• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Howard Dean: “I don’t consider Iran to be a Muslim country”

Aug 2, 2016 9:21 am By Robert Spencer

It isn’t that Howard Dean thinks Iran is full of Methodists. He just thinks that Islam is wonderful, and that the Islamic Republic of Iran is evil and oppressive, and so therefore it must not really be Islamic at all. How this misunderstanding of Islam has grown so strong as to be able to take over whole countries, he did not deign to explain.

Howard Dean

“Howard Dean: ‘I Don’t Consider Iran to Be a Muslim Country,’” by Adelle Nazarian, Breitbart News, August 1, 2016 (thanks to Bob):

PARIS — Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean told Breitbart News that “Iran is the farthest thing from an Islamic Republic” and that Iran is not “a Muslim country.”

Instead, Dean said, Iran is “a republic that’s been hijacked by thugs and murderers.” He explained that he does not know Muslims whom he respects and who behave the way the regime does.

Dean was speaking exclusively to Breitbart News from Paris last month during a conference hosted by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The PMOI (also referred to as MEK) is an opposition movement that played an active role in overthrowing Iran’s last Shah while President Jimmy Carter was in power, and which was de-listed as a terrorist organization under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

During the interview, Dean also pointed out his belief that the term “radical Islamic terrorism” is a manufactured phrase “for political, domestic consumption in America.”

The transcript of the interview follows (emphasis added):

Breitbart News: You don’t think [the Iran deal] was a good deal?

Howard Dean: Look, I respect the president and I certainly didn’t oppose the deal but I don’t think it was “a good deal.” That is, I think we did give away a lot more than we needed to. And I think the Iranians are the largest sponsor of state terrorism in the world. And they are making lives very difficult for a lot of our allies. So I didn’t oppose the deal. I think it had its pluses and minuses, and I think we’re not going to know, for a few years, whether the deal makes any sense or not. And interestingly, I think the president’s reputation — as a good or not-so-good president — will depend on what happens with that deal.

Breitbart News: So — Saudi Arabia. Do you really think they are our allies, if I may ask… ?

Howard Dean: Yeah, I do think we are allies. I have my problems with [the] Saudis. One of the reasons I got involved with the resistance here is because I feel very strongly about human rights and the Saudis don’t respect human rights. So I’ve never personally thought that the alliance with Saudi Arabia was anything more than an alliance of convenience. But they are a key partner and they’re certainly not our enemy. So I don’t feel as strongly as some of the panel did.

Breitbart News: One more question regarding rhetoric on an international scale, do you find issue with the fact that our commander-in-chief and people within the administration (like Josh Earnest, and so forth) don’t actually use the term “radical Islamic terrorism’”?

Howard Dean: Well, That is actually something that I agree with … I think that most Muslims are not terrorists. In fact, I teach a foreign policy course at Yale. I had three Muslims sit in from other countries. And they pointed out to the class that their families were at greater risk from Daesh [ISIS] than ours because they live with them every day, around the corner.

So I think it’s important for us not to crank up a religious war. That, of course, falls into the hands of Daesh. So I think to call it Islamic terrorism is really just more for political, domestic consumption in America rather than something that you’d want to do in the world. I think these people are thugs, and they’re murderers. I don’t give them a cause. I don’t believe — I think they’re crazy, I think they’re lunatics, pathetic lunatics.

Breitbart News: There’s definitely a psychological aspect to it.

Howard Dean: Yes. I think they are deeply, psychologically disturbed, including the people who send them out there. So I wouldn’t want to give them any legitimacy by saying they have something to do with an organized religion. There is no organized religion which is a legitimate religion which condones this kind of behavior.

Breitbart News: I understand exactly where you’re coming from. But on the reverse side of that, you have the Islamic Republic of Iran which does use religion as a means to execute its citizens.

Howard Dean: I agree. And that’s exactly why I don’t want to do it. I think Iran is the farthest thing from an Islamic Republic, with some of the highest rates of execution in the world, torturing political prisoners, one of the worst human rights records in the world, a destructive force in the world. There’s nothing good about the Islamic Republic of Iran. And it’s not an Islamic republic; it’s a republic that’s been hijacked by thugs and murderers. And I think the legitimacy and the real government of Iran would be a secular government, which treated women equally with men.

Breitbart News: And just a follow up on that, do you think there is a nation that is governed by Islamic principles, or that considers itself to be majority Muslim, and that is truly an embodiment of what a Muslim nation should be like?

Howard Dean:I think Indonesia is close. There are terrorists in Indonesia but they’re not being embraced or being played footsie with by the government. I think there are other countries: Tunisia is one; Morocco has a better human rights record than most; it’s not a complete democracy. But there are nations where the people are overwhelmingly Muslims that don’t behave the way Iran does. I don’t consider Iran to be a Muslim country, because I don’t know Muslims who behave like that who I respect. And I think the vast majority of the billion Muslims in the world have no desire to live in Iran whatsoever because of the way their regime behaves.

Breitbart News: Or Saudi Arabia.

Howard Dean: Or Saudi Arabia. Although, I would say that Iran is far worse than Saudi Arabia … Although Saudi Arabia — I’m deeply disturbed by the financing of authoritarianism by the Saudis in countries where we didn’t have a problem, when now we do, in a place like Kosovo and the Balkans. So I’m not a big fan of Saudi Arabia. I think that was a marriage of convenience and that the Saudis have to clean up their act. The Saudis are, in part, responsible for terrorism, under the name of Islamic terrorism. And again, I don’t consider that — I think if you’re financing it elsewhere and it comes back into your own home, you bear some responsibility for that….

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Featured, Iran, willful ignorance Tagged With: Howard Dean


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. Moses says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:27 am

    LEFTISTS with their usual madness.Hopefully they will get a cure for it,but I highly doubt.

    • Mockingjay says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 1:41 pm

      “Even if we have to accuse EVERY single muslim country, or even EVERY single muslim individual of misunderstanding islam, we WILL do so, for we will never,EVER, depart from the idea that the religion of islam is nothing but wonderful, because every religion is wonderful, that’s why we call it a religion, after all. We will not bother ourselves with such mudane things as reality and facts. We will not let reality shape our views, we will let our views shape reality!”

      • David says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 4:51 pm

        Agreed, no one should pay attention to facts or take the trouble to read the Koran etc. It would be silly to worry about our country or our people.

      • Brian says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 4:52 pm

        This was the whole pretense by Mohammad. If religion is so wonderful the Islam will be portrayed as such.

    • mortimer says

      Aug 3, 2016 at 9:21 am

      Howard Dean is a naïve and uninformed Pollyanna. He is in the deep end and Iran’s mullahocracy are barracudas.

  2. Eric says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:29 am

    Howard Dean is a well wishing ass.

    • john spielman says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 11:41 am

      Personally, I think he is insane remember his screams during the democratic primary when he was running for democratic nomination for president

    • maghan says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 1:48 pm

      Just waiting for that bray–instead of a scream.

    • Lucretius says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 3:03 pm

      We’re gonna go to Sirte, and Mosul, and then Raqqa, and we’re gonna take those cities away from ISIS. And then we’re gonna go to Iran and Yemen and then on to Saudi Arabia, and give all those countries back to the REAL Muslims. Then we’re gonna come back home to Washington DC and put Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, and all the great Muslims like CAIR in the White House! YEEEAAAHHH!!!

      https://youtu.be/V4B4pC3B9ls

      • aDhimmiSaysWhat? says

        Aug 3, 2016 at 12:40 am

        Nice. I wonder how many people are gonna get that.

      • Jim says

        Aug 3, 2016 at 11:09 am

        Great parity !

      • heidi says

        Aug 3, 2016 at 6:34 pm

        LOL! thanks for the much needed laughs!

  3. ECAW says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:33 am

    Did he just do takfir?

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 10:27 am

      He did indeed, ECAW. Silly Infidel, Takfir is for Muslims!

    • linnte says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 11:15 am

      Explain Takfir? This evades me!

      • Angemon says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 11:23 am

        It’s the islamic practice of declaring someone to be an apostate or non-muslim.

        • linnte says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 11:32 am

          Thanks Angemon! I understand now-so simply put.

        • gravenimage says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 12:10 pm

          Linnte, Takfir is the basis on which pious Muslims make other Muslims fair game to murder–through the handy doctrine of Takfir, they are declared “apostate”, “heretical”, or “insufficiently Islamic”, whereby they can be target just like us Infidels.

          Sunni Muslims, for example, consider all Shia to be “heretics”, and so they can be slaughtered, as is happening in the Islamic State and many other places.

          This is different from Muslims who are “incidentally” killed in Jihad–like, say, the handful of Muslims killed on 9/11. They were not specifically targeted, so formally declaring them Takfir was not necessary.

          As far as Jihadists are concerned, Muslims caught in Jihad aimed at the Kuffar are either bad Muslims, in which case they go to hell; or else they are good Muslims and go straight to paradise. In fact, as Muslims see it, dying in Jihad–even incidentally–is actually a blessing, as they go directly to Jannah.

          All Muslims embrace the concept of Takfir. The only time they disagree is on exactly who should be declared Takfiri. As a result, you sometimes have Muslims declaring *each other* to be Takfir.

          This would be amusing if it were not so deadly.

          The point ECAW was making was how absurd it is for an Infidel like Howard Dean to declare that vast numbers of Muslims are not “really” Muslim. Of course, his motives are very different from those of Jihadists declaring another group Takfir–Howard Dean is trying to whitewash Islam by saying that violent and oppressive Muslims are not really Muslim.

          We’ve heard other idiots in the West trot out the same claptrap about groups like ISIS.

        • linnte says

          Aug 3, 2016 at 12:26 am

          Are you sure you’re not Robert Spencer Graven?!? Haahahahahaha! Darned smart you are. Thanks!

      • ECAW says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 11:50 am

        It’s when one Muslim declares another Muslim not a real Muslim and therefore an apostate or heretic and you know what happens next. ISIS go in for it a lot and it’s believed to come from Abu Bakr the first Caliph rather than Mohammed. I believe Sayeed Qutb (the evil genius behind the Muslim Brotherhood) revived the idea. Most Muslims are reluctant to do it, for instance Al-Azhar the Cairo University and highest authority in Islamic theology etc won’t declare ISIS apostates.

        Although it’s a Muslim practice, the amusing thing is that Western politicians, in their ignorance, appear to do it all the time when talking about ISIS eg Obama and Cameron.

        • linnte says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 12:02 pm

          Ahh! The plot thickens! Thanks ECAW.

        • gravenimage says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 12:13 pm

          Ah, ECAW, I posted my reply, above, before reading yours. Sorry, I reiterate a lot of what you covered in your comment here.

        • aDhimmiSaysWhat? says

          Aug 3, 2016 at 1:23 am

          Is ‘takfir’ that word they yell before the rest of the crowd chimes in with ‘Allahu akbar!’?

        • ECAW says

          Aug 3, 2016 at 2:20 am

          Never heard that…

  4. Jaladhi says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:34 am

    Ha, ha, .. stupid is as stupid does! He is very keen on showing his stupidity by opening his mouth again and again.

  5. kilfincelt says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:36 am

    Dems say that the GOP is the party of stupid. If so, then the Dems are the party of the deluded and insane. Exhibit one: Howard Dean-a delusional Democrat

  6. خَليفة says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:40 am

    If Dean were a Sunni, sure, he’d believe that Iran is not a Muslim country since Iran is predominately Shia.

  7. El Cid says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:43 am

    Mr. Dean has a very deep understanding of the situation.

    He has no proposals to improve things. He is another ‘head in the sand’ person like Obama and Clinton.

    Absolutely, I would like to see the Persian PEOPLE as allies. I think it is possible PURGE Islam from the Persians. Their culture transcends Islam.

    Concerning the Saudis, I don’t know if we an ever share the same values with them. There ‘liberals’ support the worst religious establishment in the world.

  8. Hugh Fitzgerald says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 9:47 am

    So many different kinds of confusion, piled in ossa-upon-pelion fashion. Where to begin to try to tease out some sense from so much nonsense?

    • Nigel GFF says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 11:29 am

      He’s such a tease. Where to begin? An impossible task – one nugget stood out…..

      “And I think the Iranians are the largest sponsor of state terrorism in the world. And they are making lives very difficult for a lot of our allies. So I didn’t oppose the deal.”

      Taken out of context hohoho.

    • Jack Diamond says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 11:46 am

      Well, we now know how little qualified you have to be to teach a foreign policy course at Yale.
      I think I’ll apply to teach there tomorrow.

      Howard Dean? I think he’s crazy, I think he’s a lunatic, a pathetic lunatic. Hyeaaaaaahh!!!!!!!

      • Jack Diamond says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 12:14 pm

        Since Hugh invoked the Greeks, “Come, take a chaplet, offer a libation to Coalemus, the god of stupidity.” –Aristophanes, The Birds

    • JAR says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 1:01 pm

      On making sense out of nonsense…
      Here are some general, albeit crass, principles:
      You can’t polish a turd.
      You can’t strain stewed tomatoes out of vomit.

  9. August West says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:00 am

    It would have been helpful if Dean were asked to name countries that he considers to be Islamic.

    • Jay Boo says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 10:44 am

      There is actually a historical hint of truth that Iranians are not true Muslims, but certainly not for the reason that Dean asserts. Iranians are a thoroughly conquered people. The got their Persian asses whooped 1400 years ago so bad that rather that merely submit to their Arab overloads with resentment toward their forced conversion to Islam they were so humiliated that they adopted Islam with an unimaginable frenzy rather than admit to their shameful total subjugation to their new supremacists Arab masters.

      Persian culture is now viewed by Iranians as long forgotten “Sour Grapes”
      They bow and willingly submit to Islam.
      Truly Disgraceful

      • Budvarakbar says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 1:02 pm

        Finally — someone who actually gets it!

  10. Mubarak says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:05 am

    “Iran is the farthest thing from an Islamic Republic” – by implication an Islamic Republic must be something very good. Does Howard Dean work actively to turn America into such an utopia?

    • Jay Boo says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 10:14 am

      ” Iran (was) “a republic that’s been hijacked by (Islamic) thugs and murderers.”

      — hijacked 1400 years ago.

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 10:29 am

      Mubarak certainly does. He believes we deserve to be raped and murdered by his pious coreligionists for such things as allowing women to attend public fireworks shows.

      • Mubarak says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 11:48 am

        I am all for women attending public fireworks, if they wear a burka and a chastity-belt and are being accompanied by a male relative – back to their home before darkness sets in.
        Don’t withhold the whole truth!

        • Angemon says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 12:04 pm

          Since you stated that women wearing burqas was the reaction to public nudity, when all women wear burqas then no women will wear a burqa, right?

        • linnte says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 9:30 pm

          Angemon, after much thinking about Mubaraks typical train of thought, I think he is a Muslim Brotherhood plant in our midst. He has a very special kind of CAIR-like taqyyia. ?

        • gravenimage says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 12:30 pm

          The foul Mubarak is here pretending that this isn’t *exactly* the position he took. He showed up here right after the New Year’s Eve mass-molestations and rapes in European cities.

          He stated at the time–and reiterated many times thereafter–that it was Western “decadence” that drew this Muslim response, including just allowing women to attend these celebrations in the first place:

          https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/02/prosecutor-overwhelming-majority-of-cologne-new-years-eve-sex-assault-suspects-are-refugees#comment-1379853

          Other reasons he has given for our deserving Muslim rape and murder are Victoria’s Secret ads, nude family swimming–which he described as *evil*–and youth wrestling meets.

          With this last, he condoned the Muslim rape of a *six-year-old boy*:

          https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/05/germany-muslim-migrant-sexually-assaults-6-year-old-boy-in-changing-room#comment-1433792

          Lots more ugliness on both those threads from Mubarak–and much, much more in the archives.

        • Mubarak says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 12:41 pm

          Right! If all women in the world wore burkas there would be no point in pointing it out, and we would be back in paradise.
          As you remember and sure would agree, it would be pointless to point out to Adam and Eve, that they were naked before Eve ate of the fruit from the tree and gave it to Adam; they would not have understood what you were talking about, and after the eating you wouldn’t have to point it out to them; they understood it by themselves and were ashamed, when God was looking for them and found them.
          Do you believe that God is looking for you, Angemon?

        • Angemon says

          Aug 4, 2016 at 5:53 pm

          Ah, so the pendulum only goes one way with you, Mubarak – you claim that burqas are a reaction to public nudity (and isn’t it funny how burqas are only donned by muslimas, not your average Western woman?) but you rule out public nudity as a reaction to excess of prudish behaviour – like having most, if not all, women donning burqas.

        • gravenimage says

          Aug 2, 2016 at 2:15 pm

          Mubarak wrote, replying to Angemon:

          Right! If all women in the world wore burkas there would be no point in pointing it out, and we would be back in paradise.
          …………………………….

          Interesting phrasing. Does Mubarak think that a place where all women are forced to wear Burkas would be “paradise”? In that case, Taliban-era Afghanistan would be heavenly for him.

          More:

          Do you believe that God is looking for you, Angemon?
          …………………………….

          Is Mubarak threatening Angemon here? Most likely. Implying that Angemon has sinned by opposing Islam, and that the vicious “Allah” is “looking for him”.

  11. biff says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:06 am

    Somebody that says the things that Howard Dean does is unfit to be a politician of any kind.

    He is unfit to be on the board of directors of a Library, let alone anything else.

    We are inviting the enemy to destroy us.

    • Jay Boo says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 10:17 am

      It seems as 911 approaches every year, groveling increases and IQ decreases.

  12. Mo says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:11 am

    Why does this ignorant man even have a leadership position of any kind?

    • Jay Boo says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 10:29 am

      He is a (Willfully) ignorant man.

      Unfortunately, that is why he was given a ” leadership position …”

      • gravenimage says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 10:30 am

        Yes–willful ignorance is exactly what this is.

  13. American Pragmatism says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:14 am

    None of this is pragmatic. Thinking like this gets our kids drafted to deal with the mess left over.

  14. Adrian says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:19 am

    And this dolt keeps brainwashing his students every day….

  15. Charlotte Magne says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:21 am

    And this nonsensical Dean is a professor teaching foreign policy at Yale? My goodness!

  16. gravenimage says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:23 am

    Howard Dean: “I don’t consider Iran to be a Muslim country”
    ………………………………….

    With the possible exceptions of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State, there is no more Islamic country on the face of the earth.

    More:

    It isn’t that Howard Dean thinks Iran is full of Methodists. He just thinks that Islam is wonderful, and that the Islamic Republic of Iran is evil and oppressive, and so therefore it must not really be Islamic at all. How this misunderstanding of Islam has grown so strong as to be able to take over whole countries, he did not deign to explain.
    ………………………………….

    Yup–now we have entire nations where the natives so misunderstand Islam that are no longer Muslim countries. Does it matter that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not just a Muslim country, but an *Islamic theocracy*? Of course not…

    More:

    He explained that he does not know Muslims whom he respects and who behave the way the regime does.
    ………………………………….

    Might that be because they live in Dar-al-Harb, and hence are not able to stone women in the streets with impunity? Nah–couldn’t be…

    More:

    During the interview, Dean also pointed out his belief that the term “radical Islamic terrorism” is a manufactured phrase “for political, domestic consumption in America.”
    ………………………………….

    Well, *that’s* true–but not in the way that Dean means. Such Jihad is not “radical”, but it certainly is Islamic terrorism. Is he now claiming that Islamic terrorism is not Islamic, just as Iran is not a Muslim country? The country he is in now appears to be Fantasyland…

    More:

    Breitbart News: So — Saudi Arabia. Do you really think they are our allies, if I may ask… ?

    Howard Dean: Yeah, I do think we are allies. I have my problems with [the] Saudis. One of the reasons I got involved with the resistance here is because I feel very strongly about human rights and the Saudis don’t respect human rights.
    ………………………………….

    So–does Howard Dean consider Saudi Arabia to be a Muslim country?

    More:

    So I’ve never personally thought that the alliance with Saudi Arabia was anything more than an alliance of convenience. But they are a key partner and they’re certainly not our enemy.
    ………………………………….

    Yeah–backing 9/11? Definitely not our enemy…sarc/off

    More:

    Howard Dean: Well, That is actually something that I agree with … I think that most Muslims are not terrorists. In fact, I teach a foreign policy course at Yale. I had three Muslims sit in from other countries. And they pointed out to the class that their families were at greater risk from Daesh [ISIS] than ours because they live with them every day, around the corner.
    ………………………………….

    We’ve heard *this* before–that since Jihadists butcher other Muslims, they cannot actually be real Muslims. Actually, it is the opposite–pious Jihadists consider the Muslims they slaughter to be de facto Infidels. There is a even an Islamic tenet that covers this–Takfir. Through the handy doctrine of Takfir, any “apostate”, “heretic”, or “insufficiently Islamic” Muslims can be deemed Takfiri, and hence fair game to kill, just like the “filthy Kuffar”.

    But even if we didn’t know this, this would be a silly argument–the “Night of the Long Knives”, where Nazis killed other Nazis, did not somehow mean that Nazis were not a threat to Jews and other of their victims.

    More:

    So I think it’s important for us not to crank up a religious war…
    ………………………………….

    As if this were *our* doing. It is pious Muslims themselves who wage violent Jihad in the name of their foul religion.

    More:

    Howard Dean: I agree. And that’s exactly why I don’t want to do it. I think Iran is the farthest thing from an Islamic Republic, with some of the highest rates of execution in the world, torturing political prisoners, one of the worst human rights records in the world, a destructive force in the world. There’s nothing good about the Islamic Republic of Iran.
    ………………………………….

    That’s pretty much the *definition* of an Islamic State. Anywhere under Shari’ah looks more or less like this.

    More:

    And it’s not an Islamic republic; it’s a republic that’s been hijacked by thugs and murderers. And I think the legitimacy and the real government of Iran would be a secular government, which treated women equally with men.
    ………………………………….

    Doesn’t Howard Dean realize that would be *un-Islamic*? What he is describing here is the politics of the filthy Infidel–which is what Jihadists are waging Jihad against us to bring down.

    • American Pragmatism says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 11:07 am

      He seems to claim there is no driving ideology behind islamist attacks.

      • gravenimage says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 12:31 pm

        Even more than that, AP, he is claiming that oppressive Shari’ah as well as violent Jihad are un-Islamic. Just ludicrous.

  17. Jay Boo says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:24 am

    “Dean also pointed out his belief that the term “radical Islamic terrorism” is a
    ————- manufactured phrase “for political, domestic consumption in America.”

    What a perfect —- (Freudian Slip)
    ” manufactured phrase “for political, domestic consumption in America.”

    — Pull his string and give him another cookie.

  18. Westman says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:30 am

    Dean: “If it looks like a platypus, swims like a platypus, and sounds like a platypus, then it probably is a duck.”

    How does a good man with a solid education, an illustrious career of service to his state and country, and a reputation of being outside elitist stereotypes not pick up the Quran and read it? The Quran and the Hadith are DIY manuals for making the “thugs and murderers” of which he speaks.

    I think Howard Dean just announced the future Clinton Administration’s view of, and policy toward, Islam.

  19. duh swami says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:41 am

    I don’t know why it is, but for some strange reason, I don’t care what Howard thinks…

  20. Lesley says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:55 am

    Howard Dean is such an idiot, I wonder who dresses this man in the morning.

    Why are there so many idiots in public office these days?

    The lack of critical thinking skills in the man is a horror by itself, but he is TEACHING??

    Has he even bothered to read the Koran and Hadith for himself?

    If surviving the coming world war could be considered an IQ test, this person will fail miserably. This is unfortunate in itself, but the fact that he is a teacher and will lead others into danger through the errors of his fallacious logic is extremely tragic.

    • Budvarakbar says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 1:20 pm

      Your third sentence – answers the second sentence

  21. AnneCrockett says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:58 am

    I wish I had some of the news stories from 1979 that assured us that Iran was only Shi’ite and did not represent most of Islam like our friends the Saudis….

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 12:34 pm

      Yeah, I remember those. There were all sorts of “analysis” assuring us that Iran was–somehow–completely unique.

    • Budvarakbar says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 1:19 pm

      I had some otherwise intelligent friends absolutely swear to me that most Iranians were Christians — they knew so since the head man of the oil co they worked for had told them so! They both went on very lucrative careers in large multi-national countries.

      • Budvarakbar says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 1:22 pm

        “They both went on very lucrative careers in large multi-national countries.”
        Should read:
        “They both went on to very lucrative careers in large multi-national companies.”

      • gravenimage says

        Aug 2, 2016 at 2:25 pm

        Good grief–such willful naiveté.

  22. AnneCrockett says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 11:02 am

    Here is a golden oldie from the days of America Held Hostage, boys and girls!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBGPw_LBiRA&w=420&h=315%5D

    • linnte says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 11:24 am

      Remember when America as a majority, was enjoying this song? My how things have changed!

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 12:40 pm

      Oh, I haven’t heard that song in years!

    • Jay Boo says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 12:52 pm

      Bomb Bomb Iran
      That reminds me. The pro-Democrat Party news media had a jolly good time going after John McCain for joking about that and claiming he was unfit for office because of singing the phrase “Bomb, Bomb Iran.”
      John McCain was unfit for other reasons.

      Donald Trump so far has managed to hold off these Leftist MSM wolves.

  23. linnte says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 11:19 am

    Dean’s comments show he is oblivious! I think I know more about the situation than he, and that’s pretty BAD! Haahahahahaha!

    Thanks Robert Spencer for your book about Iran!

    • Budvarakbar says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 2:08 pm

      Since you know more than he does — probably why you aren’t a professor at Yale — eduacating the Presidents of the future

  24. Diane Harvey says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 11:23 am

    Howard Dean, “There’s nothing good about the Islamic Republic of Iran. And it’s not an Islamic republic; it’s a republic that’s been hijacked by thugs and murderers.”

    Is there some really, big, and influential world-wide Muslim university handing out degrees on Islamic scholarship, a university that the rest of us haven’t even heard about?

    I ask because there are so many well-recognized Westerners – from the Pope, John Kerry, Dean, and lots of others – who have become so knowledgeable on what Islam is and what/how Muslims should be behaving and thinking. They’re even smarter than imams.

  25. Angemon says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 11:28 am

    I don’t consider Iran to be a Muslim country, because I don’t know Muslims who behave like that who I respect.

    Translation: “For someone to be called a muslim they need to fit my expectations of what muslims are and how they behave. If they don’t behave like I think a muslim should behave then they’re not muslims, even if they point to islamic texts and teachings to defend their actions. It’s pretty simple and clear-cut when you think about it – I, not muslims or islamic texts, define who is a muslim and how they should behave”.

  26. DogOnPorch says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 11:38 am

    It’s the ‘Oskar Schindler was a good Nazi’ defense.

  27. Wellington says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 12:13 pm

    Here’s a sobering thought: Imagine what Howard Dean really knows about Islam.

  28. Crusades Were Right! says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    It seems that Dean has fallen for (or should that be employing?) the “No true Scotsman” fallacy regarding Islam.

  29. gravenimage says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    And thanks to Breitbart for this interview.

  30. Kessler says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    If Iran is not Muslim because it doesn’t fit with his fantasy of Islam being a champion of peace and tolerance, which Muslim countries would he be able to list which do not punish homosexuals, blasphemers, apostates and treats non-Muslims like garbage? Surely there must be a majority of these countries – or have they all just misunderstood the true meaning of Islamic theology?
    It would be so easy to crush this fool in a debate

  31. Peter Charles says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 1:11 pm

    I knew Dean’s father, Howard Dean Sr. A very nice JFK style democrat. He’d be appalled at Dean’s lack of logic and lack of self control plus his gullibility.

    • Budvarakbar says

      Aug 2, 2016 at 2:12 pm

      What about JFK’s ” lack of logic and lack of self control plus his gullibility”?

  32. steve brown says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    Howard Dean is a Nazi..

  33. Ciudadano says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    Interesting how liberal politicians know better Islam than muslims themselves

  34. Guest says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 5:38 pm

    Who the hell is this idiot?

  35. Troybeam says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 5:52 pm

    Marbles, I swear this man has marbles rolling around in his head to scramble whats left of his brains, I’m surprised he’s walking and talking.. must be an automatic function that some how has retained use even with the marble scramble.

  36. Champ says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 5:59 pm

    Howard Dean must’ve smoked too much pot as a youngin’ …

    • bostongal912 says

      Aug 3, 2016 at 3:25 am

      Lol! This guy is stuck on stupid! The older he gets the dumber he gets if that’s at all possible! What a moron!

  37. jewdog says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:12 pm

    Reading that moonbat’s interview was torture – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  38. R Cole says

    Aug 2, 2016 at 10:38 pm

    Interesting, listening to those on the Left talk about Islam. Mostly they just call everyone racists and their position has not moved on much in years. I stopped paying attention to them. Except if they start suggesting we need Islamic laws – then – time to speak up!

    But the report shows Dean’s dilemma – how do you fit the square peg of politically correct – in the round hole of intelligence and information on the ground in the Islamic world?

    The PC directive states that Islam and Islamic terrorism are entirely separate. Then this has to fit with the intel briefings – and he refers to the Saudi funded terrorism [or the fundamentalism behind it] that has come home to roost.

    It was a wonderfully long way of getting there in the end.

    Like the Left are learning to walk!

    ::

    IS

    Here’s their ultimate dilemma – that to deny ISIS is Islamic, is to deny Iran is Islamic [which of course Dean does], but it is also to deny Saudi Arabia is Islamic.

    If we look at Iran, like ISIS, they throw people off cliffs as punishment, they chop off hands, they have the death penalty for those leaving Islam. And these same dots can also be connected in Saudi Arabia – they too display severed heads on posts to warn Saudis from taking the same un-Islamic action or other. And this could include sorcery – or reading tea leaves!

    If Dean exercises his liberty to pronounce Iran un-Islamic – he would not take the same liberty with Arabia – the home of the shrine and sacred stone every Muslim faces when they pray. To suggest Arabia was not an Islamic country – would definitely incur the thunderous wrath of the PC God. Thou shall not offend Islam!!

  39. More Ham Ed says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 12:42 am

    Ok, if no one else is going to post it, the orig. Howard Dean SCREAM:

  40. Ronen says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 1:12 am

    And no one should consider Howard Dean to be a decent person.

  41. Dennis says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 3:47 am

    H. Dean….your correct. Iran is NOT a muslm country. I lived in Tehran and all I met were Quakers! The whole damn country is filled with millions f Quakers, unbeknown to the Quakers of the west! Hah!

  42. Lorensacho says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 7:52 am

    Dean was right. The majority of Iranians while Muslim by persuasion are very modern tolerant people who suffer under the yoke of the gang of ayatollahs who oppress them in the name of religion.

    • ECAW says

      Aug 3, 2016 at 7:57 am

      Yeah, we can see. Pity the poor masses of young, strong Iranians overwhelmed by these old men.

  43. mortimer says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 8:59 am

    What kind of ‘expert’ on Islam is spontaneous and doesn’t do the required basic reading list?

    Howard Dean…expert on his own uninformed, spontaneous opinion.

  44. mortimer says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 9:17 am

    Gravenimage has made an excellent point: Howard Dean has actually declared ‘takfir’ on all the Muslims who do not believe in the duty of jihad and who support Western-style democracy. He has in effect declared that ‘REAL’ Muslims are practicing a KAFIRIZED FORM of Islam which Islamic jurisprudence calls ‘KUFR ISTIBDAAL’. Of course, the sheikhs and mullahs do not agree with Dean. Inventing your own form of Islam is called ‘bida’ (innovation).

    Dean thinks he knows Islam better than the fatwa department at Al Azhar University.

  45. Georg says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 11:56 am

    Breaking: Howard Dean doesn’t consider carbon to have six protons.

  46. Ric says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 5:20 pm

    Howard Dean is more than a few bricks short of a load but this is nothing new. Our nation is rife with those whom deem Iran and others bent on our annihilation; meanwhile, the so-called leftist progressives kowtow to Islam whilst vilifying those whom do not trust or believe the pro-Islam propaganda being propagated by not only the government but, especially the mainstream media.

    The abovementioned possess a death wish but it is not they but the innocent, the citizenry whose lives and wellbeing are at great risk. Obama, Dean and a myriad of others of this insane, vacuous ilk have chosen to turn a blind eye to the facts: Bloodletting and intolerance are the cornerstones of Islam, only fools choose to believe otherwise.

    Obviously, it is easier for this flaccid leadership to blindly or by design to placate, kowtow to this malevolent threat facing Western-Democracy.

  47. Ciudadano says

    Aug 3, 2016 at 7:25 pm

    “I don’t consider Iran to be a Muslim country”

    Translation from political speak:

    “Iran, if you don’t donate to my foundation, I will continue trashing you.”

    Call me cynical but experience is on my side.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Lion heart on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Graham Bryant on Biden vows to surrender to Iran, then negotiate
  • gravenimage on EU Parliament members call for firing of border agency director for preventing illegal migrants from entering Europe
  • Lion heart on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • Graham Bryant on Canadian Mental Health Association studies Muslim women’s mental health due to ‘discrimination’ and ‘hate crimes’

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.