Friday afternoon KHOW talk-radio host Peter Boyles, referring to the shooting-spree murder of 12 soldiers and 1 civilian at Fort Hood in Texas Thursday, proclaimed that Islam is at war with America.
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.
“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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