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51.8%ANMag Issue 22 Public Surveillance
Republican Presidential Candidate Rudolph Giuliani Lays Out a Vision for U.S. Foreign Policy
By Vanessa Zuabi, Staff Writer
Paris, France − In the United States and abroad, people are keeping a close eye on the U.S. 2008 presidential candidates. Foreign policy and the War in Iraq are of the utmost importance to the American voters and all those affected by U.S. actions abroad. Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York has emerged as a favorite within the Republican Party. He has currently raised $11 million for his campaign, far more than any other Republican candidate, and is a frontrunner for the Republican Party. His opinions and involvement on foreign policy were evident even during his term as mayor. In 1995, Giuliani said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was a terrorist and had him ejected from Lincoln Center. The 9/11 attacks thrust Giuliani onto a global stage, hosting visits from major heads of state from around the world. When a Saudi prince implied the attacks should cause the United States to change its Middle East policies, Giuliani rejected his $10 million relief effort donation. An Israeli newspaper declared Giuliani the 2008 U.S. presidential candidate “best for Israel.” His foreign policy objectives affirm that “America’s commitment to Israel’s security is a permanent feature of our foreign policy.”
The most recent hire to his foreign policy team is the infamous Daniel Pipes, who joins Norman Podhoretz, Martin Kramer and other conservative intellectuals at the head of today’s American foreign policy. Pipes is more extreme than any of his counterparts and has made his name as a strong advocate against the threat of “Islamo-fascism.” Giuliani’s selection of conservative intellectuals will make him a popular candidate within the Republican Party and says quite a bit about his vision for U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy in the region. Giuliani’s other foreign policy recruit, Martin Kramer, is best known for his work on the Arab world and Islam. He joins Pipes as an advocate for Campus Watch; an organization that seeks out anti-semitic activity and discussion on college campuses, and they often target scholars and professors.
Podhoretz is also a critical author of Giuliani’s foreign policy vision. Podhoretz has recently called on the United States to bomb Iran and has named the enemy as “the Islamo-fascist threat.” Podhoretz essentially supports a world-wide confrontation, not unlike World War II, to defeat Islamo-fascists everywhere they are to be found. Podhoretz will certainly be welcomed by many influential neoconservatives. He is a staunch supporter of Israeli national security policies. His advocacy of foreign policy positions for the United States will be decidedly Israel-centric.
It is important to note that, Pipes, Podhoretz , and the rest of Giuliani’s foreign policy posse, have continued in the path of Princeton’s Bernard Lewis who first branded the “clash of civilizations,” concept and labeled the “Islamic civilization” as “stagnant and violent.” This theory was later reaffirmed by scholars such as Harvard University’s Samuel Huntington and has manifested itself in the flawed Bush doctrine “you are either with us or against us.” Giuliani not only attests to this doctrine, but affirms that even stronger levels of pressure and aggression are in order to maintain the “international system that the terrorists seek to destroy.”
Ultimately, Giuliani’s team not only supports the continuation of the war, but the initiation of further violence if rogue nations do not cooperate with America’s “peaceful, democratic” values. Published in the Foreign Affairs Journal’s September/October 2007 Issue, his recent manifesto “Toward a Realistic Peace,” outlined his foreign policy. Guiliani firmly expresses that the only way to defeat “Islamic fascism” is by keeping U.S. troops in the region so it does not “tip towards terrorism.” As Giuliani eloquently concludes his essay, “The 9/11 generation has learned from the history of the twentieth century that American must not turn a blind eye to gathering storms. We must base our trust on actions, rather than the words, of others.” Unfortunately for Giuliani, America’s actions thus far have not provided stability, democracy, or the “realistic peace,” he strives to attain.