Congressman: “Bomb Meca”
A Colorado congressman told a radio show host that the U.S. could “take out” Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalist terrorists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.
Rep. Tom Tancredo made his remarks Friday on WFLA-AM in Orlando, Florida. His spokesman stressed he was only speaking hypothetically.
Talk show host Pat Campbell asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.
“Well, what if you said something like — if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites,” Tancredo answered.
“You’re talking about bombing Mecca,” Campbell said.
“Yeah,” Tancredo responded.
The congressman later said he was “just throwing out some ideas” and that an “ultimate threat” might have to be met with an “ultimate response.”
CNN: Congressman suggests way to retaliate for nuclear terror
Now, I’m not going to get into a pointless argument about whether or not this asinine statement is more or less irresponsible than a) Dick Durbin comparing the actions of American soldiers to Nazis, b) Dean claiming that Bush may have known about 9/11 in advance or c) one of many people who claimed that Bush had captured Osama bin Laden and was going to reveal his capture in October, 2004, in order to get an election boost. I like to think that there is something called the “asshole threshold.” Once you cross the asshole threshold, it’s impossible to compare relative repugnance. To me, they’re all just assholes.
