By: Katie Hughes, CARLY for America Communications Director
November 18, 2015
ISIS has declared open war against the West in recent attacks in Paris, France, and now we are witnessing the ramifications of our current administration’s failures to address imminent world crises. More than ever, we need a leader who understands the historical and political context facing the West today – we need a leader who has real relationships with world leaders and the ability to negotiate in tough situations. We need a leader who has sat down across the table and heard the concerns of our allies, our enemies – not merely reading about it in a policy brief.
Carly shared her plan – almost 6 months ago – on how to combat ISIS. “I would do very specific things. First, instead of having a Camp David conference to talk our Arab allies into a bad deal with Iran, I would have had a Camp David conference to talk with our Arab allies about how we can support them to fight ISIS. Let me give you very specific examples. The Kurds have been asking us to arm them for three years, we still have not. The Jordanians have been asking us to provide them with bombs and materiel. We know King Abdullah of Jordan, I’ve known him for many years. He took the appropriate leadership steps when a Jordanian pilot was burned alive. He was here in this country asking us for bombs and materiel, we haven’t provided him with any of them. He’s now looking to China for that. The Egyptian president, a very brave and pious Muslim, who has said there is a cancer in the heart of Islam, has asked us to share intelligence. We are not. The Turks have asked us to help them topple Bashar al-Assad, we are not. There are a whole set of things that we’ve been asked to do by our allies who know this is their fight, and we’re not doing any of them.”
“We cannot be the world’s policemen, but we must be the world’s leader.” Watch Carly’s remarks from this weekend’s GOP Sunshine Summit here.
Carly laid out her foreign policy vision in July, stating: “We need a President who will reassure our allies that we are a friend who can be trusted and who will show our adversaries that we will not be bullied or intimidated.”
Carly was head of the CIA’s External Advisory Board. After Carly left Hewlett-Packard, former CIA Director Michael Hayden asked Carly to employ her relationships with world leaders and her understanding of how to strategically solve problems in the newly-formed External Advisory Board. And so, Carly walked the corridors of the Pentagon at the end of George W. Bush’s presidency. While she was there, she helped assemble recommendations for national security policy and developed close working relationships with some of the most powerful officials in the Republican administration. She maintained strong ties with world leaders she came to know through leading a global corporation.
When Carly was CEO, HP operated in 170 countries. Carly met with foreign officials and world leaders as head of HP. Hewlett-Packard brought substantial business to international markets – Carly Fiorina often negotiated business proposals with foreign administrations, presidents and prime ministers. She used her role as chief executive officer to immerse herself in broader questions of diplomacy, global commerce and global issues.
Carly helped lead non-profit organizations that focused on solving the tangible needs of people around the world. Carly played a significant role in leading two of the world’s largest non-profit organizations – Opportunity International and Good360. At Opportunity International, Carly served as Global Board Chair as they gave out $9 billion via 30 million loans – transforming millions of lives across the global, developing world. Carly chaired Good360 – a non-profit that takes donated excess goods from global corporations and connects them with non-profit partners that know where to provide aid. Good360 has distributed $8 billion in donated goods around the world. She’s been a part of successful initiatives to rethink how we address some of the world’s most daunting, perennial issues.
