Middle East

Donald Trump

Trump's Middle East (section page):

On Waterboarding

"I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding."(RD-8)

Iraq

• "I was totally against the war in Iraq and I was from the beginning, 2003, 2004 because you're going to destabilize the Middle East and I was right and should be given credit. Because that of everybody running, I'm the one person that said don't do it." (DTI)

Iran

• "If Iran was a stock you should go out and buy it, cause you'll quadruple." (RD1)

• Renegotiate Iran Nuclear Deal - Increase Sanctions & Ask for Prisoners Back
  • "I've never seen something so incompetently negotiated -- and I mean never" - September 2015 Tea Party Rally (DTS)
  • "“I think the deal is horrible,” Mr. Trump told Fox Business Network. “I think the deal is absolutely horrible for us, but it’s really, really bad for Israel.”" (DTI)
  • "The billionaire businessman said American negotiators should have began the process by insisting on getting the prisoners back. He said Iran would have refused, but afterward, “you double and triple up your sanctions” and it would change Iran’s tune."(DTI)

• US Prisoners in Iran
  • Took credit for release of four US prisoners because he's been "hitting [Iran] hard." (DTI)
  • "In Iran deal we get 4 prisoners. They get $150 billion, 7 most wanted and many off watch list. This will create great incentive for others!" - (17 Jan 16) (DTT)

Syria

• "Let Syria and ISIS fight. Why do we care? Let ISIS and Syria fight. And let Russia, they're in Syria already, let them fight ISIS." (DTI)

Bernie Sanders

Bernie's Middle East (section page)

• "I'm the former chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee, and in that capacity I learned a very powerful lesson about the cost of war, and I will do everything that I can to make sure that the United States does not get involved in another quagmire like we did in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country. We should be putting together a coalition of Arab countries who should be leading the effort. We should be supportive, but I do not support American ground troops in Syria." (DD1)

• "I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do." (DD1)

• "I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out." (DD2)

• "I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys ISIS, but one that does not get us involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of the Middle East but rather works around a major coalition of wealthy and powerful nations supporting Muslim troops on the ground. That's the kind of coalition we need and that's the kind of coalition I will put together" (DD3)

• Bernie Sanders supports the Iran Nuclear Deal as a way to give peace a chance prevent war in the Middle East which would endanger American lives. (WPI)

• “Israel has a right to exist in security, and at the same time the Palestinians have a state of their own.” (FTBI)

Chris Christie

Christie | Middle East | (section page)

• "She (Hillary Clinton) put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience" (regarding Clinton's e-mail scandal) (RD7)

Mr. Christie said in April that American combat troops might be needed to fight the Islamic State. “We have to be willing as Americans to say, if need be, we’ll also put soldiers into the fight.” He said he had “grave concerns” about a potential deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program, saying that an agreement would lead other Middle East nations to develop nuclear abilities, and that Tehran, as a state sponsor of terrorism, has “no basis to have earned our trust.” He has been sharply critical of President Obama’s warming of ties with Cuba, and of Americans who travel there, saying Cubans “can’t vote, they can’t speak, they can’t own property.” Addressing Russia’s support of separatist rebels in Ukraine, he said that Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, would be more fearful of him than of Mr. Obama. “I don’t believe, given who I am, that he would make the same judgment,” he said last summer. (NYT)

Iran Nuclear Deal

Christie opposes the pending nuclear deal with Iran, calling it “the single biggest disaster in the seven years of the Obama administration.” He claims that President Obama is pursuing the deal because he has “an absolutely quenchless thirst to have his name in the history books.” As for Iran:

“They’re the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They say ‘Death to America’ on a regular basis. They want to blow Israel off the map. And this president wants to give them the ability to get nuclear weapons? It is outrageous. It is immoral what’s happening. He should walk away from that table, and by the way, if we don’t have enough guts to do it, our allies should walk away from the table.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that Christie would tear up any deal on his first day in the Oval Office, as most of his GOP rivals have pledged to do:

“I’m not one of those guys who’s going to say to you, ‘On Day One, I will abrogate the agreement.… On Day One, I will look into and try to decide what to do with the agreement, depending on where we are at that moment. Because, by the way, it’s not just us involved anymore. We have a number of our allies around the world who’re at that table as well, and sanctions are most effective when not only we do it, but the other allies do it.” (Newsweek)

“When I stand across from King Hussein of Jordan and I say to him, ‘You have a friend again sir, who will stand with you to fight this fight,’ he’ll change his mind.”(NP) King Hussein died in 1999

Simplified Quotes

• Push Russia out of Middle East; establish US dominance. (Oct 2015)
• Arm Emiratis, Jordanians, & others before sending US troops. (Aug 2015)
• America should be clear to world about what we stand for. (Feb 2014)
• New isolationism, & reducing anti-terrorism, is dangerous. (Jul 2013)

(OTI:FP) Full quotes available on source.