Ted Cruz
US Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was barraged by criticism Wednesday one day after proposing that police “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”
Included among critics was President Barack Obama, who called the Texas senator’s idea “contrary to who we are.”
“Any approach that would single (Muslims) out or target them for discrimination is not only wrong and un-American, but it also would be counterproductive,” Obama told reporters in Argentina, which he visited after a historic trip to Cuba.
“I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which, by the way, the father of Senator Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free,” he said.
Cruz issued his proposal Tuesday in response to bomb attacks in Brussels that left at least 31 dead in a plot claimed by the Islamic State group.
The ultra-conservative senator’s rival, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump — who has advocated the use of torture against terrorism suspects — backed Cruz’s proposal, calling it “a good idea.”
Meanwhile Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton denounced Cruz’s proposal as “dangerous” and “counter-productive.”
“It’s hard to imagine a more incendiary, foolish statement,” she said in California, where she was campaigning. “One thing we know that does not work is offensive, inflammatory rhetoric that demonizes all Muslims,” she added, calling Muslims a “first line of defense” against terrorism.
John Kasich, the Republican presidential candidate running in third place, also denounced Cruz’s remarks.
“The last thing we need is more polarization,” he said.
– 1,000 Muslim NY police –
New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton was among the proposal’s most vocal critics.
“He doesn’t know the Hell what he is talking about,” Bratton told CBS News, saying the city’s police force includes nearly 1,000 Muslims. “Ironically, when he is running around here, we probably have a few Muslim officers guiding him.”
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Source:: PM Newspaper
