In Pakistan, KSA, Somalia lie roots of danger: Trump

The News International

June 15, 2016

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Says will suspend immigration when elected president
MANCHESTER/WASHINGTON: Republican Donald Trump on Monday placed responsibility for a mass shooting in Florida squarely at the feet of radical Muslims, who he said were entering the country amidst a flood of refugees and “trying to take over our children.”
He said roots of danger are taking ground in Pakistan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Somalia. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee drew on the country’s deadliest mass shooting to sharpen his vow to ban Muslim immigrants, proposing that the United States suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is “a proven history of terrorism.”
In his national security speech, Trump said it was time to “tell the truth about radical Islam,” the day after 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando by a gunman, likely self-radicalised, who had sworn allegiance to the rebel group Islamic State.
His comments contrasted sharply to those of Hillary Clinton, the wealthy businessman’s likely Democratic rival in the Nov. 8 election, who urged increased intelligence gathering and more airstrikes on Islamic State territory, and cautioned against “demonizing” the American Muslims.
“If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans — women and children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians and all people — then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now,” Trump told the crowd in New Hampshire.
He went on to lambaste Clinton’s policies, saying they would allow “hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East” to enter the United States without adequate security measures.
There would be “no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalization of... their children,” he said. “Not only their children, by the way. They’re trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is, and we don’t know what’s happening.”
Trump said that, if elected, he would use the executive authority of the presidency to impose stronger controls on immigration to protect Americans from attacks, fine-tuning his earlier campaign promise to temporarily ban the entry of foreign Muslims to shore up national security.
“When I’m elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats,” he said.
He noted that the parents of the Florida gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Trump said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.
The immigration ban, he said would last until “we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country. They’re pouring in, and we don’t know what we’re doing.”
Trump’s hard-line proposals on immigration have helped fuel his surge in popularity among some conservative voters. But they have also triggered heavy condemnation from minority and human rights activists, and his political opponents — many of whom have called his rhetoric racist. Trump has rejected the criticism, and has said he is often misunderstood by the media and his opponents.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama assailed Donald Trump and the Republican party for “loose talk” and anti-Muslim rhetoric on Tuesday, warning their populist campaign platform was dangerous and un-American.
Tearing in to “politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows,” a visibly angry Obama said that right-wing bombast had whipped up anger but done nothing to prevent terrorism.
Obama took specific aim at Trump´s controversial proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States on counterterrorism grounds. “Where does this stop?” Obama demanded, shedding his usual ‘no drama Obama’ public persona to denounce “language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence.”
“Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith?”
“We’re starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we’re fighting, where this can lead us.”
“What exactly would using this label accomplish?” Obama asked. “What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans?” he said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group. “Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?”
“The answer is none of the above,” said Obama. “There’s no magic to the phrase radical Islam. It’s a political talking point. It´s not a strategy.” “Not once has an advisor of mine said, ‘man, if we really use that phrase, we’re going to turn this whole thing around.’”
Obama said the idea that the administration is confused about the enemy “would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we’ve taken off the battlefield.” While parrying his political foes, Obama also sought to show Americans that the war against the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Libya, while slow, was being won.
He said the number of foreign fighters joining the extremists was plummeting. “ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well,” Obama said after a meeting of his National Security Council. “In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense.”