Two weeks ago, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) announced that “there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party.” While West has refused to name names or provide evidence, today he moved on to claiming to have uncovered another vast conspiracy.
Appearing on Fox & Friends, West criticized the FBI for reportedly removing Islamophobic training material. The culling of FBI training materials comes after Wired’s Danger Room found that counterterrorism agents at the FBI’s training center in Quantico, VA were taught that “devout” Muslims are more likely to be “violent” and that Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers. The works of notorious anti-Islam writers Daniel Pipes andRobert Spencer were found in the FBI’s library and FBI counterterrorism “expert” William Gawthrop was shown telling an audience at an FBI sponsored event that Islam bore similarities to the Star Wars Death Star.
But West, whose own experience in counterterrorism includes mock executiing an Iraqi whom he suspected of witholding information about an ambush on his men, has decided that removing Islamophobic material from the FBI’s training facilities amounts to a Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy. He told Brian Kilmeade:
WEST: Well I think we have to understand that when tolerance becomes a one-way street it will lead to cultural suicide. And we should not allow the Muslim Brotherhood or associated groups to be influencing our national security strategy.
KILMEADE: Do you believe they are?
WEST: Oh absolutely. When you go and look at the Fort Hood report of Major Malik Nadal Hassan, you will find that it makes no reference to Islamic jihadism, Muslim extremism, it doesn’t talk about his association with al Alwaki and it is classified as workplace violence. [...] If we continue to be recalcitrant in identifying who the enemy is to be less offensive to them, then we’re going to put ourselves in a bad situation. [...] Now you have an environment of political correctness which precludes these agents from doing their proper job and due diligence to go after the perceived threat.
Watch it:
While West is slow to provide evidence backing the conspiracies he claims to uncover, he is quick to link his political opponents to vast conspiracies to undermine the security of the United States. Indeed, scapegoating Muslims has become a go-to talking point for West.
