Posted on 07/26/2005 7:25:31 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk
Tom Tancredo, the Colorado congressman who caused an uproar with the suggestion Muslim holy sites could be taken out in response to a nuclear attack on U.S. cities, is making no apologies if people are offended by his frank talk.
"Many critics of my statements have characterized them as 'offensive,' and indeed they may have offended some," writes Tancredo in a guest commentary in the Denver Post.
"But in this battle against fundamentalist Islam, I am hardly preoccupied with political correctness, or who may or may not be offended. Indeed, al-Qaida cares little if the Western world is 'offended' by televised images of hostages beheaded in Iraq, subway bombings in London, train attacks in Madrid, or Americans jumping to their death from the Twin Towers as they collapsed."
Tancredo, who in recent months has been an outspoken critic of immigration policies allowing illegal aliens to stream across U.S. borders, says few can argue the current approach to the war on terror has deterred fundamentalists from killing Westerners, adding so-called moderate Muslims and leaders of Muslim countries have done little to crack down on extremists.
"That being the case, perhaps the civilized world must intensify its approach," Tancredo says. "Does that mean the United States should be retargeting its entire missile arsenal on Mecca today? Does it mean we ought to be sending Stealth bombers on runs over Medina? Clearly not.
"But should we take any option or target off the table, regardless of the circumstances? Absolutely not, particularly if the mere discussion of an option or target may dissuade a fundamentalist Muslim extremist from strapping on a bomb-filled backpack, or if it might encourage 'moderate' Muslims to do a better job cracking down on extremism in their ranks."
Tancredo's commentary comes in the wake of reaction to his remarks during a Florida radio discussion.
In the interview with Pat Campbell of WFLA radio, Tancredo discussed his request for a briefing from the Justice Department on information it has on plans revealed by WND this week for a nuclear attack on the U.S. by al-Qaida terrorists.
Campbell noted that just after the July 7 London bombings, former Israeli counterterrorism intelligence officer Juval Aviv predicted an attack in the U.S. within the next 90 days. Aviv believes the plan is to attack not one big city, like New York, but half-a-dozen smaller ones, including towns in the heartland.
The host asked Tancredo, "Worst case scenario, if they do have these nukes inside the border, what would our response be?"
The congressman replied: "There are things you could threaten to do before something like that happens, and then you have to do afterwards, that are quite draconian."
"Well," Tancredo continued, "what if you said something like, 'If this happens in the United States and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you could take out their holy sites.'"
Campbell: "You're talking about bombing Mecca?"
Tancredo: "Yeah. What if you said, we recognize that this is the ultimate threat to the United States, therefore this is the ultimate response."
The congressman quickly added, "I don't know, I'm just throwing out some ideas, because it seems that at that point in time you would be talking about taking the most draconian measures you could imagine. Because other than that, all you could do is tighten up internally."
Tancredo's office clarified the comments, saying Tancredo was not advocating an attack on Muslim holy sites.
As WND reported, the controversial lobby group Council on American-Islamic Relations is urging the Republican Party to repudiate Tancredo's remarks.
Previous stories:
CAIR to GOP: Repudiate Tancredo
Tancredo clarifies 'ultimate response'
If you want to look at this in a "reasonable" light, there is a way to do it. It makes a whole lot more sense to let them know what we are going to do to them now than it does to wait until they blow up NY or DC, and then let them find out the hard way.
Ah, yes. FNC. The Natalee Holloway Channel. Jeez.
Indeed he did. But what Tancredo said there is likely to annoy many of his most dedicated followers.
Tomas, I'm glad to have had a guy like you serving America. This is why I love the Marines.
I love this guy. Too bad there is such a large idiot contingency. Otherwise, he'd have a great shot at the presidency.
hmmm bushbots must be asleep, at least we are getting good debate on this tread...granted its isnt a Savage thread. I guess the word "Tancredo" makes the bushbots buzz off, if they ignore him he doesnt exist.
Don't pay those schmucks a dime! You can record Savage here:
6pm EST: KNEW or KERN
10pm EST: 97.1 Talk FM
1am: WDBO
Just enter the call signs in google and you'll get the sites.
What did he say that annoyed you?
That's exactly what I was thinking. In WWW II, numerous civilians were killed in bombing raids. What makes war so different now? The idea is to stop the enemy from killing off your own people. That is a major function of the government -- to defend its people. If your enemy instigates and employs cruel tactics, you have to do whatever it takes to stop them.
New Savage fan here. Dished the WBAP 820 and have gone to 660 AM KSKY and I have enjoyed it a ton.
It has made me re-think my Pubby only stance. It's time for a gov't that truly represents the people. If not, it's time for a little tyranny.
(Still behind the Prez...)
good to hear from another savage fan.
Yeah, good to hear there are other Savage fans out there. I sure agree with him as he points out how the dems are moving so far to the left, you only see the wackos. But the pubs are also moving left to fill the regular dem void. We do not have anybody speaking for the conservatives. George Bush seems to be taking advice from Bill Clinton. What's that all about? We need to start with a strong conservative and start moving to a newer party with those values.
I noticed on another thread you said there are REASONS that the U.S. has been attacked due to our Middle East Policy.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1450803/posts?page=5#5
Kinda wonder why you joined FR at all
Tancredo's right on this -- it'll make 'em think twice and it could encourage moderate Muslims to step up to the plate and stop the madness.
That's funny, I draw the a diametrically opposed conclusion. Our nation is led by corrupt cowards who are insignificant next to the men who founded this nation. You expect a politician to defend Tancredo's remarks? This is a nation where 2 weeks after Muslim terrorists murdered 3,000 Americans, the President himself took his shoes off in a mosque and declared Islam as "the religion of peace". Compare and contrast to 1942, after Japanese terrorists murdered 2,400 Americans. The then-President ordered all Japanese Americans into internment camps. FDR didn't go barefoot in a Shinto shrine to express some pathetic sense of misplaced guilt.
You logic is flawed. You say that because no one defends Tancredo, he must be wrong. Yet, when Ted Kennedy viciously insulted the character of any one of dozens of GOP nominees over the years, not ONCE did a single GOP Senator take Kennedy to task for leaving poor Mary Jo Kopechne to die. does this mean that Ted Kennedy is a man of upstanding character?
Who said it would be bombed when full of people? We could give them 24 hours to evacuate it. Surely some would stay to be martyred. They would be told that prior to the nuking that millions of pounds of raw bacon would be dropped on the site. This would mean that when Mecca were nuked, they would be vaporized along with the bacon, and anyone killed there could not be martyred of get their 72 virgins, because they would be infused with bacon vapor.
Yes it's ridiculous. But this is what we are faced with. They are followers of a demented cult of death.
Yup!
"If you don't like the prescribed consequences, don't provoke us"!
Does China have oil? Because if anybody nukes the part of the world where we get our oil...we may be at China's mercy
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