Social Conservatives Cheer Islamic ‘Ex-Terrorist’ Huckster At Values Voter Summit

Source: TPM



In a surreal performance, Kamal Saleem took the stage at the conservative Value Voters Summit Friday in Washington and described a life working as a jihadist for a who’s who of Muslim dictators on a mission to destroy America, Israel, and anyone else he disagreed with.

The crowd, virtually entirely right wing and Christian, went wild with applause.

Saleem has been a regular in evangelical circles for the last several years telling his story about how he was a violent terrorist who renounced his wicked ways for Christ.

“How do you change a terrorist? Introduce him to Jesus!” he said in a theatrical Friday speech delivered with a thick, unplaceable accent.

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“I started working for whoever paid the best to advance Islamism.” he said, pacing back and forth onstage. “Saddam Hussein pays better money than anybody else. He was very generous.”

If Saleem’s story sounds unbelievable it’s because there’s little sign any of it ever happened. News investigations into his past haven’t turned up any corroborating evidence of his terrorist resume, but they’ve found plenty of former colleagues and acquaintances who doubt the veracity of Saleem’s autobiographical details.

For one, Mother Jones reports Saleem, real name Khodor Shami, spent over a decade before his “ex-terrorist” act as a staffer at Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. And despite Saleem’s claims that the FBI relies on him for insight into jihadist thinking, they claim they’ve never heard of him. A 2008 expose by CNN’s Anderson Cooper found similar holes in his story, which paralleled other equally dubious figures making their living off the “ex-terrorist” talk circuit.

But the crowd ate it up at the Value Voters Summit, which featured such speakers as Paul Ryan and a video message from Mitt Romney, as Saleem warned about a government plot to make synagogues and churches illegal.



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When they are presented with an opportunity to validate their hatred, Religious Fundies will believe friggin' anything.....