Tom Tancredo - remember him? - responds...

[azoth]

When Tom Tancredo called for Mecca to be on the list of possible retaliatory targets to punish the Muslim world, I emailed him. I expressed both outrage at his comments and concern for the potential ramifications his statements could have, both in the immediate and long-term futures.

Today, I got an actual form letter in response. The text tells me he has absolutely no grasp of the larger issues in this "War on Terror." The irony of his canned response is staggering.

I transcribed it so anyone who didn't email him at the time can see his response. Judge it for yourself:

"September 6, 2005

Dear azoth:

Thank you for your recent letter regarding my comments regarding how best to deter future terrorist attacks. I appreciate you taking the time to write me.

Without question, my comments have prompted strong reactions from many quarters, but they have also served to start a national dialogue about what options we have to deter al-Qaeda and other would-be Islamic terrorists.

Many critics of my statements have characterized them as “offensive,” and indeed they may have offended some. But in this battle against fundamentalist Islam, I amhardly preoccupied with political correctness, or who may or may not be offended. Indeed, al-Qaeda cares little if the Western world is “offended” by televisedimagesof hostages beheaded in Iraq, subway bombings in London, train attacks in Madrid, or Americans jumping to their death from the Twin Towers as the collapsed.

Few can argue that our current approach to this war has deterred fundamentalists from killing Westerners – nor has it prompted moderate Muslims and leaders of Muslim countries to do what is necessary to crack down on the extremists in their midst who perpetuate these grisly crimes.

People have accused me of creating more terrorism by making these statements. Indeed, we often hear that Western governments bring these attacks on themselves. Just days after the London subway attacks two weeks ago, for example, Tariq Ali, a prominent British Muslim activist, was quick to suggest that London residents “paid the price” for British support in the Iraq campaign. A professor in Lebanon, Dr. George Hajjar, went even further, proclaiming, “I hope that every patriotic and Islamic Arab will participate in this war, and will shift the war not only to America, but to … wherever America may be.” Hajjar went on to say that “there are no innocent people,” and referred to the victims of the attack as “collateral casualties.”

While I realize that some people around the world may be offended by my comments, I do not believe that the U.S. should take any option or target off the table, regardless of the circumstances. It is my hope that my comments my (sic) help to dissuade fundamentalist Muslim extremists from planning or carrying out terrorist attacks against the western world. The aforementioned statements by the influential Muslim leaders I outlined are fairly “offensive” statements, to be sure. Unfortunately, however, the kinds of sentiments expressed by Ali and Hajjar are sadly commonplace in the Muslim world, where justification for terrorist attacks like the ones that rocked London, New York and Washington is never in short supply.

Fundamentalist Muslims have advocated the destruction of the West since long before the attacks of Sept. 11, long before the Madrid, London and Bali attacks, long before the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, long before the attack on the USS Cole and the 1993 WTC bombing. In many respects, the decision of the Islamic world to acquiesce to these actions and even provide tacit justification for them is just as damaging to global safety and security as the attacks themselves.

Until Islam can bring itself to stop rationalizing terrorist attacks and start repudiating and purging people like Ali and Hajjar from its ranks who do, this war will continue. And as long as this war goes on, being “offended” should be the least of anyone’s worries.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. I encourage you to visit my Internet website at http://www.house.gov/tancredo where you can sign up for the Capitol Update, my weekly E-mail newsletter.

Sincerely,

Thomas Tancredo
Member of Congress"

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. thanks for posting this

I'm glad I didn't write him-one look at my name and he'd have been off on a tangent trying to 'convert' me, I'm sure. What he doesn't know is that MANY MANY Muslims have spoken out against terrorism. But it isn't publicized on the television or radio-the only place I find out about most is through my emails or here at DU.

He obviously has no clue about Islam or how the US foreign policy has worked in this country for over a hundred years. And ignorance like his is very dangerous. Maybe I need to find out who is running against him in 2006 and contribute to their campaign, because this clown needs to go home and stop "speaking" for the American people.