Trump Taps 'Master Assassin,' 'Right-Wing
Nutty' as National Security Advisor
EDITOR’S
NOTE: The Rhode Island media seems to be all a-Twitter, gushing over Flynn’s appointment
because he is a Rhode Islander. A complete whack-job, but a Rhode Islander.
Even the University
of Rhode Island did a special salute to this 1981 URI grad. I just hope he doesn't get us all killed. – W. Collette
An
Islamophobic "master assassin" once described by
former Secretary of State Colin Powell as a "right-wing nutty" (and worse) has been appointed by President-elect
Donald Trump to the post of national security adviser, placing Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn in
one of the administration's most powerful roles in shaping military and foreign
policy.
Flynn
formerly ran the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) before being ousted in 2014
for reportedly clashing with other intelligence offices and, according to
Powell, being "abusive with staff" and "work[ing] against
policy."
However, Flynn himself wrote an op-ed in the New York Post this summer, titled "The military fired me for calling our enemies radical jihadis." The former DIA chief detailed his view of the "global war"—which he says "runs from Pyongyang, North Korea, to Havana, Cuba, and Caracas, Venezuela," and throughout the Middle East—and his aggressive plan for combating "the vicious enemy we [are] facing."
Throughout
the piece, he denounced the Muslim world as "an epic failure, desperately
needing economic, cultural, and educational reform of the sort that has led to
the superiority of the West."
On
Thursday, the New York Times likened Flynn's frequent espousal of
Islamophobic ideas to the views of the president-elect.
"Mr.
Trump and General Flynn both see themselves as brash outsiders who hustled
their way to the big time," the Times reported.
"They both post on Twitter often about their own successes, and they have
both at times crossed the line into outright Islamophobia."
What's
more, the Times added: "They also both exhibit a
loose relationship with facts: General Flynn, for instance, has said that
Shariah, or Islamic law, is spreading in the United States (it is not). His
dubious assertions are so common that when he ran the Defense Intelligence
Agency, subordinates came up with a name for the phenomenon: They called them
'Flynn facts.'"
In
addition to his outlandish and bigoted behavior, Flynn's relationship with the
autocratic regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also drawn
scrutiny in light of his appointment.
Though
not a lobbyist himself, his firm, Flynn Intel Group, is registered as a
lobbying organization whose client list includes Turkish businessman Kamil Ekim
Alptekin, who told The Intercept on
Thursday "that one of his companies, Inovo BV, paid Flynn's company 'tens
of thousands of dollars' for analysis on world affairs."
Notably,
Flynn penned an op-ed on
election day calling for renewed U.S. support for the "strongman
president," as the Intercept put
it, as well as extradition of the U.S.-based cleric and Erdogan's political rival, Fethullah Gülen.
Though
Flynn has said he would "sever" his relationship with his company
should he "return to government service," critics point out that he's already sat in on
classified national security briefings with Trump while working for foreign
clients. "This is profoundly troubling and should be disqualifying,"
said former ethics adviser to President Barack Obama Norm Eisen.
Compounded
by the suite of other controversial appointments made
by Donald Trump, Flynn's ascension to power is troubling for many, particularly
in light of the fact that the post requires no confirmation hearing.