Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will deliver a major foreign policy speech in South Carolina on Friday, during which the midwestern governor will have an opportunity to fully display his comprehension of international affairs.
His presidential campaign shared portions of the governor’s speech in advance with reporters, and said Walker will put forward “his plan to reverse the failures of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy and restore American leadership in the world.” The speech is titled, “The Retreat is Over: America Will Not Be Intimidated.”
“With all of the challenges we face around the globe today, now is not the time for untested leadership. I have been tested like no other candidate in this race,” Walker will say. “As president, I will send the following message: the retreat is over. American leadership is back and, together with our allies, we will not surrender another inch of ground to terrorists or any other power that threatens our safety. America will not be intimidated. And neither will I.”
In recent months, his campaign staffers have touted the governor’s reliance upon former Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., a former Romney adviser, and Robert O’Brien, a former U.S. Representative to the U.N. General Assembly, for advice. The governor has traveled overseas to Israel, and frequently talked about his relationship with Keven Hermening, the youngest American held hostage in Iran in 1979.
The governor’s speech at The Citadel, South Carolina’s military college, will emphasize the United States’ relationship with Israel and the need for America to fight back against Islamic terrorism in the forms of the Islamic State and Iran.
“ISIS enslaves Christian minorities, targets the Jewish people, and burns innocent Muslim victims alive in cages. ISIS militants rape girls as young as nine and sell women into sex slavery. The human toll of these evil, unthinkable actions is immeasurable,” Walker will tell the cadets. “Hearing gut-wrenching stories of Americans held hostage, tortured, raped and executed by these radicals makes my blood boil. By the grace of God, and by the strength of men and women like you, America can and will defeat this threat and eradicate this evil.”
The governor will identify Iran as “the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism,” and add that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right to say the Obama administration’s deal with Iran, “puts us all in danger.”
“Confronted by these two forms of evil, President Obama and Hillary Clinton seem to believe they can sit on the sidelines, hoping Iran will defeat ISIS for them,” Walker will say. “They fail to realize that, in the prevailing anarchy, the two sides feed off of each other, growing stronger at the expense of our Sunni and Shia allies trapped in the middle. Over the last seven years, we have seen far too much of this delusion and wishful thinking. To believe that a stable and lasting Middle East can be built by working with Iran, any more than by working with ISIS, isn’t statesmanship. It’s pure fantasy.”
Walker will go on to describe the threat of Islamic terrorism to the homeland and detail, “a plan to keep our children and grandchildren safe from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism.”
His speech will follow a familiar theme, as Walker’s memoir is titled, Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge. But the governor will argue that words are not enough to advance American interests around the world.
“Political rhetoric will not keep us safe. We’ve had enough of a President who proclaims that the greatest threat to future generations is climate change,” Walker will say. “America can and must do better. At the very least, you deserve a commander-in-chief who tells you the truth. And here it is: we are at war with radical Islamic terrorism. It will not go away overnight. This is a generational struggle. And these radical groups will continue to grow if we do not destroy them.”
“Yes, the world is complex, but some things are simple: there is good and there is evil. America is a force for good in the world. Radical Islamic terrorists are agents of pure evil.”
