Islamic terror talk stirs concern

Controversial speaker prompts GOP to look for new event venue

Palm Beach County Republicans are going ahead with their plan to host a speaker to discuss the threat from radical Islamic terrorism, but they’re now searching for a new location.

The speaker in question is Geert Wilders, considered an anti-Muslim bigot by a leading Islamic organization, who appeared Sunday at a Texas event featuring cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, considered blasphemous by followers of Islam. Two gunmen attempting an ambush were killed by a police officer before they could injure others.

Wilders was booked six weeks ago for the Palm Beach County Republican Party’s annual summer Lobsterfest party, but the event drew scrutiny after the Texas incident.

Michael Barnett, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, said Thursday he hasn’t considered canceling Wilders’s appearance, scheduled for Aug. 15.

“The feeling is we have to move on with this event as planned. It would send a very bad message if we cowered away, and buckled under pressure,” Barnett said.

Though he’s standing by the choice of Wilders as a speaker, Barnett said he wanted to “reiterate we have no intention of offending anyone, a religion, or a faith, whatsoever.”

But representatives of the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations expressed outrage at the Republicans’ decision to have Wilders as a speaker.

“On the international level he is probably the most notorious, anti-Muslim bigot in the world,” said Ibrahim Hooper, the Washington-based national communications director for CAIR.

“He is the worst of the worst. This is the Islam-isevil-and-must-be- destroyed school of thinking,” Hooper said. “And for the Republican Party to host him, I can’t imagine that any Muslim voter in the state … would not hear about it and judge accordingly.”