May 15th 2019
From the desk of George Seay
While on the surface of the matter, it may appear amusing to conservatives and patriotic Americans that U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar has been invited to speak at a Ramadan closing event/dinner on May 18, where the Mayor of Austin is the guest of honor, Ms. Omar has left the lightness of levity far behind after her comments on 9/11 and the Black Hawk Down engagement. Representative Omar has a pattern and practice of siding with America’s enemies. Here she is in her own words:
On Jews and Israel – supporters of Israel are attempting to mandate “allegiance to a foreign country”, and in terms of AIPAC and other Israeli lobbying groups, “it’s all about the Benjamins baby”.
On Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and President Maduro – “A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela”.
On Angela Davis, American Communist “icon” – “To one of my idols, Angela Davis, I just … yeah, I just, I, I can’t tell you how enormously inspiring you have been to me throughout my life”.
Now, I’m all for the First Amendment, free speech and freedom of assembly, and leftists in Austin can invite whomever they want to “inspire” them. But should they be inviting Ms. Omar? Is this the decision of right-thinking, patriotic American citizens? After Ms. Omar’s comments on Black Hawk Down and 9/11, I think not. It’s not amusing anymore.
Ms. Omar is from Somalia, and she and her family left that war torn, poverty stricken country for a better life in America. Good for her.
But in discussing Black Hawk Down, she opined that there were “thousands of Somalis killed by the American forces that day!” There is no evidence whatsoever that is a true statement. Most estimates run in the hundreds, well below “thousands”. And Ms. Omar neglects to mention American forces were attempting to free up humanitarian aid to deliver to impoverished Somalis, which was being held up by a greedy, morally compromised Somali warlord, who was profiting from the seizure of the humanitarian aid. And she glossed over completely the brave 19 Americans who died on that awful day, and the 73 who were wounded, all attempting to bring a better life to Ms. Omar’s fellow Somalis.
And the final blow, the irredeemable blow, on 9/11 – discussing that day, she condescendingly, dismissively states, “some people did something”. I think in the caustic, harsh era of public discourse we live in, it’s easy to become numb to all the hate flying around between political extremists on the left and the right. Don’t miss this one through the verbal fog – Representative Omar, a classic case of the American dream, an immigrant from a war torn, broken country who rose to be a congresswoman, discusses the darkest single day in American history since the Civil War, where Islamic jihadist terrorists murdered thousands (yes, in this case there were actually several thousand dead) of innocent Americans, British, and other nationalities just doing their jobs, including many first responders in the NYPD and NYFD, as “some people did something”.
Perhaps Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim, patriotic American, and leader of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy says it best – “Any Muslim who supports her in any way is obviously aligning themselves with the most vocal radical of Islamist, Socialist, and Communist activists in American Muslim history….Frankly, she should be highlighted as an embarrassment to rational, humanitarian, free thinking, free market American Muslims”.
I don’t think he went far enough. What Ms. Omar said, in my view, whether she was trying to be cute or was deadly serious, is borderline treasonous, and evil. Let’s go back to the Reagan era where we spoke plain truth – back then, the Soviet State was “an evil empire”. Today, Ms. Omar is an anti-Semitic, anti-American, non-substantive, dangerous lightweight. The Mayor of Austin is showing horrific judgment in welcoming her speech in our great state later this week, whether she has a First Amendment right to do so or not; if she is to speak anywhere, let it be in Vermont next to Bernie Sanders, where he can follow her remarks by rhapsodizing eloquently on his honeymoon in the communist Soviet Union before that evil empire fell.
I will close with Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics from “Into the Fire” off of “The Rising” album about 9/11; may we never forget, and may we never stop honoring the American heroes of that sad, tragic day.
“The sky was falling and streaked with blood, I heard you calling me, then you disappeared into the dust, up the stairs, into the fire, up the stairs, into the fire. I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher, somewhere up the stairs, into the fire. May your strength give us strength, may your faith give us faith, may your hope give us hope, may your love give us love.” Never forget. Never, ever, ever.
