Allen West on Islam

Allen West is a candidate for Congress in Florida who speaks the plain truth about Muslims and Islam—not Islamism, not Islamofascism, not Islamic fundamentalism, not militant Islam, not Islamic extremism, not Muslims who have an inferiority complex because they’ve been left behind by the West, not Muslims who are upset by U.S. support for Israel, not Muslims who are outraged at American imperialism, not Muslims who are violent because they are oppressed by Muslim despots and long for American-style democracy, not Muslims who are backward and tribalistic because they are the product of cousin marriage, not Muslims who are alienated by secular Western society, not Muslims whom we have failed to try hard enough to assimilate, not Muslims who become terrorists because Westerners demand that Muslims be moderate, not Muslims who have fallen under the influence of radical preachers, not Muslims who commit mass murder because their fellow U.S. Army officers harassed them, not Muslims who are sexually frustrated … but the truth about Muslims and Islam, the “theo-political belief system that has been doing this since 622 A.D.—1388 years.”

In reply to a questioner at a Hudson Institute panel who asks, how do you answer people who say that the terrorists are following a “warped” version of Islam (linked at Andrew Bostom’s site), West says:

You want to dig up Charles Martel and ask him why him why he was fighting the Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732? You want to ask the Venetian fleet at Lepanto why they were fighting a Muslim fleet in 1571? You want to ask … the Germanic and Austrian knights why they were fighting at the gates of Vienna in 1683? You want to ask people what happened at Constantinople and why today it is called Istanbul because they lost that fight in 1453? …

Until you get principled leadership in the United States of America that is willing to say that, we will continue to chase our tail, because we will never clearly define who this enemy is, and then understand their goals and objectives—which (are) on any jihadist website—and then come up with the right (and) proper objectives to not only secure our Republic but secure Western civilization.

Here is the video of West’s remarks. Imagine someone like this in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Jack S. writes:

Col. West is the hero who was persecuted and forced to resign from the U.S. Army for his part in a mock-execution done to encourage an Iraqi policeman/terrorist informer to divulge details of a planned attack on his men in 2003. At the time he was famously quoted as saying: “if it’s about the lives of my men and their safety, I’d go through hell with a gasoline can.” He ran and lost to Ron Klein in 2008 for the same seat.

Here’s Deborah Sontag’s account of West’s dismissal from the Army in the NYT from 2004.

Despite thousands of letter from the public and a letter of support signed by 95 congressmen West was forced to resign his commission by the ultra-PC Bush administration. He is a true patriot and the kind of black Republican the party should be embracing. From the details of his talk that you posted, it seems that he a clear understanding of the nature of Islam. Perhaps he reads View From the Right.:)

Daniel S. writes:

Thank you for posting the clip of Lt. Col. Allen West speaking about Islam and the history of the anti-Western jihad. I have heard other interviews given by Colonel West and he is clearly someone who “gets it” when it comes to the threat that Islam presents to America and the rest of the West. I would encourage you to take a look at his stance on illegal immigration\amnesty. While he doesn’t quite go as far as accepting the Lawrence Auster position on this issue, he is light years ahead of right-liberal Republicans that would gladly sell out our nation to the invading hordes of the third world.

Mike Berman writes:

I was present when Col. West made those remarks, as were several participants of our monthly discussion group. Allen West’s comments here constitute the very best moments of the entire all-day conference. Immediately afterwards, I was on my feet, along with others, cheering wildly because what is not seen on this brief video is that Richard Myers had earlier been maintaining the usual pathetic line about how the militants represent a perversion of Islam. Too bad Allen West wasn’t the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Myers one of his colonels. Incidentally, the conference aired on C-SPAN and I taped it, but I’m glad this video is now available on the Net for more ready access.

February 16

Larry Sand writes:

This guy is from the all too small Tancredo wing of the party.

Hannon writes:

By sheer coincidence I saw the same Allen West video yesterday and wrote this response to his campaign:

Dear Sir:

I happened upon one of your videos recently and was inspired by your words and the dignity with which you conveyed them. In particular, your assessment of Islam is spot on.

I hope you can help convince Washington lawmakers to revise their views on “Islamism.” They seem to have been tailor-made by George W. Bush. Islam is no “religion of peace” whether it is at home or on the march. I hope you would agree that we cannot export American values, as the neocons believe, but we can export American help prudently to those who request it.

Our response to the Islamic world since 9.11 has been politically and socially deplorable. Any comparable response to Pearl Harbor would have been virtually inconceivable, no matter any respect we may have reserved for Shintoism itself.

The very best of luck to you in your campaign in 2010, sir. I hope you can help lead—or in fact lead—the GOP to the station and respect it deserves, to the principles many of us still believe it represents.

Sincerely,

Watching parts of other videos on his site I was under the impression that as a soldier West supports the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, though I am not sure he supports these politically or philosophically. I would like to know his thoughts on the Fort Hood imbroglio. In any event he is prepossessed of statesmanship and certitude that is sorely lacking in Washington.

Alan Roebuck writes:

Allen West, at his campaign website, says “America is a Nation of Americans.” That’s a good counter-slogan to “We’re a Nation of Immigrants.”

LA replies:

I think that John Vinson of the American Immigration Control Foundation used that slogan years ago.

Roger writes:

Bush (the Younger) drove me crazy every time he would say something like “Islam has been hijacked.” Nonetheless, I don’t think, as West argues, that the principal problem is that we haven’t defined our enemy. The principal problem is that we no longer know who we are. Those “Germanic and Austrian knights” knew who they were.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 15, 2010 11:16 AM | Send