A Fort Hood vigil, Nov. 5 (Photo: U.S. Army; Flickr)

Boyles was responding to a Colorado Independent story that quoted Abed Ayoub, legal adviser to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who said that in the days after news of the Fort Hood tragedy his organization had been in “crisis mode,” monitoring and responding to tirades by men like Boyles as well as hate speech and threats. Muslim leaders were reporting phone threats in communities across the country, Ayoub said.

“Threats? What threats? Name the threat,” Boyles said on his Nov. 9 show, incredulous.

“There has never been one retaliation in this country. It is like it is myth. Aunt Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary, said she is working to prevent a possible wave of anti-Muslim sentiment. You know what? There has not been one case, one documented case of retaliation against a Muslim person or an Arab person in the United States of America…

You know that there is not one case of retaliation. Not one case. It is like apples and — it is like razor blades in apples. It is a myth. And how these numerous Muslim societies come out and say we must do this, we must do that. And I am telling you that there is no instance of retaliation.

Political correctness is one of the many tools being used against us here in this country to take us down.

Ayoub argued, however, that the charged atmosphere after the killings demanded reliance on facts.

“This radio talk show host doesn’t have his facts straight,” Ayoub said. “We’ve had many email threats since this happened. Prominent community members in the Detroit metro area received messages saying ‘We know where you live.’”

Ayoub said that the FBI is currently investigating some of the more egregious threats and that the only reason “nothing has happened” is because “we alerted the authorities,” something Ayoub recommends to anyone receiving threatening communications.

Ayoub said that since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there has been a steep increase in hate crimes and what could be considered retaliation against Muslims. He said the first hate crime to come after the attacks was actually perpetrated against a Sikh, who was murdered because he was thought to be Muslim. Since that time Abed said hate crimes have been on the rise.

A report published by the ADC documenting hate crimes (pdf) against Muslims in America put the number at 80-90 incidents in the late 1990s. After a spike in incidents after the Sept. 11 attacks, during the period 2003-2007, acts of violence or credible threats of violence surged to 120-130 per year. Ayoub said the increase is reflected in data maintained as well by the Department of Justice.

“Look at the [U.S. Department of Justice] for hate crimes. Employment discrimination was on the rise. Violent crimes were on the rise. Mosques have been burned. Places of worship defaced. In Maryland, there was a church that was graffitied ‘Go home you [expletive] Arabs.’”

Ayoub said that a Greek orthodox priest was beaten in Florida recently because a Marine reservist thought he was Muslim. Think Progress reported that the priest, Alexios Marakis, got lost in Tampa and, asking for help, was struck over the head with a tire iron by Marine reservist Jasen D. Bruce.

A 2008 press release by the U.S. Department of Justice reported that “since Sept. 11, 2001, the Civil Rights Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Attorneys offices around the country have investigated more than 800 incidents involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson against Arab-Americans, Muslims, Sikhs, South-Asian Americans and other people perceived to be of Middle Eastern origin.” Thirty-seven convictions have resulted.

Catering to Muslims

On the Nov. 9 broadcast, prompted by The Colorado Independent’s story on his Nov. 6 comments, Boyles revisited his discussion of the Fort Hood shootings. He renewed his attacks on political correctness, avoided addressing fact-check concerns raised by the Independent and attacked Islam with guest Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.

At first Boyles backpedaled on whether he meant to imply that Islam was at war with the United States. He said he was only asking the question, that President Obama, like then-President George W. Bush, refused to acknowledge the threat Islam posed to the U.S.

“[Joseph Boven reports that I said] Islam is at war with America. Actually, Mr. Boven, what I said was ‘America says Islam is not — that we are not at war with Islam.’ ‘But,’ I said, ‘Is Islam at war with the United States?’”

Boyles soon made it clear to listeners how he felt.

“I am convinced that Islam is at war with you. What is it that you want to do? We have a president of this Christian nation, as they say, saying that we are not at war with Islam. I think that Islam is at war with us. I think that smart people know that.”

Boyles had said the fact that accused Fort Hood shooter, Army Maj. Nidal Hasan had listed his nationality as Palestinian at his mosque, was a warning sign. But, as the ADC’s Ayoud told The Colorado Independent, it is common in mosque culture to list ethnicity as one’s nationality. Hasan listing himself as Palestinian was neither uncommon nor a sign of treason, Ayoub noted.

Nor did Boyles revisit his notion that a non-denominational prayer and meditation center being built at the University of Colorado-Boulder was evidence of politically correct decision-making that favored Mulsims. Boyles claimed Christians would never be similarly catered to. University spokesman Bronson Hilliard told The Colorado Daily that the center will be for students of all faiths and any students seeking to practice religion, meditate, quietly reflect or do yoga.

In his discussion, Boyles lingered on The Colorado Independent referring to his comments as coming during the afternoon of Nov. 6 when his radio show airs in the morning. The Independent corrected and noted the error.

Just reading

During the Nov. 9 show, Boyles read from an article by Examiner.com anti-immigration firebrand Frosty Wooldridge.

“If you look at Islam in the modern world, its terror tactics began in Munich, Germany, 1972, with the mass killings of Jewish athletes at the Olympics,” Boyles read. “From that point, every major mass murder or killing attempt across the planet stems from Muslim terrorists.”

Boyles again lashed out at political correctness as abetting Muslim terrorists in the U.S. He said military recruiters should view the term “Allahu Akbar” in the same way they view the term “Heil Hitler,” the expression of an enemy combatant.

CALLER: … There is no doubt that the attack on Fort Hood was definitely an act of terrorism. When terrorists are about to do what they are about to do they always yell “Allah Akbar.” That’s–

BOYLES: Yeah, sure.

CALLER: And that is what this guy was doing.

BOYLES: Ask him if somebody with this man’s political and religious beliefs would say that. He walked into the Army recruiter and instead of saying “Allah Akbar” said “Heil Hitler.” Do you think that the military would have said “Come on in”?

CALLER: Hell no they wouldn’t have.

BOYLES: Or “[Japanese Emperor] Hirohito is god” or —

In addition to speaking to Spencer of Jihad Watch, Boyles read from an essay by Wooldridge, who penned a series of postings at News With Views and crossposted at the website of white supremacist David Duke.

Spencer said any talk of retaliation against Muslims was an effort to silence men like Boyles.

“They want us to shut up because we are telling the truth about these things and calling attention to their flagrant manipulative hypocrisy in trying to put up this diversionary smokescreen about backlash, which is designed to divert attention from what is really going on and to prevent there being any kind of genuine steps taken to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Special loyalty tests

Spencer also called for instituting additional loyalty tests for Muslim-American military recruits.

“In a sane world you would be right. The Army would be saying the Muslim soldiers need to demonstrate their loyalty in some way. They need to show us that they are not another Nidal Hasan. That there is going to be questioning. There is going to be additional scrutiny, and if they are patriotic Americans they should have no problem with that.”

Qaseem A. Qseh, founder and executive director of American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, told The Colorado Independent that all recruits to the military take an oath of loyalty. Spencer’s ideas, he said, would take the country in the wrong direction.

“This Jihad Watch wants some sort of litmus test … but as horrific as [the Fort Hood shootings were], you start dividing up this nation and having double standards, then America loses the very thing that so many people have fought for. No litmus test has ever been instituted against Jews, Christians or any other religion, because people will use ideology for their own ends.”

He reminded that black Americans were the target of terrorism and segregation, and often times under the Christian banner carried by the Ku Klux Klan.

“We do not tolerate that [type of terrorism], then or now. This is America, comprised of different people of shapes, beliefs, and colors”

A tragedy

In the wake of Boyles comments following the Fort Hood shootings, Muslim groups in Colorado reacted and responded.

Shoaib Ghori, administrator for the Colorado Muslim Society, told The Colorado Independent that he disagreed with views taken in the media that depict the tragedy as representative of Islam.

“We are sorry like the rest of America over the loss of life,” Ghori said. ” This was an act of an individual who acted crazily…. We don’t believe that he was acting on the behalf of Islam or that he represented Muslims.”

Northeast Islamic Center‘s Imam Ali agreed with Ghori, though was less reserved in his criticism.

“It is ridiculous that some people want to broad-brush Islam,” Ali said. “This was a man with a mental condition who had a break.”

Ali said all Muslim “hearts and prayers go out to those who were hurt or killed and to their families.”

“We are Americans who want the best for our country.” Ali said that the many U.S. Muslim soldiers prove that admirably through their service.

Read a transcript of Boyles’ Monday radio show here.

Got a tip? Freelance story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter.

Boyles also said the suspect in the shooting, a U.S. Army officer, had benefited from “political correctness” in his military career and should have been the subject of suspicion for writing that he was of Palestinian descent at his mosque.

KHOW's Peter Boyles

“The Bush administration on into the Obama administration continues to say, ‘You know, we are not at war with Islam.’ Well, you know what? I am convinced that Islam is at war with you,” Boyles said. “What is it that you want to do? We have a president of this Christian nation, as they say, saying that we are not at war with Islam. I think that Islam is at war with us. I think that smart people know that.”

On Thursday 13 people were murdered and 31 others injured at Fort Hood after a gunman opened fire. Suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a military psychiatrist and practicing Muslim, was shot multiple times. He is now in custody.

Boyles, discussing the tragedy, told listeners that political correctness facilitated Hasan’s rise in the military and his access to weaponry. He also suggested that Hasan, who was born in Virginia, had no business being in the U.S. military because he was Muslim.

“[We're] fighting Islamic terrorists without and within. This guy [Hasan] had no business being in the service. He had no business being in. I am sorry. I don’t care. Why is it that all of these people who come here legally and illegally seem to have a problem identifying with this country? I am sick and tired of it. This guy was a time bomb waiting to happen for the good of Allah. Born in the United States of America but puts himself down in nationality as Palestinian. Islam is a religion but it is much more. It is a culture. It is a way of life…

“I am telling you today that political correctness has gone so far that we allow a guy who openly had sympathies for the very people we are at war with to be promoted to an officer in the military. Given access to our troops. Access to weapons. Can you imagine a Nazi sympathizer accepted in the United States Army in the second world war. …”

Abed Ayoub, legal adviser to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told the Colorado Independent that since news of the Fort Hood shootings broke, his organization has been in “crisis mode” monitoring and responding to tirades like Boyles’ as well as hate speech and threats.

“It’s just the blogosphere, the radio… Something like this sets it off. Where do you begin with the ignorance like this?” he asked.

“Muslim-Americans have been serving honorably in the U.S. military since the Civil War, literally for generations. Three Arab-Americans have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Colin Powell referenced a mother at the grave of her deceased son, an American soldier who gave his life in what we used to call the War on Terror. We have to just keep repeating the facts.”

Ayoub went on to address Boyles’ statement that Hasan “lists his nationality as a Palestinian,” apparently a reference to news reports that Hasan had filled out a form at a mosque in Maryland in which he listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian. Ayoub said there was nothing unusual or suspect in that. Hasan listed his ethnicity with his mosque the same way that millions of practicing Muslims do in this country.

“You go the the church and list your country of origin, your background. It serves to connect the communities. I list my background as Syrian or Lebanese. It’s like Christians in America attending an Irish Catholic church [because of their Irish heritage]. There’s nothing more than that to read into this.”

In fact, he said, much of the discussion surrounding Hasan’s self-description as a Palestinian assumes certain stereotypes.

“We see people equating ‘Palestinian’ with terror and violence. That’s simply not the case. It doesn’t make you a bad or violent person that you or your parents were born in Palestine, that you’re Palestinian.”

The salient fact, Ayoub said, is that attacks on military bases have been escalating for a decade.

“The issue is what these soldiers are going through. That’s what we have to be looking at. The shooting in Orlando today, no one is asking about the ethnicity or religion of the suspect.”

In an exchange with a caller, Boyles said political correctness was the cause of the shooting and will be “the demise of this country.” He argued that political correctness forced the University of Colorado Boulder to install a Muslim prayer room at the student center — an apparent reference to plans for a non-denominational space for prayer and meditation in the new Center for Community.

Numerous Muslim groups have come out condemning the shootings. According to the Washington Times, “Officials from the Islamic Society of North America, the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council and Imam Mohamed Magid of the large Northern Virginia mosque ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society), among others, held a news conference Friday, urging Americans to view the shooter as a criminal individual, not a representative of Islam.”

“This is a deplorable act,” agreed Ayoub. “There is no excuse.”

11-06-09 5 a.m

00:10

BOYLES: These questions must be asked again. How long? How much further? How much trust? It is insane. It’s insipid. It is political correctness at its worst. This man who murdered these fine young men and women, wounding others. Born in the United States of America yet lists his nationality as a Palestinian. I don’t know how much further. The question I have. How much trust do you have in Islam? 303-713-8255 is our number.

Now the Bush administration on in to the Obama administration continue to say ‘You know, we are not at war with Islam.’ Well, you know what? I am convinced that Islam is at war with you. What is it that you want to do? We have a president of this Christian nation, as they say, saying that we are not at war with Islam. I think that Islam is at war with us. I think that smart people know that.

Fighting Islamic terrorists without and within. This guy had no business being in the service. He had no business being in. I am sorry. I don’t care. Why is it that all of these people who come here legally and illegally seem to have a problem identifying with this country? I am sick and tired of it. This guy was a time bomb waiting to happen for the good of Allah. Born in the United States of America but puts himself down in nationality as Palestinian. Islam is a religion but it is much more. It is a culture. It is a way of life. How much longer does this go on? Serious question. Get informed. The other news as lines light up and we will be speaking with State Senator Ted Harvey.

[...]

CALLER: They feel that they are Muslim first and last. The don’t think of themselves as American.

BOYLES: No.

CALLER: Nothing will change and something will go boom. That is it.

BOYLES: I am telling you today that political correctness has gone so far that we allow a guy who openly had sympathies for the very people we are at war with to be promoted to an officer in the military. Given access to our troops. Access to weapons. Can you imagine a Nazi sympathizer accepted in the United States Army in the Second world war.

[...]

BOYLES: How many accomplices do you think that this guy has across the country? The Bush administration the Obama administration continue to say we are not at war with Islam. Well I got to tell you something sport Islam is at war with you. Do you agree?

CALLER: I have been saying that for 10 years and everybody looks at me like I am some kind of racist. They are here. They are next door. They are out at the airport. They are here, Peter. I told this to an NBC affiliate out at the airport doing a report– a little high school report on who was this guy a few weeks ago. I said he is here. They’re here. You are standing amongst them. Really? Yea. Nothing will change.

[...]

BOYLES: Here is the truth: the political correctness in this country will be the demise of this country. And the fact that this guy was in the military and said the things that he said, did what he did.

CALLER: Yea, you are absolutely correct on this.

BOYLES: All I can tell you is that this should be, though I know it won’t be, the moment that people wake up. Right now there is an $84 million community center on the campus of Colorado.

CALLER: They are putting a prayer room in there.

BOYLES: Yes.

CALLER: Or something to cut out a window.

BOYLES: It is 163… The room is the result of complaints from Islamic students that they don’t have a place to pray. If I went up there and said, you know, ‘My daughter needs a Catholic church to pray in or my son needs a protestant church to pray in,’ they would give me the finger.

CALLER: No, the ACLU would sue you.

BOYLES: But the room will have an east facing window so that the students can face towards Mecca. Just let me finish. The Daily Camera estimates the cost at $261 a square foot or $163,000. Now the room is for Muslim students. Now I defy you to go up there and say ‘I am a Catholic student I want a place for mass’ or ‘I am a protestant student I want a place to go and proselytize. They would tell you to take it down the street.

CALLER: Or I am Jewish and I need to do my morning, I need to get my morning prayers.

BOYLES:

[...]

BOYLES: There is an $84 million community center on the campus of CU. There will be a 624 square foot room for prayer. The total cost of the room $163,000 to you as a tax payer. The result of a complaint from Muslim students. They don’t have a place to pray. The room will have a window now cut into facing east so that the students can face Mecca when they prey. You’re and idiot.

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