Trump finally unveils foreign policy team

Columbia: White House hopeful Donald Trump, not known for his foreign policy expertise, on Monday unveiled a team of advisers drawn from the energy industry and the fringes of Washington`s international affairs establishment.

Trump, who is closing in on the Republican presidential nomination, has been under pressure in the media to name a foreign policy team, amid reports that mainstream conservative and neo-conservative experts are loath to endorse him.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post editorial board, the property baron turned Republican frontrunner rattled off a half-dozen names of experts prepared to lend their reputation to his campaign.

On counter-terrorism policy Trump plumped for Walid Phares, an academic whom Mother Jones magazine reported in 2011 was formerly tied to civil war-era Lebanese Christian warlords.

For defense, Trump turned to Keith Kellogg, a retired US Army lieutenant general turned consultant who was chief operating officer to the US occupation of Iraq during its disastrous early months in 2003 and 2004.

Another pick, Joe Schmitz, also served during George W. Bush`s administration -- as inspector general to the Pentagon -- and later, according to the Post, in a senior role with US mercenary outfit Blackwater.

He is a co-author of a report for a little-known conservative think tank, the Center for Security Policy, entitled: "Sharia -- The Threat to America."

The list is rounded out by energy experts Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, who previously advised Trump`s defeated rival for the Republican flag-bearer role, renowned brain surgeon Ben Carson.

According to the Post, Trump outlined "an unabashedly non-interventionist approach to world affairs" in his interview, which was published shortly before he was due to address the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.