Posted on 09/02/2006 8:43:02 AM PDT by conservativecorner
President Bush has toned down his war rhetoric after Muslim-rights groups complained his description of the enemy as "Islamic fascists" unfairly equates Islam with terrorism.
In his speech to the American Legion Thursday, Bush backed away from the term, defining the enemy simply as "fascists" and "totalitarians."
He said the war on terror was an "ideological struggle" with terrorists who "kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology," but he did not identify the source of the ideology. His only reference to Islam during the speech was in noting that the Muslim terrorists are distorting the tenets of the religion. "Free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam," he said.
In a press conference last week, Bush also avoided repeating the phrase "Islamic fascists," reverting instead to more general language such as "extremists" to describe the threat.
"This is a global war on terror. We're facing, you know, extremists that believe something," he said. "And they want to achieve objectives."
While the White House declined to comment officially about the dropping of the term 'Islamic fascists,' a White House insider explained that the president is sensitive to concerns raised by Muslim leaders.
"The president never meant to imply we're at war with Islam, but some took it that way," the official said. "It's not a climb-down as much as a recognition of the concerns of the Muslim community."
In a major rhetorical shift, Bush last month began describing the enemy as "Islamic fascists," sparking a firestorm of criticism from Muslim groups.
The pressure groups, led by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, lobbied the president to stop using the term. Washington-based CAIR fired off a letter to Bush arguing that continued use of the "hot-button" term would only harm the image of America "in the Islamic world."
"We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism," added CAIR executive director Nihad Awad.
Awad warned Bush to choose his words carefully so as not to "start a religious war against Islam and Muslims."
"We urge him and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves," he asserted.
CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine, identified by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a "front group" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terror-related charges.
Washington officials have been careful during the war on terror to distinguish between Islam and the terrorists so as not to offend Muslims.
The distinction has rankled many conservatives who see little difference.
After 9-11, Bush frequently referred to Islam as a "religion of peace" and asserted the terrorists were "perverting" or "hijacking" the faith. A search of transcripts shows that, to date, the president has not publicly used the terms "Islamic terrorists" or "Islamic terrorism."
The White House insider says it's unlikely Bush will repeat the term "Islamic fascists" out of deference to Muslim groups.
"Mr. President, Say what you mean, and mean what you say!" How about Wahabi and Shite Fascists???
If you don't mean it, don't say it.
Your water carriers know which terms are "likely to offend"!!
It's offensive to me to see YOU being PC'd to death!
I agree 100%!
LLS
Uh see reply #14, troublemaking self proclaimed "true conservative" douchebag.
Personally I don't CAIR how these idiots take to being reffered to as islamofacist !!!
Or a yellow president and senate!
Bush better watch what he says, after all he might get that award winning CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour angry !!!
This is disgusting! ALL THE TERROR IN THE WORLD HAS BEEN CREATED BY THE FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM - if they don't like the tag of Islamofacists - then they need to stand up and clean up their own. Since they have not been willing to do that .. they DESERVE TO BE LABELED THE SAME.
REMEMBER .. TO HARBOR A TERRORIST IS THE SAME THING AS BEING A TERRORIST. Islam better be looking more closely in the mirror - their slip is showing!
Another anonymous source. Somebody trying to stir up trouble for the President with his supporters?
Did they make that up too?
It was very brave and non-PC for Bush to call them "Islamist fascists." It raised enormous howls of outrage from CAIR-type organizations. To my knowledge he hasn't used it since. If he doesn't use it again I believe that is pretty compelling evidence that Bush won the battle but the PC-crowd won the war on this particular "call it what it is" skirmish.
If he does, I'll understand why he did it.
Part of his last speech on the WOT - to the American Legion I think. It may have been a clip because I wasn't listing that closely (to the radio).
What are you dong here on a beautiful Saturday morning. Don't you have some illegals to smuggle across the border?
Where was he when he used the term?
It wasn't at the speech on Thursday. That speech is here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060831-1.html
The closest he got was: "They're successors to Fascists, to Nazis, to Communists, and other totalitarians of the 20th century."
Uh "vision" there what do you have to say about pat buchanan's defense of the islamofascists in the link supplied in reply #14 of this thread.
Do you mean on Thursday when he addressed the American Legion? No mention of Islamic fascism there, only one mention of Islam at all.
And the unifying feature of this movement, the link that spans sectarian divisions and local grievances, is the rigid conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam.
And Islam was not even mentioned in today's radio address, although Bush discussed the war on terror in detail.
So unless there is some kind of statement Bush made Friday that I couldn't see on the White House website (which would be very unusual), WND is correct in that he is no longer mentioning Islamic fascism. I'm no fan of WMD, but if you are gonna call them liars, you need to document such.
Can you find the article from yesterday, as I would love to read it?
I think there are news pictures from the 30's of the Grand Muffti of Jerusalem (islamo-facist) meeting either with Hitler or his top deputies. If these guys have a 70 year link to some of the best known facists of the last hundred years. Post the dang picture and say:"Hey if you walk like a nazi and talk like a nazi, maybe you are a nazi?"
He didn't use that term in that speech. See:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060831-1.html
He said, "They're successors to Fascists, to Nazis, to Communists, and other totalitarians of the 20th century."
You get the head in the sand award as early as I have ever given out this dubious award for posting nonsense.
LOL! looks like you are the one doing the heavy lifting this morning especially with pat buchanan's monica like defense of the islamofascists, per the link of reply #14 of this thread.
Have fun JC, getting yourself out of a mixture of being a pretzel and a douchebag.
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