Talk-radio’s Boyles: ‘Political correctness’ to blame for Fort Hood killings

Argues PC policies facilitated suspect’s rise in the military; anti-discrimination expert dispels myths surrounding suspect identifying as Palestinian

 http://bit.ly/Ftgmq” title=”Tweet this!” target=”_blank”> By Joseph Boven 11/6/09 5:56 PM

Friday afternoon KHOW talk-radio host Peter Boyles, referring to the shooting-spree murder of 12 soldiers and 1 civilian at Fort Hood in Texas Thursday, proclaimed that Islam is at war with America.
Boyles also said the suspect in the shooting, a U.S. Army officer, had benefited from “political correctness” in his military career and should have been the subject of suspicion for writing that he was of Palestinian descent at his mosque.

KHOW’s Peter Boyles

“The Bush administration on into the Obama administration continues to say, ‘You know, we are not at war with Islam.’ Well, you know what? I am convinced that Islam is at war with you,” Boyles said. “What is it that you want to do? We have a president of this Christian nation, as they say, saying that we are not at war with Islam. I think that Islam is at war with us. I think that smart people know that.”
On Thursday 13 people were murdered and 31 others injured at Fort Hood after a gunman opened fire. Suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a military psychiatrist and practicing Muslim, was shot multiple times. He is now in custody.
Boyles, discussing the tragedy, told listeners that political correctness facilitated Hasan’s rise in the military and his access to weaponry. He also suggested that Hasan, who was born in Virginia, had no business being in the U.S. military because he was Muslim.
“[We’re] fighting Islamic terrorists without and within. This guy [Hasan] had no business being in the service. He had no business being in. I am sorry. I don’t care. Why is it that all of these people who come here legally and illegally seem to have a problem identifying with this country? I am sick and tired of it. This guy was a time bomb waiting to happen for the good of Allah. Born in the United States of America but puts himself down in nationality as Palestinian. Islam is a religion but it is much more. It is a culture. It is a way of life…
“I am telling you today that political correctness has gone so far that we allow a guy who openly had sympathies for the very people we are at war with to be promoted to an officer in the military. Given access to our troops. Access to weapons. Can you imagine a Nazi sympathizer accepted in the United States Army in the second world war. …”
Abed Ayoub, legal adviser to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told the Colorado Independent that since news of the Fort Hood shootings broke, his organization has been in “crisis mode” monitoring and responding to tirades like Boyles’ as well as hate speech and threats.
“It’s just the blogosphere, the radio… Something like this sets it off. Where do you begin with the ignorance like this?” he asked.
“Muslim-Americans have been serving honorably in the U.S. military since the Civil War, literally for generations. Three Arab-Americans have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Colin Powell referenced a mother at the grave of her deceased son, an American soldier who gave his life in what we used to call the War on Terror. We have to just keep repeating the facts.”
Ayoub went on to address Boyles’ statement that Hasan “lists his nationality as a Palestinian,” apparently a reference to news reports that Hasan had filled out a form at a mosque in Maryland in which he listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian. Ayoub said there was nothing unusual or suspect in that. Hasan listed his ethnicity with his mosque the same way that millions of practicing Muslims do in this country.
“You go the the church and list your country of origin, your background. It serves to connect the communities. I list my background as Syrian or Lebanese. It’s like Christians in America attending an Irish Catholic church [because of their Irish heritage]. There’s nothing more than that to read into this.”
In fact, he said, much of the discussion surrounding Hasan’s self-description as a Palestinian assumes certain stereotypes.
“We see people equating ‘Palestinian’ with terror and violence. That’s simply not the case. It doesn’t make you a bad or violent person that you or your parents were born in Palestine, that you’re Palestinian.”
The salient fact, Ayoub said, is that attacks on military bases have been escalating for a decade.
“The issue is what these soldiers are going through. That’s what we have to be looking at. The shooting in Orlando today, no one is asking about the ethnicity or religion of the suspect.”
In an exchange with a caller, Boyles said political correctness was the cause of the shooting and will be “the demise of this country.” He argued that political correctness forced the University of Colorado Boulder to install a Muslim prayer room at the student center — an apparent reference to plans for a non-denominational space for prayer and meditation in the new Center for Community.

Posted via email from Jay’s Blogs

This entry was posted on 7. November 2009 at 06:43 and is filed under Texas, Islam, United State of America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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