Col. Allen West on Race, the NAACP and Integrity Video

Lt. Col. Allen B. West is vying for Florida's 22nd District U.S. House race. In the videos below he is asked how he will heal this country and he doesn't shy away from race or racism. In the second, he is asked to cite an instance in his life that would demonstrate his personal integrity. He had an easy answer about the end of his military career. He said he protected the men serving under him in Iraq. See two videos below.

Allen B. West

West was talking about a specific incident in Taji on August 20, 2003.  A civilian Iraqi police officer was being interrograted. The man was thought to have information about attacks on American soldiers.

Here's the story at The National Review:

Lt. Col. Allen B. West was told the policeman was uncooperative, so he took a few of his men to the interrogation area to see for himself, where he found the prisoner being questioned by two female officers. They told him the man was belligerent, and wasn't giving them any information. (Surprise, surprise. The idiocy of having women question male Arab prisoners is apparent to everyone except the army commanders.) West entered the room, sat across from the man, drew his pistol, and placed it in his lap. 

West told him he had come to either get information, or to kill him. The prisoner responded by smiling and saying, "I love you." The interrogation continued, and one of West's troops lost his temper and started slapping the man. West then had his men take the prisoner outside, where he again threatened the man, telling him that he would kill him on the count of five if he didn't tell what he knew. The prisoner refused, and West fired his pistol into the air.

The interrogation continued, but not the beating. After about 20 more minutes of useless questioning, West grabbed the man, held him down near a box full of sand used to discharge jammed weapons, and said something like, "This is it. I'm going to count to five again, and if you don't give me what I want, I'm going to kill you." West held the man down, counted to five, and then fired his pistol into the discharging box about a foot from the Iraqi's head. He began talking. Over the next few minutes, the prisoner gave very specific information about the plot. He named the conspirators, gave times and dates of the assassination plan, and even described how attacks would be made.

After the Iraqi spilled the beans about a planned attack on the Colonel's convoy, there were no more attacks on U.S. forces.

A couple of months later, West was relieved of his campaign. He was told he would go through an Article 32, which is about the same as a Grand Jury hearing. At the hearing he was asked if he would do the same thing again. West replied "if it's about the lives of my men and their safety, I'd go through hell with a gasoline can."Congress sent a letter to the Secretary of the Army in support of him with 95 signatories. West retired and began teaching school.


West is in a very tight race for the 22nd District seat. The incumbent is Democrat Ron Kelin. Everyone in the race, including the other Republican, believes the U.S. cannot win the War on Terror and they want us out of Iraq and Afghanistan now. West says we are helping the enemy by announcing our departure date and says the Rules of Engagement are too restrictive. The primary is August 24th. If you have time for only one video, watch the first one.



Lt. Col Allen B. West on Racism, the NAACP and Healing America (video) Allen West on Integrity and Honor (video)