Campaign Statements — The Arab Spring
Wednesday February 22, 2012
“Syria is [Iran’s] key ally. It’s their only ally in the Arab world. It is also their route to the sea. Syria provides a shadow over Lebanon. Syria is providing the armament of Hezbollah in Lebanon that, of course, threatens Israel, our friend and ally.
We have very bad news that’s come from the Middle East over the past several months, a lot of it in part because of the feckless leadership of our president. But one little piece of good news, and that is the key ally of Iran, Syria, has a leader that’s in real trouble. And we ought to grab a hold of that like it’s the best thing we’ve ever seen.
There’s things that we’re having a hard time getting our hands around, like, what’s happening in Egypt. But in Syria, with Assad in trouble, we need to communicate to the Alawites, his friends, his ethnic group, to say, look, you have a future if you’ll abandon that guy Assad.
We need to work with Saudi Arabia and with Turkey to say, you guys provide the kind of weaponry that’s needed to help the rebels inside Syria. This is a critical time for us.
If we can turn Syria and Lebanon away from Iran, we finally have the capacity to get Iran to pull back. And we could, at that point, with crippling sanctions and a very clear statement that military action is an action that will be taken if they pursue nuclear weaponry, that could change the course of world history.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Iran | Mitt Romney |
Wednesday February 22, 2012
“We clearly should have our allies—this is an old- fashioned word—have our allies covertly helping destroy the Assad regime. There are plenty of Arab-speaking [sic] groups that would be quite happy. There are lots of weapons available in the Middle East.
And I agree with Senator Santorum’s point. This is an administration which, as long as you’re America’s enemy, you’re safe. You know, the only people you’ve got to worry about is if you’re an American ally.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Newt Gingrich |
Wednesday February 22, 2012
“Syria is a puppet state of Iran. They are a threat not just to Israel, but they have been a complete destabilizing force within Lebanon, which is another problem for Israel and Hezbollah. They are a country that we can do no worse than the leadership in Syria today, which is not the case, and some of the other countries that we readily got ourselves involved in.
So it’s sort of remarkable to me we would have—here again, it’s the timidness of this president in dealing with the Iranian threat, because Syria and Iran is an axis. And the president—while he couldn’t reach out deliberately to Iran but did reach out immediately to Syria and established an embassy there. And the only reason he removed that embassy was because it was threatened of being overtaken, not because he was objecting to what was going on in Syria.
This president has obviously a very big problem in standing up to the Iranians in any form. If this would have been any other country, given what was going on and the mass murders that we’re seeing there, this president would have quickly joined the international community, which is calling for his ouster and the stop of this, but he’s not. He’s not. Because he’s afraid to stand up to Iran.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Iran | Rick Santorum |
Wednesday February 22, 2012
“Here’s what I said—we need to get this—these pro-American Iranians who are there, who want freedom, want democracy, and want somebody to help them and support them. Well, we put some money out there and guess what? Barack Obama cut it when he came into office. And when the Green Revolution rose, the pro-democracy prose, we had nothing. We had no connection, no correlation and we did absolutely nothing to help them.
In the meantime, when the radicals in Egypt and the radicals in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood, when they rise against either a feckless leader or a friend of ours in Egypt, the president is more than happy to help them out.
When they’re going up against a dangerous theocratic regime that wants to wipe out the state of Israel, that wants to dominate the radical Islamic world and take on the great Satan, the United States, we do nothing. That is a president that must go. And you want a leader who will take them on? I’ll do that.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Iran | Rick Santorum |
Wednesday February 22, 2012
“The world is more dangerous. It is not safer. North Korea is going through transition. The Arab Spring has become the Arab Winter. Syria is in flux. And, of course, Pakistan, with 100 nuclear weapons or more, represents a potential threat. Northern Mexico is a real danger area.
I mean, looking around the world, you have Hezbollah in Latin America and Mexico. I mean, we face a very dangerous world. The right course is to add ships to our Navy, to modernize and add aircraft to our Air Force, to add 100,000 troops to our active-duty personnel, and to strengthen America’s military.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Mitt Romney | War on Terror |
Monday February 06, 2012
“The Assad regime is feeling the noose tightening around them. And we’re gonna just continue to put more and more pressure until hopefully we see a transition. This is not going to be a matter of if; it’s going to be a matter of when.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Barack Obama |
Monday February 06, 2012
“I said at the time with respect to Libya that we would be making these decisions…on a case by case basis based on how unified the international community was. But we have been relentless in sending a message that is was time for Assad to go, that the kind of violence that we’ve seen exercised against his own people over this weekend…is inexcusable.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Barack Obama |
Tuesday January 24, 2012
“How this incredible transformation will end remains uncertain. But we have a huge stake in the outcome. And while it’s ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their fate, we will advocate for those values that have served our own country so well. We will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings: men and women; Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Barack Obama |
Tuesday January 24, 2012
“As the tide of war recedes, a wave of change has washed across the Middle East and North Africa, from Tunis to Cairo, from Sana’a to Tripoli. A year ago, Qaddafi was one of the world’s longest serving dictators, a murderer with American blood on his hands. Today, he is gone. And in Syria, I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change cannot be reversed and that human dignity cannot be denied.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Barack Obama |
Monday January 16, 2012
“President Obama has dealt with it about as badly as possible. First he emboldened Assad by coming into office and establishing an embassy there, reestablishing diplomatic relationships, going through the process of trying to rehabilitate this tyrant. All, I’m sure, to the consternation of our friend, Israel who has consistently done the opposite, tried to step away and isolate Israel while at the time they’re trying to negotiate in a very difficult situation in their country.
With respect to Syria, look, Syria and Assad are a threat to Israel. I was the author of a bill when I was in the United States Senate to put sanctions on Syria. And in fact, they worked to get Syria out of Lebanon, which was—which was step number one. That’s no longer a viable option. We need to rally the international community, work and cooperate with removing Assad and work in—in concert with the Arab League, work with others.”
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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Israel/Palestine | Rick Santorum |
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Looking at Iran by James Zogby
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013
