Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:55 pm
One has to imagine it was in the tradition of alternate facts that Kellyanne Conway constructed a fable about a terrorist attack by two Iraqis that never happened as an excuse for Donald Trump’s Muslim ban as having a firm foundation in an imagined 2011 ban by President Obama.
She told Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball” that,
“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalised and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.
“Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.â€
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Watch Conway lie courtesy of MSNBC (begins at 2:50 mark):
Sadly, Chris Matthews, as he so often does, let the lie pass. Kentucky journalist Joe Sonka did not.
There were two Iraqi men and they were arrested but there was no massacre. They were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky but not for killing anyone, or even planning to kill anyone. As the Department of Jusice made clear in 2012,
“Neither was charged with plotting attacks within the United States.â€
Rather, they wanted to send money and weapons to al Qaeda. And Twitter is not giving Conway a free pass. The hilarity is to be found under hashtag #BowlingGreenMassacre. Just as an example,
#BowlingGreenMassacre pic.twitter.com/QEp2o8Mb0K
— Molly Shah (@MollyOShah) February 3, 2017
And that is as valid a presentation of any massacre in Bowling Green as can be found, though one other deserves comment:
Kellyanne Conway's comment about the #BowlingGreenMassacre was disrespectful to all who died that day, myself included.
— Peter Sullivan (@CitizenSullivan) February 3, 2017
Condolences to the late lamented Peter Sullivan, but the real victim here was the truth, may it never rest in peace.
Sadly, Trump has decided large red mascots – or liars like Kellyanne Conway – should not be affected by his ban.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
