GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum cites the conflict among Muslims in the Middle East, specifically the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS), Saudi Arabia and Iran, as a decisive issue of our times.
“There are elements within Saudi Arabia that are trying to destabilize the Saudi regime because the Saudis are vying with ISIS about who is the real leader of the Sunni world,” Santorum explained on Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM with host Stephen K. Bannon.
He said ISIS is claiming to be the leader of the Sunni world because it established the first caliphate since 1924.
“Saudi Arabia is the home of where Islam started,” he explained, saying they have holy sites and a monarchy, but “now you have this threat of ISIS, which is saying, ‘no, no we’re the leaders and the Saudis need to be taken out because they’re not really faithful.’”
Santorum said Saudi Arabia has sponsored mosques and schools that teach radical Islam.
“They’re very, very similar,” Santorum said of ISIS and Saudi Arabia.
“As far as from a theological point of view, what the Saudis teach and what ISIS preaches other than the violence and how you accomplish the global jihad, ISIS and the Saudis on theology are pretty similar,” he said, saying this leads to competition about who the real leader is.
Santorum referenced the recent execution of a Shia cleric by the Saudis, saying it came at a time when Iran is on the rise. “Iran is saying, ‘no, we’re the leaders of the Muslim world.’”
“So, there’s this battle within the Muslim world of all of these radical elements that want to claim legitimacy that they’re the ones that need to be followed,” he explained.
As President of the United States, Santorum said, “The first thing we have to do, the catalyst for all of this is Iran,” calling the Persian empire an “ancient enemy of the west.”
He said the U.S. must stop Iran’s ascendancy.
“The person who’s given Iran the biggest boost since 1979 was Barack Obama,” with the nuclear agreement, Santorum challenged. “Iran is not going to keep to this agreement.”
Santorum said that when the U.S. won’t do anything about Iran not abiding by the agreement, “This is a huge win and it’s seen as a great victory within the entire Islamic world.”
Santorum also said that as president he will refute the Obama agreement with Iran and that if Iran doesn’t open up their nuclear facilities for inspection, “We will take them out” through air and a missile campaign, adding that the U.S. does not need to put boots on the ground.
“These are countries…that believe [that] the end of times coming and that they have to move forward and help produce this Armageddon type thing,” Santorum said referring to Iran and ISIS.
He said their theology is to rule the world for Islam.
“This is what they believe,” he stressed.
We have to come to terms in America that we are dealing with a theocracy, that it’s not like us doesn’t think like us, doesn’t think in terms of rational behavior and good moral conduct. They’re concerned about their goal as an Islamic reolutionalry republic…both of them are concerned about global jihad about taking over the world, that’s their mission.
“This is a very big deal that the west isn’t really taking seriously,” Santorum said of a caliphate being established by ISIS in the Middle East.
Santorum explained that under Muslim law, one can’t claim to be a caliphate unless it’s a state that imposes Muslim law, control and operates a governing successful and expanding state, in order to expand the Muslim reach around the world.
“Destroy their state,” Santorum said, and that would destroy their legitimacy. “There is no legitimacy under Islamic law and no one will follow them.”
“That’s why the president’s policy of containment is the worst possible policy for ISIS,” he added.
Santorum said he would be best to be President of the United States out of the current GOP field because “I know the pitfalls and problems that a president is going to have to confront when he goes to Washington, D.C. to execute what I just said. What I just said is against everything the State Department and many in the Defense Department want to do”
He said the experts at the State Department aren’t interested in fighting wars and are focused on diplomacy.
“The experts in Washington, the establishment, is going to balk at this,” he commented. “I’ve dealt with them…I know what the experts are going to say, I’ve been there,” and “experience really does matter.”
“The enemy knows that I’m serious,” Santorum added.
Santorum said that Russia should not be “looked at as a friend because of what they’re doing in central Europe and their desire for legitimacy again as a world power” under President Putin, but that “there is an opportunity here to work with Russia in the Middle East, but this is not an easy game of chess match to play with Putin.”
“Could they be an ally? Yes, but we have to be very, very cautious.”
Hear the entire interview:
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