september 19,
2005
Mass. Governor under Fire for Mosque Comments
Shortly after arriving back in Washington, D.C. from the Katrina disaster zone Friday evening, I learned that Massachusetts' Republican governor Mitt Romney had come under fire from American Muslim and civil rights groups. His crime? Suggesting that the U.S. should closely monitor radical mosques as well as young Muslim men from terror-sponsoring states like Syria and Saudi Arabia who have taken up residence in America. How dare he! To Romney's immense credit, he has refused to apologize for his comments, which, to the overwhelming majority of Americans, are just plain common sense. Said Romney: ''When it comes to protecting our citizens, there is no place for political correctness." Amen. I have stated this on several occasions, but it's always nice, obviously, to see someone of Romey's stature and influence--he's considered a leading candidate to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008--take a strong stand on such a vital issue. The fact that there is even an iota of controversy over Romney's remarks shows what an uphill battle we're fighting here at home, where dubious American Muslim "civil rights" groups and the political Left have combined to undermine America's efforts in the War on Terror. The great David Horowitz, for instance, has written an eye-opening book on this topic called Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left.
What follows is an excellent example of why we can't let these Wahhabi Marxists succeed, and why we need to get behind elected officials like Mitt Romney when they state the plain truth about radical Islam and its threat to the United States. On September 15, a 29-year-old University of Memphis student named Mahmoud Maawad was ordered held without bond after FBI agents found an airline pilot's uniform, a chart of Memphis International Airport and instructional DVD's in his apartment. One of the DVDs was titled "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act." Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Parker called what authorities found, "scary." So far, Maawad is charged with wire fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number. It's not clear whether he has links to Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group. He entered the United States from Egypt in 1998; his visitor’s visa expired in 1999. But surprise! He's remained in the country illegally ever since. Sounds a lot like some of the 9/11 hijackers, who, just in case anyone forgot, were also young Muslim men of Middle Eastern descent.
Interestingly, Maawad was enrolled as an undergrad at the University of Memphis. I would go one step further than Romney and say that the U.S. should disallow students from countries with large radical Islamic populations--Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc.--from enrolling in American universities, and should have done so immediately after 9/11. So sue me, ACLU.
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