United States President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday asked former military intelligence chief Michael Flynn to be the White House national security adviser. Flynn has previously made some inflammatory statements about Muslims.
Flynn has been a consistent critic of the Obama administration and established a close relationship with Trump during the Democrat billionaire's presidential campaign trail this year. Flynn has advised Trump on national security issues for months now.
Flynn, 57, a retired three-star army general, headed the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) between 2012 and 2014, however, Flynn's departure came after clashes with the Obama administration. As the White House national security adviser, Flynn would work towards forming military and foreign policy.
Flynn's selection has caused concerns among many organisations, including the Human Rights Watch. The Rights group said that the selection shows "a deeply disturbing disregard for human rights principles and the laws of war. Flynn has repeatedly refused to rule out Trump's proposed use of torture and other war crimes," the Guardian reported.
His controversial statements and dark statements about Islam religion have alarmed many. The military chief had earlier this year tweeted saying "Fear of Muslims is rational." He has retracted the statement and the tweet still exists. Flynn also believes that America should mend its relations with Russia and should work more closely with the country.
Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL: please forward this to others: the truth fears no questions... https://t.co/NLIfKFD9lU
— General Flynn (@GenFlynn) February 27, 2016
The reports of Flynn's likely appointment came soon after Trump's controversial selection of Stephen Bannon as the Chief Strategist. Bannon runs the Breitbart News website, which has been very vocal against Islam and has promoted Islamophobic, sexist and racist views through the site.
Reports state that Trump is also seeking assistance from Republican Mitt Romney in assembling his administration. Romney is a prominent figure of the Republican Party and ran as the party's nominee for the 2012 presidential race against US President Barack Obama. Romney had resisted Trump's nomination for the presidential race from his party.
Reports state that Trump asked for a meeting with Romney which is scheduled for the weekend to mend relations. Senator Jeff Sessions, vice chairman of trump's transition said that the President-elect could consider Romney for a position in his administration possibly the US Secretary of State, the Washington Post reported.
