Walid Shoebat is a celebrity among conservative talk-show groupies because he offers an insider’s view of terrorism as a reformed terrorist, now turned ultraconservative Christian. He frequently appears in the Media as an expert commentator and has written several books including God’s War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible, Why I Left Jihad: The Root of Terrorism and the Return of Radical Islam, and Why We Want to Kill You: The Jihadist Mindset and How to Defeat It. A new CNN investigation challenges Shoebat’s terrorist credentials, showing that terrorist acts he claims to have committed never happened.
Shoebat also has his defenders who attack the CNN exposé as a smear.
Did I mention that Shoebat is a birther? In 2008 he appeared on G. Gordon Liddy’s talk radio show where he said:
SHOEBAT: Barack Obama claims he is a citizen of the United States of America. His relatives in Kenya testify that they were there when he was born. His mother now, an American citizen, gave birth to him when she was 18 years old. Well, the law of this country, a girl must be 19 in order to give birth to someone who is an American citizen in a foreign country that could qualify to become — to run for president. … Even though the response from Obama’s advocates — advocacy group shows a birth certificate, there is no evidence in the hospital itself in Hawaii of a birth by the name of Barack Hussein Obama. So, it is a major issue.
Shoebat also said that Barack Obama was definitely a Muslim. His argument is definitely a curious one. He said that anyone with the name Hussein is a Muslim and anyone who leaves the Muslim faith would be killed, so the fact that Obama is still alive proves that he is still a Muslim. I guess, since Walid Shoebat is also alive, he must still be a Muslim too.
My Afghan hound is a potential terrorist. It’s in her genes.
“Is birther terrorism expert a fake?”
Is this a rhetorical question?
“He said that anyone with the name Hussein is a Muslim and anyone who leaves the Muslim faith would be killed.”
Well, darers go first.
Let me think about this. Hmm.
Well it’s a tall order, but I guess Shoebat just has to go.
Will we have to go to the mattresses over this one?
In all seriousness, I’ve never heard of the guy, which shows how much power he yields.
I have seen one of his titles in a bookstore before, so perhaps he’s has good sales, but his birther argument is easily dismissed.
So I’d guess what we have here is just another opportunist.
He probably gets together with his friends and laughs over that implausible last name he has.
My money would be on CNN, not Mr. Shoebat.
I know people who have heard him speak. He is listened to and believed. When I asked the person who was telling me about his theory I asked her this question. “Didn’t Christians use scripture when they burned other Christians at the stake or murdered Jews in pogroms?” As a practicing Christian I have an obligation to know how scripture can be misused for the purpose of great evil. She walked away when I told her my husband, a Baha’i, belonged to a religion that began in Shi’a Islam. I shouldn’t have done that because the Baha’i Faith is more than that but I couldn’t resist. I did tell my husband.
Shoebat? What kind of name is Shoebat? (Spoken with a German accent.)
Wasn’t that Kevin Bacon’s role in Xmen First Class?
😉
I have to say I did enjoy his german accent. Now that’s class. Remember when Tom Cruise was like “I’m Tom Cruise I don’t have to act” during Valkyrie. He was surrounded by trained British actors who tried doing german accents and instead Cruise comes off sounding like an American.
I was really impressed with his take on Sebastian Shaw. He truly was an outstanding villain in the movie. I thought it was the best of all the X-Men movies to date!
Well supposedly they’re going to do a trilogy out of the First Class movies while possibly doing the 4th in the original movies
X-Men: The Math Lesson
There is such a wealth of X-Men source material, major storylines & characters to pull from that they could make new movies, sequels and spin-offs for years and years to come!
That would be funny. Well it would be the 4th technically. Xmen Origins is separate from the original trilogy of films. First class had a few errors in it and I’m a bit confused about how Alex Summers (Havok) who is Cyclops’ brother existed back in the 60s?
Since they first stated making the movies I wanted to always see the Days of the Future’s Past Story Arc or even the full Phoenix story
Those were excellent storylines. I admit I was somewhat disappointed by how they handled the whole Jean/Phoenix deal in X-Men 3 (and also the whole brief touch on the Morlocks angle… outside of introducing a few characters, they really didn’t do the Mutant Massacre storyline…and they didn’t even call them Morlocks).
Then again, I understand how difficult it can be to translate years and years of storylines, often with convoluted and even conflicting histories of their own, into a roughly 2 hour movie or set of movies or even TV show.
I’m actually ok with many of the changes they made in X-Men 1st Class…in some cases, I like their “origin” versions even better than what I grew up with.
I’d love to eventually see Mr. Sinister & Apocalypse (Age of Apocolypse is one of my favorite storylines) but definitely don’t want to see them ever doing Mojo & the “X-Babies”… but all of their “Days of” and many of their timeline future/past storyline and ideas were the best. There were some cool storylines that really wouldn’t translate well or be open to a broader audience (such as any of the stuff where they go into space)…so there are just some things that can work in a comic, but would be really bad to put onto film….
Well, First Class had a bunch of errors, in to say that they got a lot more wrong than they got right.
Sean Cassidy (Banshee), Alex Summers (Havok), Angel Salvadore, Armondo Munoz (Darwin) were never members of the 1st class. The actual first class was Hank McCoy (Beast), Scott Summers (Cyclops), Jean Grey (Marvel Girl), Warren Worthington III (Angel), and Bobby Drake (Iceman).
They Americanized Sean Cassidy, when Sean Cassidy was actually well known Irish. They did the same thing to Moira MacTaggert (who is Scottish)…
That’s just a small list of the changes that were made. There is no point of this that was actualyl any sort of plot in the comic books.
Whether Shoebat is a fake ex-terrorist or not, judging from the images on the videos, that photograph of him accompanying the article above is either heavily airbrushed, about 20 years old or Shoebat has been indulging in so much recent non-muslim debauchery that his face has collapsed.
If any proof is required, see the absolute mess they made out of Thor.
I agree they have done a very good job so far (touch wood, cross fingers) with XMen.
He’s made of layers.
I actually liked what they did with the Thor movie (can’t wait for Captain America this weekend!). I considered the source material (particularly having to go back & forth between Asgard and Midgard) particularly risky and a challenge to bring to the big screen without coming across totally cheezy. I thought they pulled it off and I was ok with most of the changes (including Loki’s background – particularly as it added emotional depth to him as a character & villain).
I agree with others about how they’ve taken a lot of liberty with ages & membership of the X-Men across the storylines so far. Then again, as the X-Men is a team with many roster changes, I didn’t have too much problem with that either. (I agree on the Havok issue).
Then again, as this movie seems to lead UP TO the formation of Professor X’s school, it doesn’t rule out that the “initial class” could still move closer to the original comic lineup (X3 showed how they recruited Jean Gray…but then again, through off the timeline of Angel…so it is possible to have a young Scott Summers, etc.)
In summary, I try to enjoy adaptations to the big screen for what they can be and have majorly “let go” most of my desire for absolute literal translations years ago. (Despite several notable changes to LOTR, I view that trilogy as the *best* overall translation of a fantasy literary work to the big screen that holds true to its key core). I’m really enjoying AMC’s “The Walking Dead” adaptation too (including its changes) and looking forward to Season 2 in the late fall.
Shoebat’s posture during the CNN interview on YouTube is quite telling. He doesn’t like to have his bonafides questioned. The comments there were also par for the course. Some people would rather pay to have their preconceptions reinforced than hear the truth. Kill the messenger!
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Fwanz Shoebat wote Ave Mawia.