Allen West: “We Are Already in a Declared War”

LTC (ret.) Allen West gave one of the speeches at last Friday’s Freedom Defense Initiative event, and it was a real rouser. This was the first time I have ever heard a candidate for national office say such things — exactly the same things I would have said if I had been on the podium. He uttered the forbidden words: “We are against something that is a totalitarian theocratic political ideology, and it is called ‘Islam’.”

Voters of the 22nd District in Florida: elect this man to Congress!

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling, and to Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer for hosting Col. West at their excellent event:


Long-time readers will recall the “Rosetta Stone” initiatives that were mounted to translate Lionheart’s writings and subtitle Fitna in as many languages as possible. We’re attempting the same thing with Col. West’s speech, so if anyone wants to volunteer to translate it into his native language for subtitling, please drop me a line at unspiek (at) chromatism.net, and I’ll send you the full time-stamped transcript.

We’ve got German, French, Italian, and Dutch covered. If you have another language and want to translate, your assistance would be welcome. Arabic would be particularly valuable.

Below the jump is a transcript of the entire speech (the Youtube version is slightly abridged).
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00:00.02		Thank you.
00:04.07		Thank you very much…
00:08.11		and Pamela thank you for that introduction and Robert, it’s great to…
00:12.12		be here with you all today, and I just want to tell you all one thing: if…
00:16.17		the truth has just become hate speech, well, you might as well lock me up,
00:20.20		‘cause I’m not shutting up.
00:28.32		One of the key conservative principles is national security.
00:32.34		And the fact that we are here, and we are now talking about this issue, this is…
00:36.38		one of the things the American people look to conservative principled….
00:40.41		leadership to do, which is to protect them. And if we do not stand up…
00:44.46		in this great convention that we’re having here right now, and profess who we are,
00:48.49		and that we understand this situation, this issue, the American people will turn away…
00:52.51		from us. You have to hold the conservative leaders that you see here…
00:56.57		this weekend accountable, to do the things to protect you.
01:00.59		Now, let me explain some things. ‘Cause I been sitting back here listening.
01:04.60		I’m sick and tired of people saying “war on terror”. There is no such thing as war…
01:08.64		on terror. In World War Two, how smart would it have been,
01:12.67		if the United States of America said they were at war with the Blitzkrieg.
01:16.69		Or if they were at war with the Kamikaze. A nation does not go…
01:20.72		to war against a tactic. Just the same way,
01:24.74		when you sit around and you see our strategic-level leaders here…
01:28.79		in Washington D.C. go on all these Sunday pundit shows and they talk about…
01:32.84		how great it is that we are directing ‘drone attacks’,
01:36.85		you think back to what happened in Vietnam,
01:40.89		when LBJ was doing bombing approval right here out of the…
01:44.92		White House, that’s not what the strategic level thinker…
01:48.93		is supposed to be doing. That’s not strategic perspective.
01:52.97		A nation goes to war against an ideology,
01:56.98		and that’s what we’ve been talking about here today.
02:01.02		We’ve been talking about the fact that we are against something that is a totalitarian…
02:05.05		theocratic political ideology and it…
02:09.06		is called ‘Islam’.
02:21.16		This is not about Muslims.
02:25.18		It is just the same as in Nazi Germany: not every…
02:29.20		German was a Nazi. Just the same as when I was in…
02:33.24		Iraq in 2003, not every Iraqi was a member of the…
02:37.26		Baath party. What I am talking about here
02:41.30		is an ideology that has existed since 622 AD,
02:45.33		since the 7th century, it got started with a thing called the ‘
02:49.34		Naklah Raid, which was after Mohammed made his Hijra leaving Mecca going out to…
02:53.38		Medina. It has been violent ever since. It has confronted Western Civilization,
02:57.41		and this is just another chapter in the long book…
03:01.42		that they are writing to conquer each and every one of us.
03:05.46		And now is our time, just as our forefathers had to stand, and turn these enemies back,
03:09.47		we must now stand and turn these enemies back, and today.
03:21.56		You have heard [retired military intelligence officer] Stephen [Coughlin] talk about ‘abrogation’. You need to understand things such…
03:25.66		as the treaty of Hudaibiyah, where they will sit and they will deceive you…
03:29.68		by holding off so that they can become strong, which is how back in about 627,
03:33.72		628, that is how Mohammed was able to then go in,
03:37.75		and overtake Mecca. The exact same thing that is happening right now.
03:41.75		You need to understand the traditions of Mohammed. When he wrote letters…
03:45.80		to Chosroes, the Persian emperor, when he wrote letters to Heraclius, the…
03:49.82		Byzantine emperor, that said, “You have three choices. You convert,
03:53.88		you subjugate, or we’re coming to get you. Well guess what?
03:57.92		Back in about 1992, Osama Bin Laden did the exact same thing.
04:01.94		He sent a letter to the United States of America. Later on in about…
04:05.98		2005 or 2006, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did the exact same thing.
04:10.01		He sent a letter to the American people and to President Bush. We are already…
04:14.02		in a declared war, and if we do not have the type of leadership that can understand that,
04:18.05		that can study this enemy, this adversary,
04:22.07		we are on the road to perdition right now in this great country.
04:26.12		We need to understand this. Everyone here has stood and told you…
04:30.14		sharia law is incompatible with who we are
04:34.16		in Western Civilization, and definitely who we are and stand for…
04:38.19		in the United States of America. It is not about freedom. It is not…
04:42.21		about liberty. It is not about protecting human rights or women’s rights….
04:46.26		It is about what Islam says: the word means ‘submission’.
04:50.29		And I don’t know about you all here. I’m not living…
04:54.30		as a dhimmi. I’m not living subject to any…
04:58.34		other type of ideology except for that which is written in…
05:02.35		the Constitution of these great United States of America.
05:18.54		Thank you.
05:22.57		We must understand…
05:26.58		that we have to regain the initiative in this fight.
05:30.63		Just the same as our young soldiers now are operating under these restrictive rules of…
05:34.66		engagement which prevent them from having the initiative against the enemy.
05:38.73		You just saw in Marjan in Helmand province, where the Taliban will come out and…
05:42.74		drop their weapons and walk out and taunt our soldiers and go away to fight again.
05:46.76		That would not happen under my command if I was commander and chief.
05:58.88		And just the same: we need to develop the right type of…
06:02.92		strategic level rules of engagement. Because our…
06:06.92		constitutional rights should not be afforded to illegal…
06:10.96		enemy combatants as stated in the Geneva convention.
06:19.00		We can no longer allow this enemy to…
06:23.05		come in and use this new tactic of ‘lawfare’ which most of the people…
06:27.07		standing here know, that is how they continue to try to get you…
06:31.12		to shut up. We should be going after them,…
06:35.14		not allowing them to use our legal system, and I’ll be damned,…
06:39.16		any lawyer that will stand up and prosecute a United States citizen to take…
06:43.17		away their freedom of speech, they are not my brother they are not my sister.
06:47.20		They need to pack up and leave this country.
06:59.33		If we continue on…
07:03.39		in this politically correct multiculturalism atmosphere…
07:07.43		that’s on steroids, we are…
07:11.44		paralyzing ourselves from taking the right and proper action.
07:15.47		We see what has happened in Sudan. We see what is happening in Austria.
07:19.53		We know about Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. We know what’s happening in Denmark.
07:23.57		Trend analysis is what we called it…
07:27.59		There’s nothing wrong with it. And for you all here…
07:31.61		in the media, stop calling it profiling. It’s about…
07:35.65		identifying the enemy, and what they are doing, and going after them.
07:39.67		When I was a commander in Iraq, I knew that young men on dirt bikes were coming out of the…
07:43.75		groves to lay out IEDs and attack us. I was not going to chase…
07:47.78		women in burkhas in the middle of the night, in their houses.
07:51.80		It’s trend analysis. Stop being politically correct, stop allowing them to come into our…
07:55.84		country.
07:59.86		If you do not understand…
08:03.94		that the reality of your enemy…
08:07.98		must become your own, we can continue in this state…
08:12.01		of denial. When I read the Fort Hood attack based upon what Major…
08:16.07		Hasan did, I was absolutely appalled. When I stood there and watched…
08:20.10		the Sunday show, when General Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army said,
08:24.11		he was more so concerned about diversity being a casualty than the loss…
08:28.16		of the thirteen soldiers at Fort Hood Texas, we have problems…
08:32.19		in the leadership of these United States of America.
08:40.28		We must accept their reality.
08:44.30		And the way ahead is so simple. You’ve got to…
08:48.36		get the right type of leadership in this country. Because that’s what it’s about.
08:52.38		We’ve got to get the right type of leadership across Europe
08:56.39		We’ve got to get the right type of leadership that will not be afraid.
09:00.46		Members of the media: stop attacking Jews and Christians.
09:04.46		Stop being afraid of this enemy. Show the same type of…
09:08.52		vehemence that you want against your fellow Americans…
09:12.55		against them. Because let me tell you something: thirty to forty years from now,
09:16.56		if they’re successful, and they have control of this country…
09:20.60		there will be no free media. There will be no free speech. There will be no freedom of…
09:24.63		expression. And guess what? You, will have been complicit in this,…
09:28.70		because you are too much of a coward to take a stand.
09:40.82		Now,
09:44.84		now is the time for principled leadership in the United States of America,
09:48.85		Because, as the quote that Elisabeth has taken…
09:52.88		from me: when tolerance becomes a one way street,
09:56.91		it leads to cultural suicide.
10:00.95		When I am able to fly to Saudi Arabia with my Bible…
10:04.97		in hand, with my cross around my neck, to go to Mecca,
10:08.98		and go to a church, then guess what? We’re good to go.
10:13.03		But until that point,
10:17.05		we have to understand,
10:21.11		the objectives and the goals that Islam has set…
10:25.14		forward. We have to be proud of who we are.
10:29.15		We cannot have leadership that will go stand before the Turkish
10:33.22		general assembly, and say that America is not a Judeo-Christian nation.
10:37.24		We cannot have a leadership, that goes and stands, in front of…
10:41.26		a university in Cairo, Egypt, and apologizes for the United States…
10:45.30		of America. That is not about what American pride is.
10:49.31		We cannot have leadership that is…
10:53.36		asked, ‘How do you define victory?’, and they cannot.
10:57.39		Well let me tell you: this is how I define victory,…
11:01.40		just the same as Ronald Reagan did when he was asked about communism,
11:05.44		“We win, they lose”. God bless you all…
11:09.47		thank you.