Ilhan Omar Gets Tough Reminder from Katie Pavlich After Claiming America Isn't Great
Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich took Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota to task after the congresswoman, who came to America as a political refugee, claimed the country is not great.
At a Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia over the weekend, Omar charged that the U.S. does not live up to its ideal of “liberty and justice for all.”
“I believe as an immigrant I probably love this country more than anyone who is naturally born,” the Democrat said.
“You ask anyone walking on the side of the street, somewhere in the middle of the world, they will tell you America the great, but we don’t live these values here,” Omar added, with a chuckle.
“And so that hypocrisy is one that I am bothered by. I want America the great to be America the great.”
Watch the full response by Rep @IlhanMN about what being American means to her and how she responds to critique that she’s anti-American. Rep Omar says she believes that as an immigrant she loves America more than anyone who is a naturally born American. #NN19 pic.twitter.com/VFt92s2PSv
— Abraham Gutman? (@abgutman) July 13, 2019
Pavlich responded to Omar’s remarks on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” on Monday by first observing, “That is really rich from someone coming from a country where there is a failed government, a failed state.”
“She was brought in through the generosity of the American people and our values to be here to live freely, to be able to speak as a woman freely, in front of a media that is free,” the conservative commentator added.
“And yet, it always seems like her strategy when it comes to fixing some of the problems she sees in the country is to blame America and mar it as a racist, unfair, unvalued country, which is absolutely absurd.”
Pavlich went on to list some examples of Omar employing this tactic, including blaming the U.S. for atrocities committed in her native Somalia in the early 1990s.
“She openly said when she watches ‘Black Hawk Down’ she’s essentially rooting for the other side, when U.S. troops went into a civil war in Somalia to save Somalis and yet she’s blaming the United States for that,” Pavlich said.
Watch her comments in the video below starting at the 5-minute-mark.
Omar hashtagged a 2017 tweet “#NotTodaySatan,” while claiming that the U.S. forces killed thousands of Somalis.
Although the number of deaths is uncertain, “Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War” author Mark Bowden estimated that roughly 500 Somalis died in the Battle of Mogadishu, according to a Fox News report. The Rand Corporation put the number at 300 civilian deaths. The highest estimates are approximately 1,000.
“She should be thankful we were there to help her people.” said Danny McKnight, the U.S. Army Ranger colonel who commanded American troops in the battle. “I really am offended, truly offended, by her comment and her thought that thousands were killed by us. Not true. Not true at all.”
Kyle Lamb, a Delta Force operator who fought in Mogadishu, added, “In helping her tribe, we had to eliminate those who were bad.”
Omar’s family immigrated to the U.S. during this time from a refugee camp in Kenya, where they had fled four years before to escape the violence and starvation in Somalia, Time reported.
Pavlich also noted that Omar, while speaking at a Council on American-Islamic Relations fundraiser in Los Angeles in March, referred to the Sept. 11 attacks as “some people did something.”
Overall, the Fox News personality criticized the congresswoman for being too quick to engage in identity politics against people she disagrees with on policy matters.
“(W)e are the best country in the world, with the best, fairest values,” said Pavlich. “America has a lot to offer. Be grateful for it, instead of tearing it down all the time.”
President Donald Trump encouraged Omar, and the fellow members of the progressive Democratic “squad” (Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts) to leave the U.S., if they are so discontent.
.@realDonaldTrump says it is offensive the way @IlhanMN talks about 9/11 and Al Qaeda.
“All I’m saying is if they’re not happy, they can leave. They can leave!” pic.twitter.com/ipdP3Els13
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 15, 2019
“These are people, in my opinion, who hate our country,” Trump said at the White House on Monday.
“They’re very unhappy. All they do is complain,” he added. “So all I’m saying is if they want to leave, they can leave.”
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