Monday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said his opponents Donald Trump and Ben Carson’s recent comments about immigration policy and energy independence effects on the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were “beyond bizarre.”
Graham said, “If you don’t take the Taliban down after 9/11, then you don’t understand the war. So Trump and Carson both said they would not have gone into Afghanistan after 9/11. The Taliban invited al Qaeda into their country to be their honored guest to launch attack against our nation. President George W. Bush did the exact right thing in taking the Taliban down. So to me, it is beyond bizarre that after 9/11, you would leave the Taliban in place. And some idea that Saudis and other Gulf Arab states would find bin Laden if we declared energy independence makes no sense to me. When Trump says that he would have prevented this, 16 of the 90 hijackers were here legally. So I guess you could say nobody could ever come to the country, but at the end of the day, I don’t blame George W. Bush. But I’d ask both of our frontrunners to sit down with General Keane, General Petraeus and others, and get a briefing about how the world actually works.”
Host Bill Hemmer replied, “Take Trump now. I mean, the hijackers were here, nine of them in late ’90s,” which caused Graham to add, “Legally.”
Graham continued, “He should tell us how. So how do you do that? He said that he would not have gone into the Afghanistan, that it was a mess to go to Afghanistan. Well, Mr. Trump, what would you done after 9/11? Mr. Carson suggests that he would have not gone into Afghanistan let the Taliban in place. I’d have gone into Afghanistan. I’d go into Syria and destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria, then next 9/11 is coming. I blame Obama for the rise of ISIL. I blame Obama for Syria. I blame Obama for Libya and I tell you what, President Obama’s policies are leading to the next 9/11. And I blame every member of Congress who keeping these budget cuts in place to make us less safe. What about the 9/11 to come? There is another 9/11 in the making.”
He added, “He [Carson] doesn’t have the judgment to be commander-in-chief. Anybody who believed after 9/11 that you declare energy independence and that makes us safe that’s bizarre. After 9/11 you take the Taliban down. You go into Afghanistan and destroy the people who helped launch the attack.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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