Here Are 9 Things Trump's National Security Adviser Pick Actually Thinks About Islam

Enter the world of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's book, The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies.

By
Hayes Brown
by Hayes Brown

BuzzFeed News Reporter

In his book, The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies, Michael Flynn, the retired lieutenant general President-elect Donald Trump has picked as national security adviser, proves to be more than a little intense.

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Since Trump tapped him a few weeks ago, the story has been less about Flynn's career as an intelligence official and more about the issues Flynn will bring to the White House. He's been called out for possibly breaking lobbying rules and for him and his son spreading conspiracy theories.

While the book's sections on war are worth reading given his pending role in the Trump administration, it's the sections on the fight against "Radical Islam" where Flynn's views are most extreme, setting Islam as a whole as separate from the America he is trying to protect. Here's a quick round-up:

1. He thinks "Radical Islamists" — a term he uses to include everything from the Iranian government to ISIS — are working with anti-US regimes around the world...including Cuba.

St. Martin Press

2. He thinks saying "Radical Islamists" will fix everything.

St. Martin Press

The term "Islamist" by itself isn't tied to terrorism. It just refers to someone who believes that Islam should be taken into account or incorporated in a country's government, like the ruling party in Turkey.

3. He is really, really sure of that point.

St. Martin Press

Though it happened after Flynn's book was published, during the presidential campaign Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton used the phrase "radical Islam" following the Pulse nightclub shooting, so that happened. And President Obama in September said that he doesn't use the term "Islamic terrorism" because he doesn't want to associate the religion with "murderers."

4. He thinks the US was founded upon Judeo-Christian ideals and that people want to impose Sharia law and upset all of that.

St. Martin Press

Sharia law isn't being implemented in the United States or close to being imposed.

5. He is "not a devotee of so-called political correctness."

St. Martin Press

Flynn here sets up the idea of Judeo-Christian norms and Islamic norms, a clear othering of Muslims as a whole. It's not just the radicals.

6. He spends a lot of time wondering why Muslims don't win Nobel Prizes in the sciences.

St. Martin Press

Flynn misses out on crediting Turkish chemist Aziz Sancar, who shared in the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2015.

7. He thinks the US should bomb terrorists even/especially when they're with their families.

St. Martin Press

"Bottom line: al Qaeda got away with it," Flynn laments. "We allowed them to train their terrorists without destroying these camps." He blames the US's "high legal and moral standards in the rules of engagement" in not taking a shot when there "were family members at these camps," a situation he says is "all very frustrating."

8. He thinks President Obama and other policymakers are wrong for repeatedly insisting that "Islam is a religion of peace."

St. Martin Press

9. He doesn't believe in "Islamophobia."

St. Martin Press

He cites a writer with the Gatestone Institute, founded by Nina Rosenwald and chaired by possible secretary of state candidate John Bolton, which has been labeled "anti-Muslim" by the Council on American–Islamic Relations and liberal think tanks.

But in an administration where the president-elect has called for banning Muslims from entering the country, Flynn is sure to fit right in*.

George Frey / Getty Images

*Except on Russia, which Flynn is totally opposed to being friends with. There he might have some issues.

H/T Matthew Walden

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