President Barack Obama is on a “political jihad promoting Islam around the world,” said Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative group Freedom Watch USA, at a panel on Wednesday.
Klayman, who also founded the Judicial Watch group, organized today’s forum at the National Press Club under the auspices of his organization, which says its goal is “preserving freedom” and claims to be “the only political advocacy group that speaks through actions.”
The panel focused on U.S. policy toward Iran, but also touched on conservatives fears over the supposed impending supremacy of Sharia law and their opposition to the Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero.
Panelists called for House Republicans to push the Obama administration for a more “rational” approach towards Iran.
Nothing short of removal of the regime is appropriate, said Klayman, which he said is the “modern day equivalent of what we saw during World War II.”
“We don’t know exactly when Iran will have a bomb,” said former CIA Director James Woolsey. (Woolsey was also a charter member of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and a co-chair of the Committee on the Present Danger.) He also drew parallels between the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and that of Adolf Hitler.
“The current situation and the way the West has dealt with it in Iran, sadly to me, rather rhymes with what was taking place in the 1930s,” Woolsey said. He said he fully expects Iran to get its hand on a nuclear weapon.
Among those invited to speak on the panel were Rep.-elect Allen West, Sarah Palin, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rudy Guiliani. None appeared.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) did speak at the event, where she criticized the Clinton State Department for allowing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak to the media on U.S. soil.
She said House Republicans could affect the policy towards Iran. “There is new hope in a new House,” Bachmann said.
Presidential candidate Alan Keyes also participated and called the Obama administration’s policy towards Iran “ideologically stupidified.”
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Frank Gaffney, one of the early leaders in the Sharia fearmongering movement, were confirmed but did not end up attending.
(Editor’s note: Bachmann’s political affiliation was misstated and has been corrected.)
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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