Representative Joe Walsh (Photo: Flickr)
Representative Joe Walsh (Photo: Flickr)Days after an Illinois elected official warned of the threat coming from “radical Islam,” two Islamic centers in the Chicago area were attacked. The anti-Muslim attacks have brought renewed scrutiny to Rep. Joe Walsh’s (R-IL) claims that radical Islamists are “trying to kill Americans every week,” and that the next 9/11 is inevitable.
Walsh made the claims to a town hall meeting in Elk Grove Village, Illinois last week. The remarks were first reported by Salon.com. The baseless allegations about “radical Islam” infiltrating Illinois were prompted by a question from a man in the audience who said, “Islam is not the peaceful, loving religion we hear about.” The remarks made by the man were applauded by attendees at the meeting, according to Salon, and apparently not challenged by Walsh.
Calls for Walsh to apologize for his remarks were not heeded. Instead, Walsh doubled down on them in a press release. “The threat that radical Islam poses to American families and our way of life is not anything new. It is a real threat…We cannot let political correctness blind us to reality,” the statement said.
His remarks add to a widespread climate of prejudice towards Muslim-Americans that has been stoked by politicians. And there are real-life consequences for this rhetoric.
I called Walsh’s office yesterday to see if they would offer comment on the attacks. His office never got back to me.
Maureen Murphy of the Electronic Intifada noted the two attacks on Islamic centers in Illinois:
Four days after Rep. Walsh’s warning of radical Islam being the enemy within, a man who lives next to a mosque in Morton Grove, a Chicago suburb, shot the building with a high-velocity air rifle while 500 worshippers were inside for evening prayers during Ramadan.
And two days after that, a soda bottle filled with makeshift explosives made from household chemicals was thrown at an Islamic school in Lombard — a town in Rep. Walsh’s district as of the 2011 redistricting which followed the 2010 census (and just next door to the town where this writer was raised).
Chicago-area Muslims were clear that Walsh’s rhetoric is partly to blame. In a statement, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago said:
The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) is appalled at the increasing attacks on Muslim institutions. CIOGC calls on local, state and federal authorities to increase security and surveillance for Muslim institutions during the last few days of Ramadan and prioritize these investigations.
Last night the College Preparatory School of America (CPSA), a full time Islamic school in Lombard IL and a member of the CIOGC had a 7-up bottle with acid and other materials thrown at the school during the night time Ramadan Prayers.
During the prayer worshippers heard a loud bang outside the school and went out to find an empty bottle thrown on the window of the school, there were no injuries. Lombard police were contacted and a report has been filed, an investigation is in process.
“This is not an isolated incident, a few days ago another CIOGC member institution the Muslim education Center in Morton Grove, IL was also attacked” said CIOGC Associate Director Ahlam Jbara “It is election year and the fear mongering from elected officials such as Representative Joe Walsh creates hate in communities such as Lombard, IL”
The Electronic Intifada’s Murphy also debunked Walsh’s claim that “a recent Pew Poll said that 15% of Muslim-American men between the age of 18 and 29 could support suicide bombings.” Here’s Murphy’s rejoinder:
Walsh’s claims that 15 percent of Muslim-American men between the age of 18 and 29 support suicide bombings contradict a comprehensive, 127 page-long survey on Muslim Americans published by the Pew Research Center last year.
The report, subtitled “No signs of growth in alienation of support for extremism,” states quite clearly that 86 percent of US Muslims believe that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians is only rarely or never “justified to defend Islam from its enemies.” (An overwhelming 81 percent say suicide bombing is never justified.) Only one percent replied that such violence is “often” justified, and seven percent replied that it is “sometimes” justified. (Six percent replied that they don’t know whether it is justified.)
As the Pew report states, “Most Muslim Americans continue to reject violence and extremism. As in 2007, very few see suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians as ever justified in the defense of Islam, and al Qaeda is even less popular than it was then.”
The attacks on Chicago Islamic centers are part of a much larger wave of anti-Muslim attacks. As Salon reported yesterday, “In the past ten days, there have been eight cases of vandalism and attacks on houses of worship across the nation.”
>> Calls for Walsh to apologize for his remarks were not heeded. Instead, Walsh doubled down on them in a press release. “The threat that radical Islam poses to American families and our way of life is not anything new. It is a real threat…We cannot let political correctness blind us to reality,” the statement said.
The threats that America and Israel pose to families and ways of life in the Middle East and elsewhere is not anything new. They are real threats and we should not let political correctness (or libellous or slanderous cries of “anti-Semitism”) blind us to reality.
Imagine this breaking news: “Rep. Joe Walsh’s (R-IL) claims that Zionists are ‘trying to get American soldiers killed every week, and that the next 9/11 is inevitable if US foreign policy in the Middle East doesn’t change, become more strategically balanced.”
RE: “Calls for Walsh to apologize for his remarks were not heeded. Instead, Walsh doubled down on them in a press release. “The threat that radical Islam poses to American families and our way of life is not anything new. It is a real threat…We cannot let political correctness blind us to reality,” the statement said.
MY COMMENT: “Some people” say that in many parts of the U.S. it is the making of derogatory statements about Islam that is “politically correct” (and also demagogic). For instance, according to Alex Kane’s article:
Since the man’s critical remark about Islam elicited applause, it is disingenuous for Walsh to suggest that the his own reference in the press release to the “threat that radical Islam poses to American families and our way of life” is not an example of “political correctness” that will “blind us to reality”.
In fact, most politicians make a concerted effort when they are campaigning for reelection to say things that are “politically correct” so as to curry favor with the voters. Assuming that these politicians want to get reelected and are not trying to “throw” their elections, they try to avoid saying things that are “politically incorrect” (even at the risk of “blinding us to reality”) for fear it might be their “macacau moment(s)”. Representative Walsh is no exception.
@- Dickerson
Yeah, if Irony ever had a straight arrow it would go straight to what Walsh labeled as PC. What the hell is more PC than the “pro-Israel” line? He’s parroting the standard PC hasbara tying all the troubles to Muslims and/or Arabs, like nearly all US politicians.
1% of Muslims in America is 10s of thousands of people. Add in another 7% who think it is sometimes justified and you are at 100s of thousands. Frankly that 15% number wasn’t far off if you include the 6% that “don’t know” whether suicide bombings are OK. 14% who at most “don’t know whether they support” reported as 15% who “could support” isn’t much of an exaggeration. And that is just suicide bombing. What are the numbers on just “bombing civilians” without adding suicide to the mix?