Allen West (politician)

Allen Bernard West (born 7 February 1961) is an American politician and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. A member of the Republican Party, West represented Florida's 22nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013 and served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2020 to 2021. He achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Army but retired after an investigation of his conduct during the interrogation of a detainee in Taji, Iraq.

2000s

 * If it's about the lives of my men and their safety, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can.
 * At his 2004 hearing, regarding his conduct of an interrogation.

2010s

 * The first thing you’ve got to do is study and understand what we’re up against. You must realize that this is not a religion that you’re fighting against. You’re fighting against a theo-political belief system and construct. You’re fighting against something that’s been doing this thing since 622 AD - 7th century - 1,388 years. You want to dig up Charles Martel and ask him why he was fighting the Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732? You want to ask the Venetian fleet at LePonto why they were fighting a Muslim fleet in 1571? You want to ask the Christian – I mean the Germanic and Austrian – knights why they were fighting at the gates of Vienna in 1683? You want to ask people what happened at Constantinople and why today it’s called Istanbul? Because they lost that fight in 1453. You need to get into the Qur'an, you need to understand their precepts, you need to read the Sunnah, you need to read the Hadith and then you can really understand this is not a perversion: They are doing exactly what this book says. I want to close by saying this, and I think we’ve said this all through this morning so far: Until we get principled leadership in the United States that is willing to say that, we will continue to chase our tail, because we will never clearly define who this enemy is and then understand their goals and objectives - which is on any jihadist website - and then come up with the right and proper goals and objectives to not only secure our republic, but to secure western civilization.
 * Response to question: Why would [Islamist terrorists] warp a religion to justify attacking the United States.
 * I will take my hands off Medicare when there is no Medicare, then I will come and see you sir.
 * To an audience member chanting "Hands off Medicare!"
 * To an audience member chanting "Hands off Medicare!"


 * We're going to be successful Tuesday night, don't worry.
 * , quoted in

Slavery, secession, segregation, and socialism (2010)

 * Full text of "The Democrat legacy of slavery, secession, segregation, and socialism", To The Point (13 January 2010).


 * The history of the Democrat party is one of slavery, secession, segregation, and now socialism.

Voting Democratic for the next 200 years (2014)

 * Full text of "LBJ: I'll have those niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years." (20 March 2014), Allen B. West: Steadfast and Loyal.


 * On March 20, 1854, the Republican Party was established in Ripon, Wisconsin. Referred to as the 'GOP' or 'Grand Old Party', it established for one reason, to break the chains of slavery and ensure the unalienable rights endowed by the Creator of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would be for all Americans. The Republican Party was created to achieve individual freedom. Then, as now, the antagonist to the Republican Party has been the Democrats, the party of collective subjugation and individual enslavement, then physical, now economic.


 * The antagonist to the Republican Party has been the Democrats, the party of collective subjugation and individual enslavement. Then physical, now economic. The first black members of the U.S. House and Senate were Republicans. The first civil rights legislation came from Republicans. Democrats gave us the KKK, Jim Crow, lynchings, poll taxes, literacy tests, and failed policies like the 'Great Society'. Republican President Eisenhower ordered troops to enforce school desegregation. Republican Senator Everett Dirksen enabled the 1964 civil rights legislation to pass, in opposition to Democrat Senators Robert Byrd, a KKK Grand Wizard, and Al Gore, Sr.


 * Who are the real racists? So far, thanks to a Republican Party that is ignorant of its own history and gave up on the black community, Democrats have fifty of those two hundred years under their belt. The problem with today's Republican Party is that it has forgotten its own history and raison d'etre. Individual liberty. The party must come to realize that GOP also stands for 'Growth, Opportunity, Prosperity' and articulate how it stands, as its history and founding clearly demonstrate, for the individual pursuit of happiness as opposed to the progressive socialist Democrat lie of a collective guarantee of happiness. So, happy 160th birthday to my party, the Republican Party. I am a strong conservative and I hope Republicans recommit to those fundamental principles which established this party, the historical antithesis of the Democrats.

Even the UN accuses ISIS of human rights abuses, but the left stays silent (2015)

 * "Even the UN accuses ISIS of human rights abuses, but the left stays silent" (5 February 2015), Allen B. West: Steadfast and Loyal


 * ISIL herded approximately 450−500 women and girls to the citadel of Tal Afar in Ninewa where, two days later, 150 unmarried girls and women, predominantly from the Yezidi and Christian communities, were reportedly transported to Syria, either to be given to ISIL fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves, the report said. So where are the 'war on women' advocates? I know, crickets chirping. The progressive socialist feminist movement would rather not have Obama admit he was wrong than save these women.

Dirty little secret no one wants to admit about Baltimore (2015)

 * Full text of "The dirty little secret no one wants to admit about Baltimore" (18 May 2015), National Black Republican Association.


 * I was watching the news reports from Baltimore and hearing all the condemnations from some about being kept down and the lack of jobs, opportunity, good schools — then why do these blacks keep voting for the same people? And this isn't a phenomenon isolated to Baltimore. Every single major urban center in America is run by Democrats — more specifically, liberal progressives, black or white. The morass that became Detroit. The killing fields of Chicago. The depravity of Washington, D.C. The shame of South Dallas. And yes, even the place that was once my home, Atlanta, even with all the successful black entertainers. Now, I remember the first black mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson. That guy was a leader and even spoke at my high school Baccalaureate. But today, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has done such a bang-up job that the Atlanta Braves are moving to Cobb County! Just do the assessment yourselves, who are the elected officials heading up the urban centers? And where does one find the most dire socio-economic statistics?


 * Rioters blame whites. Well, they need to make sure they're specifically blaming the correct whites. Those on the left. Blacks have been herded into these inner city clusters, a new economic plantation and in this fiftieth year of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, well, the unintended, or maybe intended, consequences are deplorable.


 * The truth is that it is a culture of dependency as promulgated by the race-baiters and new plantation overseers of the inner city that has created what we’re seeing play out in Baltimore. There is where the blame lies, but there are very few who are willing to admit just that. Remember what ESPN sports commentator Stephen A. Smith said? He wished that for one voting cycle, the black community would vote Republican. Heck, they could do no worse — and look, even the people of the State of Maryland decided to try something different and elected a Republican governor. Who, when finally asked, immediately activated the National Guard to quell the violence and chaos which the Democrat Mayor of Baltimore failed to comprehend, and control. Perhaps what we’re witnessing in Baltimore is the pure definition of insanity — continuing to do the same thing and expect different results.


 * Yes, the dirty little secret that no one wants to admit is that Baltimore, and so many other urban areas and inner city communities in America are a reflection of the abject failure of liberal progressive socialist policies as advanced by the Democrat party. The preeminent question is whether or not those in Baltimore and other places will recognize who is truly responsible for their plight. Or will they continue to be manipulated and propagandized by the liberal progressive media and the poverty pimps like the one supposedly heading down from New York City... This is not about an American failure, it is about a Democrat failure. And ask yourself, who were the ones who developed the concept of urban economic empowerment zones — as opposed to the ones who have produced urban depraved enslavement zones?

Open letter to Khizr M. Khan (31 July 2016)

 * Transcript


 * Let me offer my condolences to the Khan family for their sacrifice, as they are now an American Gold Star Family. Their son and I share an unbreakable bond. We both served our nation and, along with three other generations in my family, took the oath to support and defend our Constitution and served in combat zones.
 * Mr. Khan, I’ve read our Constitution and firmly recognize the preeminent responsibility of our federal government is to “provide for the common defense.” I also comprehend the relationship between the three branches of government…you know separation of powers, checks and balances, coequal branches of government.
 * Perhaps you should have asked President Barack Obama if he had read the Constitution — undoubtedly you would agree we have witnessed a few unconstitutional actions from him. And while you were at it, Mr. Khan, perhaps you could have asked Hillary Clinton about handling classified information — since I’m quite sure your son, Captain Khan, had at a minimum a secret clearance.
 * I found it interesting Mr. Khan, that you and your wife, an American Gold Star family, would take the stage to support a sitting president and one desiring to be president, who had abandoned Americans in a combat zone and lied about it.
 * You see, I understand Mr. Khan, that your son and your family are Muslim and Muslims do indeed serve in our armed forces. But in the military I know, we do not celebrate that which divides, but rather that which unites. And what is it that unites us as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines? It is service above self, commitment to something greater than the individual, and sacrifice for our country and comrades in arms.
 * Just as you celebrated your Muslim son’s sacrifice, there are others who could give testimony to their loss due to those Muslim soldiers — and I use lower case reference to them (soldiers) because they dishonored the oath and were traitors to our Code of Honor. Your son was not, but that had nothing to do with him being a Muslim: he was an American Soldier.
 * You should have taken the time to explain how humbled and thankful you are to live in America. You should have mentioned how honored your son was and the pride you felt knowing he was serving your adopted country. You should have explained to America, and the world, what killed your son…the ideology of Islamism, Islamic fascism.
 * Mr. Khan, you had a moment to speak on history and provide us clarity and truth from a Muslim man who lost his son, an American Soldier, to Islamists. .... Then again, maybe you had no intention of using the platform provided to you as a teachable moment…but rather a politically-influenced opportunity for gain.
 * You could have articulated how a 7th century savage and barbaric ideology inspired by a murderous warlord, psychopath, and, by modern day standards, a pedophile, was not a radical but the leader of a militant phase of Islam introduced after the 622 AD event referred to as Al Hijra. Mr. Khan, I grieve for the loss of your son. However, I grieve even more that you used his sacrifice and loss as nothing more than a damn politicized stunt. May God forgive you for it.

Message from a non-oppressed black man to Colin Kaepernick (28 August 2016)

 * "Message from a non-oppressed black man to Colin Kaepernick" (28 August 2016)


 * My dad was a corporal in the U.S. Army and served during World War II. He was born in 1920 and knew oppression. Yet, when he sat me down on the steps of our home, 651 Kennesaw Ave NE in Atlanta, he shared with me that there was no greater honor or privilege, than to wear the uniform of these United States. Perhaps that's why his first and middle sons, along with his grandson, are all U.S. combat veterans, just like Dad.


 * The American flag has a very touching meaning for those of us for whom it will drape our coffin — as it was for my Dad…and it will be for me.


 * When the National Anthem is played, I salute because I am a black man born and raised in the inner city afforded the opportunity for greatness in my own right.

Here’s what I wish the president had said about this NFL business (24 September 2017)

 * "Here’s what I wish the president had said about this NFL business" (24 September 2017)


 * I am ashamed that we had football players, Americans, on the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars team who knelt for our national anthem, and stood for the British national anthem. I am disturbed to know there are teams who will just stay in the locker room during the playing of our anthem. This is an issue that the American people and football fans need resolved. Americans want to check out of politics sometimes and just enjoy a good sporting event. Sadly, there appears to be no “safe space” away from the progressive socialist agenda.

I'd like to see MORE football player protests — NOT less (27 September 2017)

 * Transcript


 * [I]n Portland, Oregon, they decided to drop the gang-member designation — they don’t call gangs “gangs” anymore because it’s, yes, racist.
 * [W]here’s the massive, collective condemnation about this recent Tennessee case? I’m quite sure that, once again, the left will find a way to make Samson the victim, and the young church usher, Robert Caleb Engle, the assailant. It’s just another example of how things have become upside down in America — and how we’ve all become pawns in the dangerous and delusional game being waged by the progressive, socialist left.
 * I don’t find it a coincidence that, over the last two years, we’ve seen this type of rise in violent crimes in the United States. When the Obama administration decided it was going to defend criminals over law enforcement, this is where it ends up. See, the Obama administration decided it was better to release criminals, since they view them as victims, and punish law enforcement.
 * NFL players are supposedly protesting police violence against blacks in America, but the facts don’t support their misguided and Quixotic quest — actually, the opposite is the case. I would love to see them protesting — actually going into the communities where they play, and confronting the problem of gang violence that has caused this uptick.
 * We should be committed to ending this spate of gun violence and criminality. We should stop allowing the progressive, socialist left to manipulate us for the sake of their insidious ideological agenda. The problem is simple — doing that takes courage, and the left tends to define courage with examples such as Bradley Manning or Bowe Bergdahl. Real courage, however, is shown by those who don’t merely follow the trend or status quo, but who stand up for that which is right and truly just — and don’t kneel.

Folks, you’re missing the point about the NFL protests (19 October 2017)

 * Transcript


 * Sure, folks have a First Amendment right of free speech and freedom of expression. But what happens when all of this is ill-conceived and misguided in its core? How racist can it be for multi-millionaire black athletes to have whites paying large sums of money to watch them play a game... and buy their jerseys?


 * Oh, yeah, y’all are talking about those racist white police, yep, the ones who guard the multi-millionaire athletes. No? Oh, I see, you’re talking about the epidemic of police shooting unarmed black men — except that more whites are shot than blacks. As opposed to the genocidal level of blacks killing blacks all over the same inner cities that boast NFL teams.


 * So, what exactly are these folks protesting, and how does disrespecting the national anthem and the flag of the United States of America have to do with any of this? Doggone, like the United Negro College Fund commercial used to say, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste.”


 * You know what I wish for? I wish for an NFL that produced a man like Pat Tillman! Y'all remember him, chances are these young folks do not. Pat Tillman was an outstanding college football athlete from Arizona State University, the Sun Devils. Tillman played professional football for the Arizona Cardinals but he answered a greater call of duty – and not a video game.


 * When 9-11 happened, Pat Tillman quit the NFL. He gave up his million-dollar career, and humbled himself as a U.S. Army [sic] Soldier. And not just a Soldier, but as a U.S. Army Infantryman, a Ranger. Who can ever forget that picture of Tillman, an Army Private, marching in his graduation carrying his platoon guidon, that look of purpose, discipline, Americanism.


 * Sadly, Pat Tillman lost his life in the fog of war in Afghanistan, in combat, as an Army Ranger. He lived the motto of the U.S. Army Rangers, “Rangers lead the way.” He also embodied the motto of the U.S. Army, “This we’ll defend.”


 * Ask yourself, other than Pittsburgh Steeler Alejandro Villanueva, a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army Ranger combat veteran, could today’s NFL produce another Pat Tillman? Perhaps instead of the images of these big multi-millionaires disrespecting our flag and nation. We should remind folks of Pat Tillman…that was a real professional football player who realized that true service, sacrifice, and commitment was not just on a playing field…it was on a battlefield.


 * Pat, long live your legacy, and your example... we need it now more than ever.