Ted Cruz: U.S. Must Join Allies Against ‘Radical Islamic Terrorism’

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz said, “America must stand with our allies against the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism.”

The 2016 GOP contender said in a statement that radical Islamic terrorism does not discriminate in its aim to murder those who do not “submit to their vicious, totalitarian ideology.”

Cruz continued:

This is an evil that does not discriminate between French, German or American, Christian, Muslim or Jew, soldier, football player, or concert goer. … Our deepest condolences go out to our French allies, and I know the government of the United States stands by to offer any assistance necessary.

We must now face the facts. Between the downing of the Russian jet over Egypt and this massive coordinated attack on Paris, we are seeing an unmistakable escalation of ISIS’ ambitions and the scale of their terrorist attacks outside Syria and Iraq. Even as chaos rages in Paris, we need to take immediate, commonsense steps to preserve our own safety. We need to consult closely with our NATO allies who may be targeted for additional attacks. We need to immediately declare a halt to any plans to bring refugees that may have been infiltrated by ISIS to the United States. We need to redouble our efforts to prevent ISIS agents from penetrating our nation by other means.

Cruz recognizes, however, that these steps “are defensive reactions to an enemy that will continue to try to attack us until they succeed once again.”

“We must immediately recognize that our enemy is not ‘violent extremism,’” he explained, adding:

It is the radical Islamism that has declared jihad against the West. It will not be appeased by outreach or declarations of tolerance. It will not be deterred by targeted airstrikes with zero tolerance for civilian casualties, when the terrorists have such utter disregard for innocent life.

“We must make it crystal clear that affiliation with ISIS and related terrorist groups brings with it the undying enmity of America—that it is, in effect, signing your own death warrant,” Cruz added.