Many of us find Tom Tancredo’s views on immigration a bit much, but that certainly doesn’t mean the guy is wrong about everything.
The most recent brouhaha surrounding the GOP congressman from Littleton began when he penned a letter urging Pope Benedict XVI not to apologize for remarks he made about radical Islam.
Nayyera Haq, spokeswoman for Democratic Congressman John Salazar, came to the rescue, accusing Tancredo of using his congressional seat in an irresponsible manner. The letter, she wrote, created a more “dangerous environment.”
(And all this time I was under the impression that dangerous environments were created by dangerous, violent people – certainly not free speech.)
Bill Winter, Democratic candidate running against Tancredo, echoed Haq’s absurdity in an appearance on Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman’s radio show this week.
“I would suggest to you this,” Winter explained. “Prior to Mr. Tancredo making comments of this nature, … folks in the Muslim world probably never heard of Littleton and had no reason to ever have thought about Littleton, and now they do.”
In a news release, Winter had written that Tancredo’s letter would “undoubtedly lead to more attempts at violence toward our country and this district.”
Did he really mean this? asks Caplis.
“Yes, and I stand by that,” declared Winter. “Absolutely.”
Elected officials, you play nice with those radicals. If you’re in Littleton, keep your head down and be quiet. Theocrats should not be insulted. (Unless we’re talking about the imaginary ones in Colorado Springs, naturally.)
Truly, I’m confused by Haq’s and Winter’s contention. As a resident of New York for more than 30 years leading up to 9/11, I don’t recall Rudy Giuliani or George Pataki or Mario Cuomo or Ed Koch – anyone – ever disparaging Islam.
What I do remember, vividly, is New Yorkers jumping out of a burning tower to their deaths for one reason: They were nonbelievers.
Winter is running in an uphill battle, but the same cannot be said of Salazar. He’s proved to be a moderate Democrat in his two years in Washington. Which makes his defense of Haq’s statement – not Haq the person – hard to digest.
“Nayyera was speaking on her own behalf,” Salazar told The Denver Post. But he went on to pose this platitude: “She was stressing the importance of building bridges, rather than knocking them down.”
Let’s talk about bridges.
Two months ago, Iran publicly hanged two teenagers for the crime of being gay. This punishment is meted out across the Muslim world.
The month before that, an Iranian court sentenced a 34-year-old mother of two to death by stoning after finding her guilty of adultery. Stones not so large as to kill a woman quickly, according to a civil-rights group monitoring the case, but not so small that they didn’t cause serious pain.
Two men, found guilty of murder in the same court, received six years apiece.
These are no isolated incidents. In 2004, according to the BBC, at least 159 people – many teenagers – were executed in accordance with Islamic law in Iran.
In the same nation, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently hosted an anti-Semite expo that recalls the heyday of the Nazis, saying, “They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred.”
My grandfather, murdered in the Gunskirchen camp, would be surprised.
Bridges? No thanks.
Haq is right. We should support moderate Muslims – who are the biggest victims of radical Islam. I’ve heard moderate Muslims speak here in Denver. I’ve read their books. Some are targeted for death.
But Tancredo’s letter called out Ahmadinejad, al-Qaeda and other Islamic radicals – our sworn enemies. Shouldn’t this be praised, not vilified?
There is little joy in piling on a young congressional staffer – and I hope Haq doesn’t lose her job. But Winter’s comments and Salazar’s silence on Haq’s ideas are something else altogether.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
