuclear weapons. “We need to nominate a candidate who has the clarity to stand up and say: If you vote for Hillary Clinton, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khamenei to have nuclear weapons. And if you vote for me, Iran will never have nuclear weapons,” he said.[21]
- In an interview with the Associated Press published December 2, 2015, Cruz said there would be more stability in the Middle East if dictators in Iraq, Egypt and Libya had not been deposed. "If you topple a stable ruler, throw a Middle Eastern country into chaos and hand it over to radical Islamic terrorists, that hurts America," Cruz said. He added that removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power would be "materially worse for U.S. national security interests.”[22]
- In a radio interview on October 12, 2015, Cruz reiterated his belief that a "significant number" of the Syrian refugees the U.S. intended to accept in 2016 are "ISIS terrorists." He added, "You know under existing immigration law, the president has considerable leeway governing refugees, unfortunately. And so, I think the most potent tool is shining a light, and forcing Democrats to defend it, forcing them to defend why exactly would you want to bring in Syrian Muslims, when we don’t know, we can’t sort and separate, the ISIS terrorists who are among them.”[23]
- On October 5, 2015, Cruz opposed the Obama administration’s plan to accept thousands of Syrian refugees. “It would be the height of foolishness to bring in tens of thousands of people including jihadists that are coming here to murder innocent Americans,” said Cruz.[24]
- In September 2014, Cruz laid out a three-point strategy for destroying ISIS. He argued that the U.S. should secure the border, "make fighting for or supporting ISIS an affirmative renunciation of American citizenship" to prevent those who join ISIS from coming back to America to commit acts of terrorism and eliminate ISIS by attacking their financial assets and carrying out air strikes. Cruz also argued that the U.S. should not seek "consensus from the so-called international community" but should partner with "Israel, Jordan and the Kurds."[25]
- Cruz commented on the relationship between the Sunnis and Shiites in September 2014. He wrote, "We must reject the notion that any U.S. action be contingent on political reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites in Baghdad. The Sunnis and Shiites have been engaged in a sectarian civil war since 632. While we all wish the Iraqis success in their most recent attempt to form a government, it is the height of hubris and ignorance to make American national security contingent on the resolution of a 1,500-year-old religious conflict."[25]
- During an interview with The Texas Tribune in September 2014, Cruz criticized President George W. Bush for staying in Iraq for "too long" and for getting "far too involved in nation-building. We should not be trying to turn Iraq into Switzerland." Cruz also criticized President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. He said, "What has characterized the foreign policy is really more of a photo-op foreign policy than clear and distinct military objectives."[26]
- In August 2014, Cruz argued "that President Barack Obama must seek congressional authorization for U.S. strikes on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) if they continue," according to Time.[27]
- In January 2014, Cruz criticized the National Security Agency for being ineffective on identifying potential terror threats and for spying on U.S. citizens. Citing the murders of 13 people by Major Nadal Hassan at Fort Hood, Cruz said, "The federal government has not been effective enough monitoring and surveilling bad guys. We have not succeeded in preventing what should have been preventable terrorist attacks."[28]
- In 2013, Cruz argued that the U.S. should not get involved in the Syrian Civil War. He said, "America’s armed forces should not serve as 'al-Qaeda’s air force.'" according to The Economist.[29]
International relations
- Cruz penned an op-ed in The Times of London on April 27, 2016, to express his support for Britain if it chooses to leave the European Union in contrast to President Barack Obama. “If Brexit takes place, Britain will be at the front of the line for a free trade deal with America, not at the back. There is a vast amount of trade, commerce and investment between our two nations,” Cruz wrote.[30][31]
- Cruz criticized President Obama’s trip to Cuba during an interview with CNN on March 21, 2016. He said, "As Barack Obama is sitting there sipping mojitos with brutal Communist dictators, he can't be bothered to meet the dissidents, he can't be bothered to visit with the Ladies in White, he can't be bothered to hear the screams of oppression.” During the interview, Cruz also attacked Donald Trump for saying that “the U.S. should rethink its involvement in NATO.” Cruz said, "Everything I just said, I bet you dollars to donuts Donald Trump has no idea about any of that. It has been Russia's objective, it has been Putin's objective for decades to break NATO. What Donald Trump is saying that he would unilaterally surrender to Russia and Putin, give Putin a massive foreign policy victory by breaking NATO and abandoning Europe."[32]
- Cruz wrote an op-ed in Politico on March 20, 2016, condemning President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba over the weekend. “The White House keeps saying that this trip will chart a new course for people-to-people relations, but all that Obama’s appeasement of the Castro dictatorship has done so far is create a channel for inside deals between large corporations and the Cuban military, which holds all the keys to the island’s economy. The effect will not be liberalization but rather the institutionalization of the Communist dictatorship,” he wrote.[33]
- At the eighth Republican presidential primary debate on February 6, 2016, Ted Cruz discussed how he would respond to the North Korea missile launch: "Well, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons.They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea."[34]
- During an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Cruz criticized the Obama administration in connection with the release of four Americans. He said, "We celebrate all of them coming home. But at the same time, this deal is a really problematic deal and it reflects a pattern we've seen in the Obama administration over and over again of negotiating with terrorists and making deals and trades that endanger U.S. safety and security.This deal, to bring back Americans who were wrongly imprisoned, we released seven terrorists who had helped Iran with their nuclear program, and we agreed not to prosecute another 14 terrorists for doing the same thing. That's 21 terrorists helping Iran develop nuclear weapons that they intend to use to try to murder us."[35]
- Discussing his immigration policies during a radio interview on January 12, 2016, Cruz criticized the Bill Clinton administration’s decision to return Elian Gonzalez to Cuba in 2000. When asked about it, Cruz said that the U.S. government “sent goons in to snatch a six-year-old boy and wrongly return him to an oppressive Communist dictatorship. That was a sad day for America when you saw the federal government sending stormtroopers with machine guns to grab a six-year-child whose mother had died trying to give him freedom and instead for us to send him back to Fidel Castro.”[36]
- Cruz blamed President Obama and Hillary Clinton for North Korea’s allegedly successful test of a hydrogen bomb, accusing them of permitting a “megalomaniacal maniac to acquire nuclear weapons, and now potentially a hydrogen weapon.” He added, “When we look at North Korea it is like looking at a crystal ball. This is where Iran ends up if we continue on the same misguided path.”[37]
- Cruz co-signed a December 18, 2015, letter with 31 members of Congress calling on Secretary of State John Kerry to revoke the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s waiver allowing them to keep an office in Washington, D.C. Cruz said in a statement, “Our close ally Israel is enduring another wave of Palestinian terrorism in the form of car-ramming, rock-throwing, and brutal knife attacks. These horrific acts of terrorism are due to the continued incitement and glorification of violence by Palestinian leadership. Just last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the recent attacks a ‘justified popular uprising’ following his remarks in September, in which he said, ‘We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem.’ … We must make it clear such actions are blatantly unacceptable and close the PLO office in Washington, D.C.”[38]
- On November 4, 2015, Cruz criticized China in a speech on the Senate floor for its policy of forced abortions and sex-selection abortions to control the population. He said, “In America, we should stand with victims of oppression. In America, we should stand with Christians being persecuted by the brutal communist totalitarian dictatorship. In America, we should stand for women’s rights, for women being forced to commit forced abortions. These are horrific acts of brutality. They are inhumane. They are contrary not only to American values, but to human rights across the globe, and they are carried out as a matter of policy.”[39]
- The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said Cruz’s Senate hearing this week on terrorism was “biased and inflammatory” in a statement on Thursday. It added, “The growing and alarming trend in the United States to dehumanize Palestinians must be stopped and opposed by all who seek an end to the decades long conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.” Cruz said, “It is not surprising a terrorist organization like the PLO is upset with the truths that were told at our hearing yesterday.” During the 114th Congress, Cruz served as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts.[40]
- Cruz introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act on November 3, 2015, a Senate bill that would express the “sense of Congress” that the Muslim Brotherhood qualified as a terrorist organization and to require the State Department respond in 60 days whether it agreed.[41]
- In an October 21, 2015, preview of an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Cruz said the U.S. should not “dictate” how Israel interacts with Palestine. Cruz said, “In my view America has no appropriate role dictating the terms of a peace settlement. If Israel chooses to negotiate and reach a settlement with the Palestinian Authority, that is Israel’s right as a sovereign state and America can help provide a fair forum for negotiations. But it is not the role of the American government to attempt to lecture the Israeli people or dictate terms of peace.”[42]
- Cruz, along with GOP Congressional leaders, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office on September 22, 2015, outlining a constitutional objection to the transfer of internet oversight power to a foreign body. “If the contract governing U.S. oversight of the Internet is indeed government property, the Administration’s intention to cede control to the ‘global stakeholder community’ – including nations like Iran, Russia and China that do not value free speech and in fact seek to stifle it – is in violation of the Constitution and should be stopped,” Cruz said in a statement on September 29, 2015.[43][44]
- A spokesman for Cruz said on September 9, 2015, that Cruz did not support accepting a large number of refugees from the Middle East. “Sen. Cruz is advocating for humanitarian assistance to the refugees from both Syria and Iraq and North Africa. However, given the logistical challenges and the security risk posed by resettling large numbers of them far afield in the U.S., he is not in favor of this plan if the ultimate intent is to return them to their homes. As I’m sure you are aware, Cuba is 90 miles from the United States, so this was not the case with the senator’s father,” the spokesman said, referring in closing to Cruz’s father who was a refugee from Cuba.[45]
- Cruz introduced a bill on July 22, 2015, to rename the street in front of the newly opened Cuban Embassy after Oswaldo Payá, a Cuban political activist. Cruz noted the torture of his aunt by the Castro regime before saying, “There is absolutely no reason to legitimize and enrich them now, and it is my hope that this gesture will reassure those fighting for freedom in Cuba that there are still some in the United States who stand with them.”[46]
- During a May 2014 interview Cruz said, "I think we should be far more outspoken supporting what’s going on in Venezuela right now. We’re seeing rebels and students standing up for freedom and Maduro’s using Cuban thugs to torture and murder the rebels. And unfortunately, the administration is being all but silent on this. And I think there is a voice for freedom that the American people understand and respect, the power of the United States leadership in the world in addition to that."[15]
ISIS and terrorism
- During the seventh Republican presidential primary debate on January 28, 2016, Ted Cruz talked about his plan to carpet bomb ISIS: “Well, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after ISIS, hunt them down wherever they are, and utterly and completely destroy ISIS. You know, you claim it is tough talk to discuss carpet bombing. It is not tough talk. It is a different, fundamental military strategy than what we've seen from Barack Obama. Barack Obama right now, number one, over seven years, has dramatically degraded our military. You know, just two weeks ago was the 25th anniversary of the first Persian Gulf war. When that war began, we had 8,000 planes. Today, we have about 4,000. When that war began, we had 529 ships. Today, we have 272. You want to know what carpet bombing is? It's what we did in the first Persian Gulf war; 1,100 air attacks a day, saturation bombing that utterly destroyed the enemy. Right now, Barack Obama is launching between 15 and 30 air attacks a day. He's not arming the Kurds. We need to define the enemy. We need to rebuild the military to defeat the enemy. And we need to be focused and lift the rules of engagement so we're not sending our fighting men and women into combat with their arms tied behind their backs.”[47]
- Speaking with reporters during a rally in Iowa on December 5, 2015, Ted Cruz reiterated the importance of aggressive military action against the Islamic State. He said, “We won’t weaken them. We won’t degrade them. We will utterly destroy them. We will carpet bomb them into oblivion. We will arm the Kurds. We will do everything necessary so that every militant on the face of the earth will know if you go and join ISIS, if you wage jihad and declare war on America, you are signing your death warrant.”[48]
- Cruz said November 15, 2015, that Christians posed “no meaningful risk of” terrorism. He added, “ If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation. But it is precisely the Obama administration’s unwillingness to recognize that or ask those questions that makes them so unable to fight this enemy. Because they pretend as if there is no religious aspect to this.”[49]
- In a statement on his website, Cruz discussed how to proceed in the fight against ISIS after the Paris terrorist attacks. He said, "We must now face the facts. Between the downing of the Russian jet over Egypt and this massive coordinated attack on Paris, we are seeing an unmistakable escalation of ISIS’ ambitions and the scale of their terrorist attacks outside Syria and Iraq. Even as chaos rages in Paris, we need to take immediate, commonsense steps to preserve our own safety. We need to consult closely with our NATO allies who may be targeted for additional attacks. We need to immediately declare a halt to any plans to bring refugees that may have been infiltrated by ISIS to the United States. We need to redouble our efforts to prevent ISIS agents from penetrating our nation by other means. Such steps, however, are defensive reactions to an enemy that will continue to try to attack us until they succeed once again. We must immediately recognize that our enemy is not 'violent extremism.' It is the radical Islamism that has declared jihad against the west. It will not be appeased by outreach or declarations of tolerance. It will not be deterred by targeted airstrikes with zero tolerance for civilian casualties, when the terrorists have such utter disregard for innocent life. We must make it crystal clear that affiliation with ISIS and related terrorist groups brings with it the undying enmity of America—that it is, in effect, signing your own death warrant."[50]
- Cruz said in a Fox News interview on November 14, 2015, that the Paris terrorist attacks highlights that the U.S.'s "enemy is radical Islamic terrorism." He said, "As long as we have a commander-in-chief unwilling to even to utter the words, 'radical Islamic terrorism,' we will not have a concerted effort to defeat these radicals before they continue to murder more and more innocents, whether Europeans, or Israelis, or Americans. … President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s idea that we should bring tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees to America is nothing less than lunacy."[51]
- In the same interview, Cruz said that refugee assistance should be focused on Christians. He said, "Those who are fleeing persecution, should be resettled in the Middle East, in majority Muslim countries. Now on the other hand, Christians who are being targeted, for genocide, for persecution, Christians who are being beheaded or crucified, we should be providing safe haven to them."[51]
Syrian refugees
- After two refugees from the Middle East were arrested in Texas on terror-related charges on January 7, 2016, Cruz called for “a systematic and careful retroactive assessment of refugees brought in from high-risk countries to examine the public record, to examine all of the evidence that might indicate whether these individuals have ties to radical Islamic terrorists.”[52]
- In a December 9, 2015, interview on NPR, Cruz defended his bill to halt refugees from ISIS and al-Qaeda-controlled territory being resettled in the U.S. He said there should be an exception for Christians coming from those regions. "What is happening to the Christians by ISIS is qualitatively different. They are facing genocide in that ISIS is attempting to exterminate the Middle Eastern Christians in a way that is qualitatively different from other people,” he said, arguing his bill did not “impose a religious test.” Cruz introduced a bill on December 8, 2015, that would allow states to opt out from receiving refugees. Cruz also introduced a measure on November 18 that would bar refugees to the United States from any country, such as Iraq or Syria, that contains territory substantially controlled by a foreign terrorist organization. The bill would expire after three years. Earlier in 2015, on January 22, Cruz introduced legislation that would allow government officials to strip American citizenship from alleged supporters of designated terrorist groups.[53]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Ted + Cruz + Foreign + Affairs
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "Ted Cruz drops out of presidential race," May 3, 2016
- ↑ Breitbart, "Ted Cruz at AIPAC: Iran deal is like Munich in 1938, arming Israel's enemy," March 21, 2016
- ↑ The Dallas Morning News, "Ted Cruz calls Obama communist, gloats about Boehner quitting, threatens to assassinate Iran’s supreme leader," September 25, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "CNN REAGAN LIBRARY DEBATE: Later Debate Full Transcript," September 16, 2015
- ↑ USA Today, "Ted Cruz: Deal is a catastrophic threat to security," September 10, 2015
- ↑ American Thinker, "A Conversation with Ted Cruz," September 1, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Cruz wants delay in Iran review period because of 'side deals'," July 31, 2015
- ↑ National Journal, "Ted Cruz Says the Iran Nuclear Deal Could Lead to ‘Tens of Millions of Americans Dying’," July 21, 2015
- ↑ National Journal, "How the 2016 Presidential Candidates Are Reacting to the Iran Deal," July 14, 2015
- ↑ Cruz.Senate.gov, "Ted Cruz: Letter to The Honorable John Kerry," accessed April 18, 2015
- ↑ Cruz.Senate.gov, "Cruz: Under no circumstance should a U.S. President lift sanctions and grant nuclear capability to a nation that proudly chants 'Death to America'," accessed April 10, 2015
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Ted Cruz promises military no 'gluten-free' MREs," February 16, 2016
- ↑ Mother Jones, "Ted Cruz Slams Idea of Women in Combat," February 7, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript of the New Hampshire GOP debate, annotated," February 6, 2016
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Wall Street Journal, "Sens. Ted Cruz and Jack Reed Discuss U.S. Foreign Policy: Transcript," May 1, 2014
- ↑ Sam Sanders, NPR,"Ted Cruz Criticized After Suggesting Law Enforcement Patrol Muslim Areas," March 23, 2016
- ↑ Reena Flores, CBS News, "Ted Cruz defends call to police U.S. Muslim neighborhoods," March 23, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Ted Cruz calls for law enforcement to ‘patrol and secure’ Muslim neighborhoods," March 22, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Cruz: Obama 'plans' to give Guantanamo back to Cuba," February 17, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "Rush Transcript second debate: CNN Facebook Republican Presidential Debate," December 15, 2015
- ↑ Forward, "Ted Cruz Says a Vote for Hillary Clinton is a Vote for Nuclear Iran," December 3, 2015
- ↑ AP: The Big Story, "AP Conversation: Cruz: US more secure with Assad in power," December 2, 2015
- ↑ Buzzfeed, "Ted Cruz: U.S. Will Stop Taking Syrian Refugees 'Immediately If I’m Elected President'," October 12, 2015
- ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "Republican 2016 hopeful Cruz says letting Syrian refugees into US is 'nothing short of crazy,'" October 5, 2015
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 CNN.com, "Ted Cruz: How U.S. can stop ISIS," accessed March 6, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "Ted Cruz: I Think We Stayed Too Long In Iraq," September 24, 2014
- ↑ Time, "Ted Cruz: Obama Must Seek Congressional Authorization For Iraq Strikes," August 9, 2014
- ↑ NBC News, "Cruz seeks to refocus NSA debate on 'bad guys'," January 16, 2014
- ↑ The Economist, "To bomb, or not to bomb?" accessed December 10, 2014
- ↑ The Times of London, "Britain will be at the front of the queue for a US trade deal," April 27, 2016
- ↑ USA Today, "Ted Cruz on Brexit: U.K. 'will be at front' of trade queue," April 27, 2016
- ↑ CNN, "5 candidates make closing arguments on CNN ahead of Western Tuesday," March 22, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "In Cuba, Obama Will Legitimize the Corrupt and Ignore the Oppressed," March 20, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Transcript of the New Hampshire GOP debate, annotated," February 6, 2016
- ↑ The Hill, "Cruz blasts 'dangerous' prisoner swap with Iran," January 17, 2016
- ↑ BuzzFeed, "Ted Cruz Calls Elian Gonzalez Saga “A Sad Day For America,” January 13, 2016
- ↑ The Huffington Post, "Ted Cruz Says North Korea Bomb Test Foreshadows Where Iran Is Headed," January 6, 2016
- ↑ Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator for Texas, "Cruz, Meadows to Secretary Kerry: Close the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Office in Washington, D.C.," accessed December 22, 2015
- ↑ LifeNews.com, "Ted Cruz Blasts China’s Population Control: 'If We Stand for Women, Stand Against Forced Abortions'," November 5, 2015
- ↑ The Dallas Morning News, "Palestine Liberation Organization pans Ted Cruz for ‘biased and inflammatory’ hearing," November 5, 2015
- ↑ The Hill, "Cruz bill would designate Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist group," November 4, 2015
- ↑ The Jerusalem Post, "US Senator and presidential contender issues scathing rebuke of Obama administration's handling of the Mideast conflict," October 21, 2015
- ↑ BuzzFeed News, "Ted Cruz Raises Constitutional Objections To The U.S. Giving Up Internet Governance," September 29, 2015
- ↑ Documentcloud.org, "Congressional Letter to Comptroller General," September 22, 2015
- ↑ The Daily Beast, "Ted Cruz, Son of a Refugee, Tells Syrian Refugees to Go Home," September 9, 2015
- ↑ The Blaze, "Ted Cruz Offers New Name for Street in Front of Cuban Embassy Castro Regime Probably Won’t Like," July 22, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "7th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," January 28, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Ted Cruz vows to ‘utterly destroy ISIS’ and ‘carpet bomb’ terrorists," December 5, 2015
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Cruz: ‘No meaningful risk’ of Christians committing terrorism," November 15, 2015
- ↑ TedCruz.org, "Cruz: America Must Stand With Our Allies Against the Scourge of Radical Islamic Terrorism," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ 51.0 51.1 Breitbart, "Cruz: Obama 'Does Not Wish to Defend This Country,' Refugee Plan 'Nothing Less Than Lunacy,'" accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ CNN Politics, "Cruz calls for 'retroactive assessment of refugees' after U.S. terror arrests," January 8, 2016
- ↑ NPR, "Cruz Won't Criticize Trump But Offers His Own Plan To Bar Refugees," December 9, 2015
