On Tuesday's Hannity show on FNC, while interviewing author Brigitte Gabriel, host Sean Hannity suggested that, rather than make apologies for America in the Muslim world, that President Obama should point out that Muslims have benefited from America's assistance in various countries, and Gabriel pointed out that the United States sided with Muslims against Christians in the former Yugoslavia.
Hannity posed the question: "Shouldn't the President be highlighting, for example, the sacrifice of America to help save some Kuwaiti Muslims and in Somalia and in Afghanistan and in Iraq and in other parts of the world?"
Gabriel added:
And in Bosnia. Exactly. Listen, we went to Bosnia, and we fought the Christians against the Muslims so as to liberate the Muslims. These are the points that President Obama needs to be pressing in his speeches to the Arabic world. He needs to make the Muslim world realize what sacrifices America has done to liberate Muslims, to actually protect them from their fellow Muslims like in the case of Kuwait and the case of Iraq from an oppressive dictator, and in many other countries. This is his opportunity to show the Muslim world that America has done a lot for the Muslim world and not apologize for all the ills that we're doing.
Below is a complete transcript of the interview from the Tuesday, June 2, Hannity on FNC:
BARACK OBAMA: Without going into specifics, what I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations. On the other hand, the international community has a very real interest in preventing a nuclear arms race in the region.
HANNITY: That was President Obama on BBC News last night. Now it turns out that the President's idea of preparing for tough negotiations with Iran is endorsing the country's aspiration to develop nuclear energy. Now, meanwhile, another story grabbing headlines is the Islamic convert who shot at 16 U.S. soldiers at a recruiting center in Arkansas, killing 23-year-old Private William Long and wounding many others. Now the suspect who pled not guilty to counts of murder and terrorism earlier today was under investigation by the FBI's terrorism task force. And joining me now to discuss all of this is the author of "They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It," Brigitte Gabriel back with us. Brigitte, thanks for being with us.
BRIGITTE GABRIEL, AUTHOR OF "THEY MUST BE STOPPED": Thank you, Sean. I'm glad to be back with you.
HANNITY: You know, so much was made by the President and Eric Holder when we had the killing of this abortion doctor. And here we have somebody who is a recent convert, apparently. Do you believe this was a terrorist act?
GABRIEL: I do believe this was terrorist act, and this is a matter that we should be paying attention to because al-Qaeda and different terrorist organizations are targeting specifically the inner cities in the United States. They are recruiting from the African-American community, from the Hispanic community, and they are partnering basically with gangs because they found fertile ground in recruiting these gangs, to help them commit terrorist attack in the United States even on an individual level like what we witnessed today.
HANNITY: All right. But what we do know is that prior to the shooting he had been the subject of this preliminary investigation by the FBI's joint terrorist task force since he returned from Yemen where he was arrested and had in possession a Somali passport according to ABC News. So, I mean, to what extent are we infiltrating these extremist mosques that exist, and we've talked about it before, here in America?
GABRIEL: Well, we are infiltrating them, and we have to give credit to President Bush for instituting such programs like the wiretapping program where we were able to find out where these terror cells are and monitor them. And this how we are monitoring many of the individuals and keeping a close eye on them. Because we realize that there is such terrorist infrastructure in the United States set up by different variety of Muslim radical organizations that might not all be al-Qaeda, but they share the same ideology. And we know that millions of dollars is being funneled basically to these terrorist cells from the Middle East, helping them not only get radicalized, but like in this case send them over to Yemen or to Somalia or to different places in the Middle East or Muslim world, and training them and making them become hardened individuals for specific operations in the United States.
HANNITY: All right, now, the President is about to give his speech to the Muslim world, as you know. Why do I expect that it's going to be an extension of his apology tour, and on the eve of this he says that Iran has a right to go nuclear?
GABRIEL: It's very concerning what he is talking. He is sending all the wrong signals. I just read an article written about him on an interview he gave today in France, and he said that America is one of the grandest Muslim countries in the world. This is what he said today. I was just reading it in France and just shocked that he would say something like that. But obviously he is pandering to the Muslim streets. He is trying to win their approval, meanwhile appearing very weak, which is giving a green signal to Iran. I mean, why should Iran stop developing nuclear if finally they got America, and in this case the President, to say you know, maybe we should be okay with them developing energy.
HANNITY: Well.
GABRIEL: Well, you know, you and I know if Iran wanted to develop nuclear for energy, they would have hired the company and would have had energy in four years.
HANNITY: I think that's a great point, and I expected the President is probably going to -- just continue this apology tour. Shouldn't the President be highlighting, for example, the sacrifice of America to help save some Kuwaiti Muslims and in Somalia and in Afghanistan and in Iraq and in other parts of the world?
GABRIEL: And in Bosnia.
HANNITY: And in Bosnia.
GABRIEL: Exactly. Listen, we went to Bosnia, and we fought the Christians against the Muslims so as to liberate the Muslims. These are the points that President Obama needs to be pressing in his speeches to the Arabic world. He needs to make the Muslim world realize what sacrifices America has done to liberate Muslims, to actually protect them from their fellow Muslims like in the case of Kuwait and the case of Iraq from an oppressive dictator, and in many other countries. This is his opportunity to show the Muslim world that America has done a lot for the Muslim world and not apologize for all the ills that we're doing.
HANNITY: What do you expect? I mean what do you expect the President is going to do this week? Because he's going to be speaking in Cairo. This is very important. He's been on the apology tour. Do you expect, you know, what do you expect him to say? Because I'd also like for him to challenge moderate Muslims to stand up for extremists. Is that too much for me to ask?
GABRIEL: No, it's not too much for you to ask and he should, but sadly he did not do it in Turkey, even though he told the Muslims America is not at war with Islam, but he should have continued by saying yet radical Islam has declared war on the United States and the moderate Muslims in the whole world should unite together to fight radicalism in their community. He did not say that in Turkey, and I strongly doubt that he's going to say that in Egypt. And especially where he's speaking, at the Al-Azhar University. I think we're going to see more pandering and him flaunting his Islamic background and having family members who are Muslims and that he understands the Islamic world thinking that that will bring the Muslim world back to liking America. He is wrong.
HANNITY: All right, Brigitte. Always good to talk to you. Thank you for being with us.
GABRIEL: Thank you.
