Newly elected Republican Congressman Allen West of Florida is not one to pander to his audience, nor does he adhere to doctrines of political correctness. At a Monday town hall meeting held in Pompano Beach, Florida, he exhibited these very qualities during the Question & Answer segment.
During the Q&A session at the town hall meeting, Nezar Hamze, a Koran-wielding Executive Director of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), confronted the Congressman and asked him to point out where in the Koran instructions can be found to carry out attacks against Americans and innocent people.
Hamze said:
You recently told a Marine that the terrorists that attacked the United States, the people that attack America, are following Islam, are following the instructions of the Koran. So, a very simple questioncan you show me one verse in this Koran where it says to attack America, attack Americans, attack innocent people?
Naturally, West replied that the Koran was written long before the founding of America, but that the Koran does in fact instruct its followers to kill infidels. West followed this by outlining a long list of historical examples of Muslim acts of aggression:
Well of course it doesnt say to attack America the book was written in the 8th or 9th century so America wasnt even around but you do have verses that talk about killing infidels. From 622 A.D. on, the Nakhla Raid, 628-the Battle of the Trojans 3,000 Jewish people were slaughtered
Much of Wests response, which went continued to list a number of other examples of Muslim aggression throughout history, could not be deciphered over the tremendous applause it provoked from the crowd.
West went on to cite recent examples of Muslim violence in the name of Allah, including the September 11th attacks. West added, Ive been on the battlefield, my friend. Dont try to blow sunshine up my butt and tell me otherwise.
Hamze then accused West of attacking Islam, to which West responded, You attacked us!… I went to Muslim countries to defend the freedom of Muslim people, dont come up here and try to criticize me.
The entire encounter between West and Hamze was prompted by statements made by West in December 2010, when Representative West responded to a Marine who asked, How do you answer people who say that terrorists are following a warped version of Islam?
West replied:
Let me say this and I dont care about being popular what youve got to do is study and understand what youre up against. This is not a religion that you are fighting against. Youre fighting against a theo-political belief system and construct. Youre fighting against something thats been doing this thing since 622 A.D. the 7th century 1,388 years. You want to dig up Charles Martel and ask him why he was fighting the Muslims at the Battle of Tours in 732? You want to ask the Venetian fleet at LePonto 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 its called Istanbul because they lost that fight in 1453? You need to get into the Koran, understand their precepts, you need to understand the Sura, you need to read the Hadith, and then you can really understand this is not a perversion. They are doing exactly what this book says.
West then took the opportunity to criticize the current administration for its unwilling to confront the enemy:
Until you get principle leadership in the United States of America that is willing to say that, we are going to be chasing our tail because we will never clearly define who this enemy is and then understand their goals and objectives, which is on any Jihadist website, and then come up with the right and proper goals and objectives to not only secure our Republic but to secure Western civilization.
West appears to be the most potent kind of critic, both of the administration and the enemy: a knowledgeable one. Perhaps that explains West’s November victory, with 55 percent of the vote.
