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Ben Carson on Homeland Security
Tea Party challenger in Republican primary
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New type of war means dirty bombs and cyberattacks
I find quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. He doesn't realize that war is very different than it used to be before. Now we have dirty bombs and cyber attacks. We have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can
explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. If we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished.
Source: Fox Business Republican 2-tier debate
, Jan 14, 2016
Rebuild B52's, submarines, missiles: all three need upgrades
Ben CARSON [to Trump & Rubio]: Our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines: they're 25 years old. Our Minuteman-3 missiles: they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers: 50 years old. If we don't get the
military right nothing else matters.Q [to Trump and Rubio]: Of the three legs of the triad that Dr. Carson mentioned, which is your priority?
TRUMP: For me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.
RUBIO:
at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized.
Source: 2015 CNN/Salem Republican two-tier debate
, Dec 15, 2015
Doesn't want ISIS to know if he condones torture or not
Q: Trump said we should bring back those enhanced interrogation techniques, which President Obama discontinued like waterboarding. Do you agree?
CARSON: I agree that there's no such thing as political correctness when you're fighting an enemy who wants to destroy you and everything that you have anything to do with.
And I'm not one who is real big on telling the enemy what we're going to do and what we're not going to do.
Q: But you would do that even though many consider waterboarding torture?
CARSON: As I said, I'm not real big on telling them what we would or would not do.
Source: ABC This Week 2015 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls
, Nov 22, 2015
Beef up intelligence gathering, including in mosques
Q: You have said we should monitor any churches or mosques where there is a lot of radicalization or things that are anti-American. How would you determine that?CARSON: Well, I said in the larger capacity that we should monitor anything --
mosques, church, school, you know, shopping center where there is a lot of radicalization going on.
Q But how would you know that is happening?
CARSON: Intelligence. We have intelligence on the ground already. We do need to enhance that. For instance, we've learned last week that the FBI seems to be only to be able to monitor 30 to 60 people at a time.
And we know there's a lot more than that that needs to be monitored. We need to get very serious about our intelligence.
Source: ABC This Week 2015 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls
, Nov 22, 2015
Keep 2nd amendment rights for people on terror watchlist
Q: Under the current law, people on the terror watchlist are permitted to buy guns, have been permitted to buy guns and explosives. Would you continue that?CARSON: Well, as you, I'm sure, know, there are a lot of people on that watchlist and they have
no idea why they're on that list and they've been trying to get their names off of it and no one will give them information. You know, I am a big supporter of the Second Amendment, and I don't want to deprive people unnecessarily of that.
There needs to be better due process. And that's one thing that I'm very interested in finding a way to make government more responsive to the people. It's really unfair that people can't get a real hearing.
And they get put on a list and nobody can tell them why they're there, and they go through for years and years and they have to be tormented. It just doesn't make any sense.
Source: ABC This Week 2015 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls
, Nov 22, 2015
Goal of global jihadists is to destroy our way of life
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? In order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate.
Look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. Our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us.
Source: Fox Business/WSJ Second Tier debate
, Nov 10, 2015
Religion not sufficient probable cause to track
Q: You said a few weeks ago that bringing in people from the Middle East right now carries extra danger and we cannot put our people at risk because we are trying to be politically correct.
Let's imagine some of those refugees get into the United States. For authorities to track emails, cell phone calls, they usually need to have probable cause.
Do you think in some instances, religion should be enough for probable cause?CARSON: I personally don't feel that way, but I would certainly be willing to listen to somebody who had evidence to the contrary.
I think that's one of the problems, we get to our little corners and we don't want to listen to anybody anymore.
Source: ABC This Week 2015 interview on Syrian Refugee crisis
, Sep 27, 2015
Use intellect instead of aggression in some circumstances
CARSON: I have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things.
CHRISTIE: While that may be a fine idea, with [Al Qaeda on 9/11], these people were out to kill us.
CARSON: There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we
are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago.
It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. There are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military.
RUBIO: But radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect.
Source: 2015 Republican two-tiered primary debate on CNN
, Sep 16, 2015
Don't tie military's hands in terrorism fight, even torture
Q: In one of his first acts as commander in chief, Pres. Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding?CARSON: What we do in order to get the information
that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We've gotten into this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. The left, of course, will say
Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention: Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the
generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it extremely effectively.
Source: Fox News/Facebook Top Ten First Tier debate transcript
, Aug 6, 2015
Our armed forces are at smallest size in decades
We have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-
deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing.Our friends can't trust us
anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons.
We turned our back on Israel, our ally. In a situation like
[military action after Syria crossed the "redline" of chemical weapons], of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work.
Source: Fox News/Facebook Top Ten First Tier debate transcript
, Aug 6, 2015
ISIL is clear threat; aggressively commit to its destruction
Republican presidential candidates are harshly critiquing President Obama's comments regarding the lack of a "complete strategy" to confront ISIS in Iraq. "We don't yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis,"
the president stated at the G-7 conference in Germany. He highlighted difficulties recruiting Iraqi soldiers, preventing the foreign inflow of ISIS fighters, and resolving sectarian tensions in the war-torn country.Soon afterward, several GOP
candidates seized the opportunity to attack Obama while touting their own foreign policy platforms. A spokesman for Ben Carson wrote that "Dr. Carson believes that ISIL presents a very clear, very real threat and the U.S. should be aggressive and
committed to ISIL's destruction."
Foreign policy will likely be a key issue in the 2016 race. All of the GOP candidates, with the exception of Sen. Rand Paul, are hawks (and even the Kentucky senator has supported airstrikes against ISIS).
Source: RealClearPolitics 2015 coverage: 2016 presidential hopefuls
, Jun 9, 2015
Shia-led Iran is more dangerous than ISIL
On Iran, Carson says Congress must be involved in Iran deal. In his CPAC remarks this year, Carson expressed concern that the Shia-led government in Iran may be more dangerous than the Islamic State militant group. On CNN, he was critical of
President Obama's negotiations with Iran, saying Congress needed a strong role in the process. He supported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress [denouncing Obama's nuclear limitation deal with Iran].
Source: PBS Newshour on 2015 Conservative Political Action Conf.
, May 3, 2015
Give the military the tools they need to meet our needs
- I am alarmed at what this administration is doing to our military. I cannot support what is happening. I very much look forward to working with the Joint Chief's and giving them the tools they need to meet our needs. Frankly, too many of our
military funding decisions are not rooted in what our military leaders want, but what others want for them. That must stop.
- I strongly favor removing the ban on soldiers being armed on military installations immediately. At the same time,
I think we need to respect the chain of Command. Remove the ban, and allow the military to decide for themselves.
- We need to have the strength to stop those bullying with brutal force. At the same time, we cannot afford insinuating ourselves into
every conflict around the globe. One only need look to the history of the Roman Empire to learn significant lessons about what happens when military forces are stretched too thin.
Source: Ben Carson's Facebook page, cited on 2016committee.org
, Feb 18, 2014
Roman Empire fell because military was stretched too thin
Being prepared to protect ourselves does not mean endless expansion of the military budget or insinuating ourselves into every conflict around the globe. One only need look to the history of the Roman Empire to learn significant lessons about what
happens when military forces are stretched too thin. The Romans suffered many humiliating losses as a result, which affected the esprit de corps, leading to further erosion of a once fierce fighting force.
Also, their need for ever-increasing funding led to burdensome taxes and trumped-up reasons to confiscate private property, particularly that belonging to the wealthy. The loss of a national vision, erosion of morality, and totally
irresponsible fiscal policies led to the destruction of what was perhaps the greatest empire the world had ever known. Our nation should keep this in mind when evaluating trouble spots around the world and considering our level of involvement.
Source: America the Beautiful, by Ben Carson, p.131
, Jan 24, 2012
Ethical world leadership stops bullies with brutal force
A large void in ethical world leadership has been present for quite a while, and this is a perfect time for the US to step forward and offer effective, morally consistent policies unconstrained by political correctness. If a bully faction or bully nation
is beating up on those with whom it disagrees, we should immediately stop them with brutal force, if necessary, because it is the right thing to do. If that were done consistently, such incidents would cease almost immediately.I mention political
correctness here because it only hampers effectiveness. For example, a lot of time, effort, and lives were wasted in Fallujah, Iraq, because the terrorists were hiding among the people and using them as shields. Political correctness dictates that we
play their game. I would have announced via bullhorn and leaflets that in 72 hours Fallujah was going to become part of the desert because there were substantial numbers of terrorists hiding there. This would have given people time to flee.
Source: America the Beautiful, by Ben Carson, p.136
, Jan 24, 2012
Confront radical violent elements of all religions
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all sprang from the seed of Abraham, which might lead one to believe that the religious should have enough in common to peacefully coexist. Since the vast majority of each religion's constituents embrace the concept of
peace, it is incumbent upon those members to control their radical elements. This means they have to confront the radical elements who advocate violence and often the very principles that constitute their belief system.
This must be done both publicly and privately, and they have to use every means available to them to eliminate this cancer among them. If they are afraid or refuse to stand up to the radicals among them, they will share in the guilt for the
worldwide holocaust that will ensue. The only way in which religious division will not be highly destructive is if people embrace and live up to the precepts and principles of their respective religions.
Source: America the Beautiful, by Ben Carson, p.164-165
, Jan 24, 2012
Page last updated: Mar 13, 2021