Cruz says backlash on anti-Muslim proposal a 'badge of honor'
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has strongly defended his proposal to patrol Muslim neighborhoods, despite the backlash he has received.
“You are right that after I called for increased vigilance protecting us, that Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio all attacked me,” he said Tuesday during a CNN town hall event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“I wear that as a badge of pride. I'm not going to apologize to anyone,” the Texas senator added.
In the first substantive proposal by a presidential candidate since the Brussels bombings last week, Cruz called for reinstating a controversial surveillance program that targeted Muslim neighborhoods in New York for years following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Cruz continued to defend the program even when he was pushed on the fact that the commander who oversaw the program testified that it did not lead to any investigations.
“In New York, this was a successful program,” the senator stressed.
Cruz criticized Mayor de Blasio for giving in to political correctness and shutting the program, set up under his predecessor Michael Bloomberg.
When pressed to elaborate on his call to patrol and monitor Muslim neighborhoods, Cruz said it means that “we target the enemy.”
The White House hopeful also denounced President Barack Obama for delivering what he called an Islamophobia speech in the wake of the Brussels attacks.
“Enough is enough, how about a president that actually stands up and defends this country,” he said. “What I believe we should do is we need a commander in chief who’s actually focused on keeping this country safe.”
Cruz went to New York last week and sharply criticized the mayor for condemning his anti-Muslim proposal.
“I arrive in New York, and Mayor de Blasio promptly held a press conference to denounce me -- so I must be doing something right,” Cruz said to applause. “If Mayor de Blasio ever holds a press conference and says ‘I agree with Ted,’ that will be the instant I hang it all up and realize I've gone terribly, terribly wrong.”
Lindsey Graham threatens to sanction US allies backing ICC arrest warrants
Israeli war criminals 'not welcome', US city says after ICC ruling
US House passes bill targeting charities and pro-Palestine groups
Iran says will discuss key nuclear, regional issues with France, Germany, UK
VIDEO | Israeli archaeologist killed in Southern Lebanon
Israeli airstrike on Lebanon's army base kills soldier, injures 18 others
Sirens sound across Tel Aviv as Hezbollah fires barrage of missiles at Israeli target
Israeli ‘archeologist’ who toured south Lebanon in military uniform to falsify history
The importance of Venezuela for Iran
Iran beats traditional rival Russia in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling friendly
Rape trials trigger protests against French ‘sexist and misogynistic’ culture
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
