John Bolton Names Professional Islamophobe & Bush Official Fred Fleitz to National Security Staff

I heard this interview on Democracy Now! last week. Horrifying. There is great need to be aware of what is happening and to take these dangers very, very seriously. The reality is that there is a very frightening momentum building which threatens to take us into nuclear war. Truly, this madness must be stopped! Such sad and scary times! ― Molly

The White House has appointed a longtime senior staffer at an anti-Muslim think tank who has been named by National Security Adviser John Bolton as his new chief of staff. Fred Fleitz formerly served as Bolton’s undersecretary of state in the George W. Bush administration. He now joins the Trump administration from the Center for Security Policy, a think tank founded by former Reagan administration official Frank Gaffney. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the organization an anti-Muslim extremist group. We speak with Eric Levitz, associate editor for New York Magazine’s “Daily Intelligencer,” whose recent piece is headlined “Bolton Installs Anti-Muslim Wingnut as NSC Chief of Staff.”

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We turn now to the longtime senior staffer at an anti-Muslim think tank who has been named by National Security Adviser John Bolton as his new chief of staff. Fred Fleitz formerly served as Bolton’s undersecretary of state in the George W. Bush administration. He now joins the Trump administration from the Center for Security Policy, a think tank founded by former Reagan administration official Frank Gaffney. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the organization an anti-Muslim extremist group, saying its main focus is, quote, “demonizing Islam and Muslims under the guise of national security. Statements from Frank Gaffney and other CSP staffers, along with claims made in CSP publications, have become increasingly conspiratorial in nature, making such claims as Muslims are attempting to overthrow the US government from within, and that Shariah law is trumping the constitution in American courts.”

After last year’s London Bridge terror attack that killed eight people, Fleitz said the failure of British Muslims to assimilate was partially to blame for Islamic radicalism. In an interview on Breitbart News Daily, Fleitz was asked about other religious communities in the United States who have also not assimilated.

FRED FLEITZ: It’s certainly true there are some communities in the United States have not assimilated. I’m not concerned about Amish or Jewish communities. But I will tell you that there are enclaves of Muslim communities in Michigan and Minnesota that concern me. We know that in Minnesota there’s a rising rate of measles because the community has not assimilated into the rest of the community and is not vaccinating their children. This is wrong. This is a big problem. The problem with these Muslim communities is that it is making us susceptible to this radical worldview that wants to destroy modern society, create a global caliphate and impose Sharia law on everyone on Earth.

AMY GOODMAN: Fred Fleitz is also the author of the 2016 book Obamabomb: A Dangerous and Growing National Security Fraud, in which Fleitz wrote, quote, “The most intellectually honest way for a future U.S. president to deal with the nuclear agreement with Iran is to tear it up on his … first day in office.”

Civil rights groups condemned Fleitz’s appointment, and the group Muslim Advocates issued a statement that, quote, “The White House continues to be the nation’s central organizing body for white supremacists.”

For more, we’re joined by Eric Levitz, associate editor for New York Magazine’s “Daily Intelligencer,” whose latest piece is headlined “Bolton Installs Anti-Muslim Wingnut as NSCChief of Staff.”

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Eric.

ERIC LEVITZ: Yeah, thanks for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: Why don’t you just lay out who Fred Fleitz is, this man that John Bolton has just appointed as his chief of staff?

ERIC LEVITZ: Sure. Well, Fleitz and Bolton go back many decades. So, they actually did a little bit of work together under the first Bush administration, when Fleitz assisted him with intelligence, and then, under the second Bush administration, Fleitz was Bolton’s chief of staff. And in that role, he was kind of known as Bolton’s enforcer. When they got into conflicts with the career staff at the State Department and CIA, Fleitz would fight for Bolton’s point of view.

AMY GOODMAN: And this is when Bolton worked for—worked under George W. Bush.

ERIC LEVITZ: Under George W. Bush, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: And talk about some of the controversies that Fleitz was then and has since been involved with.

ERIC LEVITZ: Sure. Well, in that particular period, one special point of contention was that Bolton wanted to give this speech about Cuba pursuing biological weapons, and he had very belligerent language that he wanted to convey this point in, that put off analysts at the CIA, at the State Department. They did not feel either that intelligence supported what Bolton wanted to say or that it would be diplomatically wise for him to say what he wished to. And the controversy over this got so intense that—and Fleitz was so forceful in advocating Bolton’s view, that one of the career staff, Christian Westermann, in an email that was later disclosed, said that Fleitz was having an effect on his health and well-being and interest in serving in government. And this is, you know, especially relevant given that the Trump administration has these conflicts with the so-called deep state. And bringing in Fleitz suggests that, you know, they’re going to escalate those conflicts.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And also, in 2011, he insisted against the position of 16 or 17 intelligence agencies, U.S. national security agencies, that Iran was in fact on the cusp of getting a nuclear weapon. And this is especially relevant since he’s said multiple times that Trump should tear up the agreement as soon as he’s in office.

ERIC LEVITZ: Yeah, and Fleitz has spent a lot of the past couple years—he has a column in the National Review, and almost every single column is about, you know, “Trump, please get around to killing this deal now.” You know, so he’s very intensely anti-Iran. He really—he shares all the pillars of John Bolton’s worldview on foreign policy.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let’s go to John Bolton speaking on Fox News in 2015.

GRETCHEN CARLSON: Ambassador, you’ve written an op-ed today in The New York Times. And here’s the headline—it’s an eye catcher: “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran.” What do you mean?

JOHN BOLTON: Well, the negotiations, whether they lead to an agreement or not, are not going to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. They are so far advanced now, the concessions they’ve made are so trivial and easily reversible, that the deal actually legitimizes Iran’s existing nuclear program. So, my conclusion is not a happy one, but given that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, so will Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and maybe others, that just as Israel twice before has struck nuclear weapons programs in the hands of hostile states, I am afraid, given the circumstances, that’s the only real option open to us now.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So that’s John Bolton speaking in 2015, saying that Iran should be bombed.

ERIC LEVITZ: Yeah. And, you know, he shares that opinion with, I believe, Mike Pompeo. The new secretary of state has voiced similar views. And we can be confident that Fleitz is no less reluctant to use military force against Iran or any other American adversary.

Please continue this transcript, or to watch the full video interview, please go here: https://www.democracynow.org/2018/5/31/john_bolton_names_professional_islamophobe_bush