Frontrunner says he may appoint former NYC mayor to head up commission on terrorism
Kurt Nimmo | Infowars.com
Late Wednesday the New York Daily News cited a Republican insider as saying if elected Donald Trump would name former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani as boss of the Department of Homeland Security.
“A secret deal has been struck by Donald Trump, and Rudy Giuliani would be head of Homeland Security,” the anonymous source told the newspaper.
“It’s my understanding that the two have talked directly (and) I know there have been serious talks on both sides,” the insider added. “I’m told it’s a done deal, but until it’s on paper, I don’t think anyone is counting on anything. Trump is already cutting deals as he moves to solidify his position in the party.”
Giuliani spokesman Tony Carbonetti said there is “zero truth” to the rumor.
On Tuesday, however, Trump said although he has yet to make choices for cabinet positions, he believes Giuliani would be a “wise” choice for the job.
Trump also told Fox News he is thinking about appointing Giuliani to head up a commission on terrorism.
“I’m thinking about setting up a commission, perhaps headed by Rudy Giuliani, to take a very serious look at this problem,” he said. “It’s a real problem, not only here but throughout the world.”
Giuliani told The New York Times he thinks a commission on terrorism is a good idea, but declined to say if he would accept the job.
Rudy Giuliani: Neocon
His take on terrorism basically mirrors that of the neocon wing of the Republican party. During his presidential bid in 2008, the neocon Norman Podhoretz was Giuliani’s foreign policy adviser. The former mayor has consistently stated the United States needs to be more “proactive” in the war on terror.
In November, he discounted the war-weariness of the American people and said tens of thousands of troops should remain in Iraq.
“I don’t care about public opinion; I care about the national security of the United States,” Giuliani told MSNBC. “We should have 30,000 or 40,000 troops in Iraq. If we had had them there consistently, ISIS would never have emerged.”
He also advocated sending troops into Syria. “John McCain warned five years ago we’ve got to go in. We’ve got to go into Syria. We’ve got to close this vacuum,” he said.
Obama should have taken the advice of the neocons, Giuliani argued.
“If President Obama had listened to Sen. McCain and Sen. Graham and a whole group of other people, and had set up a no-fly zone in Syria five years ago, if we had gone in and worked with the Syrian legitimate rebels, if we had not taken our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, ISIS never would have emerged.”
“ISIS is an Obama creation,” he insisted.
Supports Surveillance State
Giuliani supports the Patriot Act and mass surveillance of the American people. In June, he told Fox News there is no evidence information gathered under the Patriot Act was misused by the Bush and Obama administrations.
“I happen to know that the information is helpful,” Giuliani said. “The government has its hands tied behind its back because it can’t defend itself. It can’t point out the situations in which that information has been helpful.”
Giuliani said he trusts the government not to use the data for “nefarious purposes” and it “is in the hands of some of our biggest patriots.”
In 2005, after the Senate failed to reauthorize the act, Giuliani took to the pages of The New York Times to support it.
“I support the extension of the Patriot Act for one simple reason: Americans must use every legal and constitutional tool in their arsenal to fight terrorism and protect their lives and liberties,” he wrote.
Legal scholars, however, believe the Patriot Act is unconstitutional.
It violates the Fourth Amendment, particularly in regard to section 213 (sneak-and-peek warrants), section 206 (roving wiretaps), section 214 (trap and trace searches), section 215 (bulk data collection and storage) and section 218 (allowing intelligence wiretaps under FISA).
Appointing Rudy Giuliani to the Department of Homeland Security would make certain the current abuses remain in place and the surveillance and police state continue to expand.
A Giuliani-led commission on terrorism would underscore the neocon rationale for endless war and destruction of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.