Benghazi Summit Spiraled Into Muslim Hatefest

Up to 300M Muslims 'bent on destruction of Western civilization': panelist
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 17, 2014 10:18 AM CDT
Benghazi Summit Spiraled Into Muslim Hatefest
A screenshot from Media Matters video of the meeting.   (Media Matters video)

A panel on Benghazi at a conservative think tank devolved into finger-pointing and "ugly taunting"—targeted at a law student wearing an Islamic head scarf, Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post. Asking a question from the back of the room, Saba Ahmed noted that "we portray Islam and all Muslims as bad, but there’s 1.8 billion followers of Islam," adding that the 8 million American Muslims didn't appear to be represented at the meeting. As Elias Isquith notes at Salon, from there the panel quickly deteriorated into an "Islamophobic freak show."

Panelist Brigitte Gabriel replied that "180 million to 300 million” Muslims are "dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization." She noted that "most Germans were peaceful, yet the Nazis drove the agenda." She asked Ahmed whether she was American, then dismissed her "political correctness" as belonging "in the garbage." When Gabriel asked why others weren't "speaking out," she got a standing ovation, Milbank notes. Then moderator and radio host Chris Plante asked, "Can you tell me who the head of the Muslim peace movement is?" Ahmed's quiet reply: "I guess it’s me right now." "The facts never had a chance," writes Milbank, amid "anti-Islamist rhetoric that too often sounded just anti-Islam." Media Matters has video of the exchange; Milbank's full piece is here and Isquith's is here. (More Heritage Foundation stories.)

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