by Sheri Urban
The New York Post on Thursday called out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for downplaying the terror attack of September 11th, 2001, publishing a front-page photo of the World Trade Center engulfed flames.
“Here’s your something,” the Post’s headline reads, with the sub-header: “2,977 people dead by terrorism.”
The front page cover is a direct rebuke of Omar’s remarks at a fundraiser for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Greater Los Angeles in which she described 9/11 as a day in which “some people did something.”
Omar urged attendees of the CAIR gathering to “raise hell” and “make people uncomfortable” to combat what she described as Muslim-Americans being treated as second class citizens following the terror attacks.
“CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognize that some people did something, and then all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties,” said Omar, without offering any evidence to back up her claim. “You can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange, that I am going to try to make myself look pleasant. You have to say that person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it. I am going to talk to them and ask them why.”
Fellow Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a veteran who lost an eye in combat, was particularly incensed by Omar’s comments:
Incidentally, Omar’s claim that CAIR was founded after 9/11 was false. The group was founded in 1994. It is unknown why she chose to lie about it.
It wasn’t the first time Omar uttered outrageous statements about 9/11 and terrorism:
Appearing Wednesday on CBS’ Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Omar played the victim, lamenting Fox News’ criticism of her remarks, pointing to it as a so-called “double standard.”
“This kind of double standard really is quite, you know, offensive, and is very much embedded in a lot of our culture these days, where you will have people get — come after minorities for things that they say, they might have insinuate, but no one goes after people like the folks on Fox & Friends, that actually say those words,” she said. “It’s not about insinuation, right? They actually said that I might not be an American. My loyalties might not be to this country. But I get called out. They don’t. They get to keep their show.”
In response, Colbert suggested the “unfair” attacks on Omar were due to racism and being a woman. “I think because you’re a Muslim, because you’re a woman, because you’re a person of color, you’re given less latitude than somebody like me,” he said.
“You see this outrage when I speak the truth. Everyone else’s truth is allowed but my truth can never be,” Omar replied.
