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Tancredo: Bomb Muslim Holy Sites
US Representative Tom Tancredo this week suggested America should bomb Muslim holy sites in Mecca and Medina, and is standing behind those remarks despite heavy criticism and a sharp rebuke from the US State Department.
At a town hall meeting on Tuesday in Iowa, Tancredo told listeners: "If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina. Because that's the only thing I can think of that might deter somebody from doing what they otherwise might do."
Tancredo has made similar statements before. In July of 2005, Tancredo also said: "If this [terror attack] happens, and if, in fact, we can prove that it was perpetrated by some fundamentalist Islamic - 'Islamo-fascist' is really I think what we should call them - then you might think about this as a threat, the retaliation on their holy sites. We are talking about a situation where our very lives are at stake, not just the life of the United States, but of Western civilization," he insisted.
This week as Tancredo repeated those remarks in Iowa, the US State Department, which traditionally stays silent on the issue of presidential candidates and their campaigns, shot back at Tancredo.
The Associated Press reports that Tom Casey, a foreign service officer and deputy spokesman for the State Department, told reporters: "It is absolutely outrageous and reprehensible for anyone to suggest attacks on holy sites, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or those of any other religion.
To somehow suggest that an appropriate response to terrorism would be to attack sites that are holy and sacred to more than a billion people throughout the world is just absolutely crazy," he said.
Republican presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo says that to deter a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States he would threaten to retaliate by bombing Islamic holy sites.
The Colorado congressman says he doesn't want to attack Mecca and Medina, but believes the threat to do so -- with conventional rather than nuclear bombs -- is the only effective deterrent against Muslim radicals willing to die for their faith.
A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced Tancredo's statements as "unworthy of anyone seeking public office in the United States." Ibrahim Hooper suggested that Tancredo could be trying to win the support of "anti-Muslim bigots." The Colorado congressman proposed a similar retaliatory threat on a radio talk show in 2005.
At a town hall meeting on Tuesday in Iowa, Tancredo told listeners: "If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina. Because that's the only thing I can think of that might deter somebody from doing what they otherwise might do."
Tancredo has made similar statements before. In July of 2005, Tancredo also said: "If this [terror attack] happens, and if, in fact, we can prove that it was perpetrated by some fundamentalist Islamic - 'Islamo-fascist' is really I think what we should call them - then you might think about this as a threat, the retaliation on their holy sites. We are talking about a situation where our very lives are at stake, not just the life of the United States, but of Western civilization," he insisted.
This week as Tancredo repeated those remarks in Iowa, the US State Department, which traditionally stays silent on the issue of presidential candidates and their campaigns, shot back at Tancredo.
The Associated Press reports that Tom Casey, a foreign service officer and deputy spokesman for the State Department, told reporters: "It is absolutely outrageous and reprehensible for anyone to suggest attacks on holy sites, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or those of any other religion.
To somehow suggest that an appropriate response to terrorism would be to attack sites that are holy and sacred to more than a billion people throughout the world is just absolutely crazy," he said.
Republican presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo says that to deter a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States he would threaten to retaliate by bombing Islamic holy sites.
The Colorado congressman says he doesn't want to attack Mecca and Medina, but believes the threat to do so -- with conventional rather than nuclear bombs -- is the only effective deterrent against Muslim radicals willing to die for their faith.
A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced Tancredo's statements as "unworthy of anyone seeking public office in the United States." Ibrahim Hooper suggested that Tancredo could be trying to win the support of "anti-Muslim bigots." The Colorado congressman proposed a similar retaliatory threat on a radio talk show in 2005.
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