The smear on Khizr and Ghazala Khan originated with Walid Shoebat’s son Theodore (Ted). The only reason anyone has heard of Ted Shoebat is because his father came to the US, converted to evangelical Christianity, and began to sell himself as a reformed jihadi who was exposing the truth behind the Islamic conspiracy to conquer the world. Here’s what CNN had to say about him back in 2011:
But CNN reporters in the United States, Israel and the Palestinian territories found no evidence that would support that biography. Neither Shoebat nor his business partner provided any proof of Shoebat’s involvement in terrorism, despite repeated requests.
Back in his hometown of Beit Sahour, outside Bethlehem, relatives say they can’t understand how Shoebat could turn so roundly on his family and his faith.
“I have never heard anything about Walid being a mujahedeen or a terrorist,” said Daood Shoebat, who says he is Walid Shoebat’s fourth cousin. “He claims this for his own personal reasons.”
CNN’s Jerusalem bureau went to great lengths trying to verify Shoebat’s story. The Tel Aviv headquarters of Bank Leumi had no record of a firebombing at its now-demolished Bethlehem branch. Israeli police had no record of the bombing, and the prison where Shoebat says he was held “for a few weeks” for inciting anti-Israel demonstrations says it has no record of him being incarcerated there either.
Shoebat says he was never charged because he was a U.S. citizen.
“I was born by an American mother,” he said. “The other conspirators in the act ended up in jail. I ended up released.”
He said his own family has vouched for his prison time. But relatives CNN spoke to described him as a “regular kid” who left home at 18, eventually becoming a computer programmer in the United States.
Here’s the video expose CNN did on Shoebat back in 2011. This is who is being relied on in order to smear the Khans.
Baud
It’s Chalabi II, Electric Bugaloo!
FlipYrWhig
I shouldn’t play links where I am at the moment — is his last name pronounced shoe-bat?
Miss Bianca
@FlipYrWhig: that’s what I was wondering – and I know it’s shallow and trivial-minded of me, but I was all like, “Shoe-bat?!”
Then I was picturing a maniac chasing a bat with a shoe screaming, “I’VE GOT THIS! TRUST ME, I’M A FORMER JIHADI! I KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!”
Then my head started to hurt.
Juju
Is Shoebat something Manbat wears on his feet?
Comrade Jake
Anyone catch Trump’s latest comment about what he thinks Ivanka should do were she harassed by Ailes? Find another job.
Such a great guy. Tremendous, even.
gogol's wife
@Juju:
I’m guessing it’s three syllables, maybe with the stress on the second or third, but I have no idea.
gogol's wife
At least now I know why people were talking about shoebats a little while ago. I assumed it was something I’d have to look up on Urban Dictionary and be sorry I did.
Bill E Pilgrim
I realize it’s just the guy’s name, and it’s only because it’s one I’m unfamiliar with, but I must admit that when I hear it I involuntarily want to add “My baby oooh”.
Leto
I don’t know if this has been posted today, but (warning: Young Conservatives website) it’s been making the social media rounds: U.S. Marine and Navy Vet Sends Hardcore Letter to Muslim Father Who Slammed Trump
The gall that it would take to send this to a fallen service members family… the absolute lack of empathy shown… they continue to show who they are with every single word they utter and write. SMH.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Silly rabbit, one chases bats with a tennis racket while shouting, “Shoo bat!”
rikyrah
Glad folks are tracking this stuff down.
FlipYrWhig
@Miss Bianca: Remember when the _au courant_ insult for liberals in the blogosphere was “moonbat”?
rikyrah
@Leto:
THAT.IS.WHO.THEY.ARE!!!!!???
hilts
Fareed Zakaria calls Donald Trump a ‘Bullshit Artist’ on CNN
https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/760190709437693957
dmsilev
@Comrade Jake: “Nobody sexually harasses my daughter! That’s _my_ job!”
Leto
@gogol’s wife: I thought it was a Pokemon Go thing!
@rikyrah: PREACH!
Cat48
Roger Stone started tweeting last night that the Khans were members of the Muslim Brotherhood & should not be trusted, too.
@AdamSilverman. Did you see my note about Trump’s advisor, LtGen Flynn going to RT Banquet where he met with Putin. He says he’s writing about a book.
germy
The usual suspects (including Scottie Nell Hughes) retweeted the smear.
cokane
@Baud: ha beat me to it, and the first comment!
sukabi
@Comrade Jake: probably figures since she hasn’t found a new father…..
Timurid
Three more months of this shit. I want to break things…
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: See, that’s what made me suspicious of him from the *start*!
On a more serious note, this whole thing is just disgusting. There is no depth of meanness, apparently, to which the disloyal opposition will not stoop. I thought, “nobody would *dare* say anything bad to or about this family.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Again.
Roger Moore
@Leto:
Which, of course, should be read as “War criminal sends deranged letter to parents whose son served and died honorably”.
sukabi
@dmsilev: couldn’t even bring himself to say that!
BR
@germy:
Is she a Trump spokesperson? So is it fair to say the Trump campaign is officially pushing this now?
Leto
@Miss Bianca: And it’s not just coming from the Trump hacks. Apparently Allen West “wrote a letter” to them too. As Mr. Pearce would say, “Bartender, keep the Drano coming!”
Ian
You sheeple are not following the RWNJ logic. All muslims=terrorist. Khans= terrorist. Shoebat=ex-terrorist who joined the “correct religion”. This is why they must be banned from coming here.
Disclaimer- I most certainly do not believe that all members (or even .1% of) the Islamic faith are terrorists.
Patricia Kayden
@Cat48: An earlier post here shows that Stone issued a “correction” on that Muslim Brotherhood claim.
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Not as far-fetched as you’d imagine. Back when I was a kid living in Cheeseland, we lived in an old home that was prone to the semi-frequent visitation of bats emerging from who knows where. We all slept with badminton racquets under our beds – very effective! Now I find bats charming and helpful and would do no such thing.
Leto
@Roger Moore: It’s typically the wannabe hardcore FOBBITs that post this shyte. Or the Tom Cotton’s of the world.
Timurid
@Leto:
Leaked text of said letter:
“What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.”
Patricia Kayden
@Timurid: Just play “I Will Survive” on a loop and enjoy Trump’s self destruction. This will be over soon.
germy
@BR: She’s just a fox news crazytalker. One of the ladies Roger Ailes poses just so with the low camera angles and extra makeup.
Cat48
@Leto:
OH NO, Not West. That’s truly shameful & he’s so creepy/ignorant.
Omnes Omnibus
@seaboogie: My grandparent’s house in central WI would occasionally have bats get in. My grandfather would use a broom – greater reach than a racket.
Anoniminous
@Timurid:
“Trained in gorilla warfare”
Sounds like someone off their meds
hovercraft
Halpern just asked an admiral if the Khans had by going to the DNC and entering the political fray made themselves legitimate targets for criticism. Admiral said the Khans were speaking out about a candidate who was promoting a policy that would have prevented their son from entering the country he died for, and as Gold Star families they deserve to be treated differently. Poor Halpern, having to spend the day not being able to claim that Hillary’s Fox was good news for Trump.
seaboogie
@rikyrah:
Yes. And also it will not make one whit of difference to the credulous cretins that support Trump.
Trollhattan
The photo–it’s Tommy Flanagan talking about seeing his wife, Morgan Fairchild, naked.
Cat48
@Patricia Kayden:
That’s funny, a correction on Twitter. I don’t monitor it 24/7, but I was wrong, I admit it ? So, Mark Halperin wants to know–If the Kahn’s keep attacking, when isTrump allowed to attack them back? Gaaaah
Leto
@Anoniminous: And he’s going to do all of that with his bear hands! His bear hands!!!
*I’ll see myself out…
hilts
@hovercraft:
Mark Halperin and Howie Kurtz are running neck and neck in the race to be crowned the biggest douchebag of the MSM for this election cycle.
seaboogie
@Omnes Omnibus: True on the broom – but the bat can’t sense the strings of the racquet with their radar, or so we believed.
hovercraft
@hilts:
I think you are forgetting Hugh Hewitt. Normally I would leave him out as part of the RWNJ, but since the liberal msnbc has decided to mainstream him and Brian Williams has referred to him as a respectable opinion maker.
Anoniminous
@Leto:
Did someone say bear hands?
Leto
@Anoniminous: Lol!
Miss Bianca
btw, Adam, that Rational Wiki article on Ted Shoebat is fucking hilarious. The only glimmer of humor in this godforsaken mess.
sukabi
@Leto: bear hands? So he’s really a furry with a sick imagination living in his parents basement?
Pretty sure they have drugs to treat that.
sm*t cl*de
Grifters gotta grift.
What’s Shoebat going to do, if he wasn’t appealing for donations to his fight-the-islam ‘charity’? Work for a living?
Schlemazel
@gogol’s wife:
it comes off as sha-bat with soft ‘a’s
M. Bouffant
@Bill E Pilgrim: Seems like a mighty long time …
M. Bouffant
@Miss Bianca: Tengrain of Mock Paper Scissors keeps an eye on Ted. Most of the items have video from Ted.
J R in WV
@Timurid:
Like that misspelled, ungrammatical bullshit is going to scare someone like the Khans!
Those folks grew up in the ‘stans. They know about the real thing, not this deluded ranting barfly. I’m aware that skills other than grammar are prized among recruits to the SEALS – but they do need to be smart and quick witted. This bozo is neither.
Fake, fake , fake… and sad.
Adam L Silverman
@gogol’s wife: Its pronounced showbawt.
Adam L Silverman
@Leto: He’s done this before. Here’s the one he sent to Governor Palin:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/24/1474565/-Former-Marine-Navy-officer-and-Republican-Chris-Mark-writes-strong-open-letter-to-Sarah-Palin
Adam L Silverman
@Cat48: Where was the note?
I knew he was paid by RT to attend the banquet and speak there. And I’m not surprised he’s writing a book.
FlipYrWhig
@Adam L Silverman: That’s pretty close to “showboat.” Are we sure this isn’t a wrestling nickname?
Adam L Silverman
@Cat48: Also Stone got it from the Shoebats.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: No, in this case its veteran with Post Traumatic Stress sends letter. As I indicated above, he’s done this before. Wrote a letter to Governor Palin chastising her for blaming her son’s problems on PTS.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: She’s one of the Trump surrogates paid to be a contributor on CNN. She’s not on FOX that I know of.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: He was selected to serve as a SeAL officer, but had to separate from the service because of an injury. Here’s his bio:
http://www.markconsultinggroup.com/sample-page/bios-2/
Adam L Silverman
@FlipYrWhig: I’m sure.
Adam L Silverman
Sorry I was late getting back to everyone. Had a long day training outside in the heat and humidity followed by teaching the short staff (jo) at the dojo. I basically banged this up as I was trying to rehydrate before heading out to the dojo.