Madeleine Albright: Donald Trump Comments are Dangerous to American Security
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright weighed in on the fight against ISIS and America’s broader war on terrorism.
Albright first explained why she felt Hillary Clinton’s experience prepared her to handle the war on terrorism as the next potential president.
“I think being a calm, experienced leader with a steady hand and a great brain and somebody who understands the context of what is going on is exactly what we need in terms of the difficulties and she does have a plan for dealing not only with ISIS but with terrorist sponsored states,” Albright told the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.
Albright also assessed the Obama Administration’s handling of the fight against ISIS.
“The Obama Administration was left with a very bad situation at the beginning of the term. They have been systematically working to get better intel, I think it’s not easy. And I think part of the thing that’s interesting is that they have cut down the amount of territorial space that ISIS has. They are now working in terms of getting our arms around it as you put it.”
Albright then compared Clinton’s foreign policy experience versus Donald Trump’s comments on the campaign trail.
“We cannot get rid of them by carpet-bombing or deciding that nobody’s going to come to the United States. I think we need to have allies in the Muslim world, because more Muslims are being killed by ISIS, so it’s a complex aspect. You need somebody that actually understands it and not somebody who just makes slogan statements that don’t make any sense.”
Albright viewed the removal of Bashar Assad as the president of Syria as an important step in resolving the crisis in the country and winning the fight against ISIS.
“Assad is not a legitimate leader for the Syrians. There has to be a way to move him out and to find the right people in Syrian whole political situation to try to get a political settlement. I think it is not easy to just move another leader out and sometimes we’ve done it in a way that hasn’t helped.”
Albright responded to accusations that the fight against ISIS is not a focus of the Obama Administration.
“No, it’s not a fair statement, I think it’s very much a part of his focus. I think the question is whether you scare everybody all the time. I am very saddened by the fact, or furious if I might put it that way, in terms of using the fear factor to do a policy. And I think the president very much appreciates and understands what needs to be done. But I think the Republican Convention was nothing but fear factor and we cannot have a policy that operates that way.”
Albright weighed in on the role of NATO in U.S. national security.
“Well, I think we have to understand what NATO is. NATO is the strongest military alliance in the history of the world. There are partners in it, members that are all committed to defending each other and I do think it’s important for them to pay their fair share. They are doing that, they are also providing troops in Afghanistan and are very good partners.”
Albright then responded to Trump’s comments on NATO.
“I think the kinds of things that Donald Trump said are damaging and dangerous to American security. NATO is the basis of how we make sure that our allies are safe. And for him to kind of act as if he’s blackmailing our partners, they have to contribute, but they are partners and we need to have a functioning NATO. And frankly, what he has been saying is the most irresponsible and dangerous thing that I have ever heard a presidential candidate say about our major alliance.”
According to Albright, Trump was undermining the importance of NATO with his comments.
“The kinds of things Trump has been saying are dangerous and hysterical.”