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Cruz Campaign Press Release - Cruz Condemns the ISIS Terrorist Attacks on Paris

November 14, 2015


"We stand in solidarity with the people of France."

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Presidential candidate Ted Cruz appeared on Fox and Friends this morning to discuss the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris.

"First of all I want to say we stand in solidarity with the people of France with President Hollande with the families of all of the victims of these acts of horrific terrorism, and the American people are standing as one. We're grieving with a nation of France today. We're standing as your friend and ally."  Senator Cruz said.  "But secondly these attacks under score that we are facing an enemy who is fierce, who is relentless who is at war with us even if our own President does not understand that it is at war with us, and who will not stop until it is defeated.

"That enemy is radical Islamic terrorism. As long as we have a Commander-in-Chief unwilling to even 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 it's Europeans or Israelis or Americans." Senator Cruz concluded, "In a Cruz Administration we would be using overwhelming air power and the Kurds as our boots on the ground, and it would be clear to any militant on the face of the earth if you go and join ISIS, if you wage jihad against America, you're signing your death warrant."

Full transcript below.

TUCKER CARLSON: Presidential candidate Ted Cruz of Texas is live from Greenville, South Carolina. Good morning Senator Cruz. It's difficult to take obvious lessons away from a story that is still unfolding as this one is but to the extent that you can tell us, what does this suggest about America's path forward in the fight against terror?

TED CRUZ: Well, first of all I want to say we stand in solidarity with the people of France with President Hollande with the families of all of the victims of these acts of horrific terrorism, and the American people are standing as one. We're grieving with a nation of France today. We're standing as your friend and ally. But secondly these attacks underscore that we are facing an enemy who is fierce, who is relentless, who is at war with us even if our own president does not understand that it is at war with us, and who will not stop until it is defeated. That enemy is radical Islamic terrorism. As long as we have a Commander-in-Chief unwilling to even 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, whetherEuropeans or Israelis or Americans.

CARLSON: So France's immigration policy is under scrutiny this morning for fifty years immigrants have moved from the Middle East into France, some have been assimilated, many others have not and it looks like some of those committed those acts of terror last night. At exactly the moment we're looking at France, the United States is beginning to accept refugees from the battlefields of Syria some just landed in New Orleans, what do you think of the Administration's policy of paying for refugees from Syria to come here in large numbers, should they be halted?

CRUZ: You know President Obama and Hillary Clinton's idea that we should bring tens of thousands of Syria Muslim refugees to America is nothing less than lunacy.  If you look at the early waves of refugees that have flooded into Europe one estimate was that 77 percent of those refugees were young men, that's a very odd demographic for a refugee wave. The director of national intelligence here in America has said of those refugees in Europe, it is clear that a significant number of them may well be ISIS terrorists.

It makes no sense whatsoever for us to be bringing in refugees who our intelligence cannot determine if they are terrorists here to kill us or not. 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 that are being beheaded or crucified we should be providing safe haven to them.

But President Obama refuses to do that and all of this is a consequence of being unwilling to acknowledge – the President and his administration say it's violent extremism it is not random unconnected violent extremism it is particular form radical Islamism that takes the view that anyone that doesn't embrace their radical Islamic view must be murdered or forcibly converted. That's what we're seeing happening in Paris, it's what we're seeing happening in Israel.

And I am sorry to tell you, this will be coming to America. ISIS plans to bring these acts of terror to America it's one of the reasons that Congress needs to pass immediately the Expatriate Terrorist Act legislation that I've introduced that says that any American that travels abroad that joins ISIS that takes up arms and wages jihad against America, they immediately forfeit their citizenship. Because we should not be letting people use U.S. citizens and U.S. passports to come back to America and to wage jihad and murder innocent Americans just like we saw these terrorists do yesterday in Paris.

JOHN SCOTT: Senator Cruz, we have a couple of more questions for you. We have to take a quick break if you can stay with us we'll be back with you in South Carolina in just a moment.

SCOTT: We are back once again with Presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Senator, as you well know President Obama won the presidency in part by recognizing that Americans were tired of war. If you do succeed in winning the office, does it mean application of military force toward ISIS?

CRUZ: It means that we will have a Commander-in-Chief who takes seriously defeating radical Islamic terrorism. I recognize that Barack Obama does not wish to defend this country. That he may have been tired of war, but our enemies are not tired of killing us.

And they're getting stronger. Every region on earth has gotten worse under the Obama/Clinton foreign policy. Now that doesn't mean that we should be sending our sons and daughters to invade foreign countries and stay there forever and engage in nation building trying to turn Iraq into Switzerland. That's not what our object should be. But we need a commander in chief who says we will defeat radical Islamic terrorism.

Let me tell you what that would look like. That would look like number one, using overwhelming military power, particularly air power. You know in the first Persian Gulf War we had roughly 1,100 air attacks a day. Obama right now is doing 15 to 30 attacks a day. It's pinprick, it's photo op foreign policy.

Number two, we should be arming the Kurds. The Kurds are on the ground fighting ISIS. They are fierce allies of ours. They're out armed, and yet they are our the boots on the ground and Obama for political reasons, he doesn't want to upset Baghdad so he won't arm the Kurds.

In a Cruz Administration we would be using overwhelming air power and the Kurds as our boots on the ground, and it would be clear to any militant on the face of the earth if you go and join ISIS, if you wage jihad against America, you're signing your death warrant.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE: Senator Cruz, if it were to become President Cruz, what would you do differently in terms of the number of troops committed to the ground. The President saying that he will be committing 50 troops, also juxtaposed to this he is wanting to and intending to close GITMO.

CRUZ: You know, both of those are mistakes. Let's start with the latter — closing GTMO. If he does that, these are hardened terrorists. As we're releasing people from Guantanamo, a substantial percentage of them are returning to wage war against us.

I understand that President Obama and Hillary Clinton are ideologues and they don't recognize that enemies of America want to kill us. You look at the Bowe Bergdahl trade where we traded senior terrorist leaders for someone who is right now being tried for effectively deserting his troops.

That makes no sense, and then with regard to sending 50 troops. There's no reason to be putting our sons and daughters in harm's way without a military plan to keep them safe and to win.

What's missing, listen, our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are risking their life for us. But they have a Commander-in-Chief who has no strategy. He will not even utter the words radical Islamic terrorism. And he's not setting out to defeat them.

And I have to say the last major terrorist attack we saw in Paris, you know it was heartbreaking when you had every world leader just about marching and standing in solidarity with France. Nowhere to be found was President Obama. Nowhere to be found was Hillary Clinton. Nowhere to be found was John Kerry.

The Obama Administration abandoned our friend, the nation of France. When the rest of the world came together arm and arm to say we stand against radical Islamic terrorism, we need a president willing and able to do exactly that.

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Ted Cruz, Cruz Campaign Press Release - Cruz Condemns the ISIS Terrorist Attacks on Paris Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/314508

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