Montana Candidate Zinke on Military Doctrine in the Middle East

Following a recent ‘Global Hot Spots’ segment of Talk Back, we reached out to former Navy Seal Team Six Commander and current Republican Congressional candidate Ryan Zinke for his military expertise on the smoldering problems in the Middle East, especially Afghanistan.

Zinke referenced the heavily criticized hasty withdrawal by U.S. military forces from Afghanistan and its international repercussions.

“This is what happens when the United States doesn’t lead,” began Zinke. “When we don't lead there's no one else that can, and we've seen what happens. It happened with NATO we've seen when we pull out of Afghanistan with such shame and leaving Americans and being censured by the British Parliament. I think it was the first time since 1812, and we were censured by Great Britain because of our pullout.”

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Zinke said the chief instigator of turmoil in the Middle East is Iran.

“In the heart of the campaign the beast that causes the most pain is Iran,” he said. “Iran remains committed to the destruction of Israel. Iran remains committed to having nuclear weapons, and Iran and Russia enjoy the chaos in the Middle East, and we're seeing a turn from U.S.-led alliances to Chinese or at least Russian influenced adversaries.”

Looking at domestic issues, Zinke said the Biden Administration has failed every test.

“If you to describe what failure looks like, this is what a failing country looks like,” he said. “It’s the Biden Administration and those that believe that those policies work, but they don't work. Again, this is not in the question of Foreign Affairs. It's not too many troops, but also in being strong on protection of peace through strength.”

With the midterm election in November, Zinke hopes that Republicans will retake the U.S. House of Representatives and thus control the purse strings for the remainder of the Biden Administration.

“In the next couple of years, I think it's going to be more or less defend and defund against this administration,” he said. “Defend our constitutional freedoms defend those acts that we think the administration is dead wrong on and there are many, and then how do we defend them? We defund them. We cut the money out, and once again exercise the power of the purse in Congress, and we the people shall prevail.”

Zinke will appear Monday along with the other two Congressional candidates, Monica Tranel, and John Lamb, for a debate at the City Club luncheon on Monday, August 8.