At his presidential launch in Waukesha this month, Gov. Scott Walker introduced former Iranian hostage Kevin Hermening by name in his speech, and Walker also said Hermening had taught him that Iran is not a place America should be doing business with.
Since Gov. Walker’s announcement speech, scrutiny has been brought to bear on Kevin Hermening, and according to a report by Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Hermening has some rather extreme opinions regarding the Middle East in general.
Walker also has made mention of Hermening on Twitter and in an opinion piece for Breitbart.com.
“As foreign policy emerges as a leading issue in the 2016 election, Walker plans to keep featuring Hermening in the campaign — a role Hermening gladly accepts,” said an Associated Pressarticle from last week.
But Hermening, who admits he is no expert on the Middle East, has espoused some extreme foreign policy views in the past — ones he continues to defend.
He expressed these points in an inflammatory opinion piece for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in September 2001, just weeks after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
There, Hermening called for the deportation of all illegal immigrants, especially those with a Middle Eastern background and anyone who reacted “with glee” to the coordinated attacks by 19 al-Qaida terrorists. He also urged wiping out the capitals of seven heavily Muslim countries — if they didn’t support American efforts to kill Osama bin Laden.
“Every military response must be considered, including the use of nuclear warheads,” Hermening wrote in the column.
Curiously, Gov. Scott Walker has not made any attempts to distance himself or his campaign from Kevin Hermening’s extreme views.
