Trump’s foreign policy team appointments raise concern over ties to anti-Islam groups: Reports
NEW YORK, (MILLAT ONLINE):The latest shifts on US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy team, including his choice of John Bolton
as national security adviser, have rekindled fears among lawmakers and activists that the White House
will further damage America’s precarious standing in the Muslim world, according to American media reports.
Bolton chairs an organization that produces harshly critical commentary about Islam and Muslim
immigrants and he also has close ties to controversial activists often described as anti-Muslim,
Politico, a U.S. media group said.
He succeeds Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who urged Trump to avoid his favourite phrase ‘radical
Islamic terrorism’ because it offends many Muslims as a blanket condemnation of their faith.
Trump also decided this month to nominate Mike Pompeo, the current CIA director, as
secretary of state, replacing the fired Rex Tillerson. Pompeo has accused U.S. Muslim leaders
of being ‘potentially complicit’ in terrorist attacks and, like Bolton, has consorted with conspiracy
theorists who have peddled false claims about Muslims, Politico said.
Tillerson, on the other hand, generally used cautious language when it came to Islam and had
extensive business experience in the Muslim world.
Islamic and Jewish groups have raised concerns about Bolton, a former ambassador to the
United Nations, The New York Times said.
Both Bolton and Pompeo will now be working for a president who has alleged, with no
evidence, that American Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks, and who has proposed banning
all foreign Muslims from U.S. shores, Politico pointed out.
Critics say the personnel moves suggest Trump’s worst instincts on how to approach the
world’s 1.5 billion Muslims will find receptive ears among his foreign policy aides.
“Either they don’t even care, or they’re intentionally picking people known for their
Islamophobia,” Wa el Alzayat, a former State Department official who now leads the
Muslim-American activist group Emgage, was quoted as saying. “We’re very troubled.”
Groups such as Emgage, Human Rights Watch and the Council on American-Islamic
Relations are urging lawmakers to speak out against Bolton and Pompeo. Bolton doesn’t
require Senate confirmation for his position, but Pompeo will have to face a vote in that
chamber.
Some also have concerns about Pompeo’s planned successor at the CIA, Gina
Haspel, who is reported to have run a secret CIA prison in Thailand where suspected
al Qaeda operatives were tortured, according to Politico.
“Gina Haspel should be investigated, not nominated,” Margaret Huang, executive
director of Amnesty International USA, said in a recent statement.
Some Muslim-American activists describe a sense of deja vu: Similar fears
abounded in the early days of the Trump administration as the president installed
several top aides whose rhetoric towards Muslims and Islam has drawn wide
criticism, it was pointed out.
They included then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, political strategist Steve
Bannon, and Sebastian Gorka.
Their fears of a militant policy towards Muslims seemed confirmed when Trump, early
in his presidency, imposed a travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries.
But over the past year Flynn, Bannon and Gorka have all been forced out of the White
House, along with some others who shared their views.
Trump, meanwhile, has developed unexpectedly good relationships with some of the
world’s Muslim leaders, including top members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family, the report
said.
But if there was a sense among Trump’s critics that McMaster and Tillerson had
been restraining his worst instincts, there is now concern that Bolton and Pompeo might
encourage them.