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Antiwar Conference Featured Panelist Who Spoke at Holocaust Denial Conference

William Lind spoke at panel hosted by American Prospect, American Conservative

William Lind
William Lind / Antiwar.com
July 3, 2014

An antiwar conference hosted by the American Prospect and the American Conservative in June featured a panelist who once spoke at a Holocaust denial conference and claims American Muslims are a disloyal "fifth column" who should leave the United States.

The panelist, paleoconservative writer William Lind, also runs a website that advocates for a European ethno-state.

Lind spoke on the panel "Threats and Responses" alongside foreign policy professor Daniel Drezner and Center for American Progress policy analyst Matt Duss. The June 17 panel was moderated by the American Conservative’s senior editor Daniel Larison, a member of the neo-Confederate group League of the South.

The conference was co-hosted by the American Prospect, a progressive magazine, and the American Conservative, a paleoconservative publication founded by Patrick Buchanan.

Lind, who has been criticized by Islamic anti-discrimination groups, wrote in a 2002 pamphlet that Muslims "should be encouraged to leave [the United States]" because "they are a fifth column in this country," according to the New York Times.

"There is no such thing as peaceful Islam," Lind wrote. "Islamics cannot fit into an America in which the first loyalty is to the American Constitution."

Lind also spoke at a 2002 Holocaust denial conference in Washington, D.C., according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

"Lind gave a well-received speech before some 120 ‘historical revisionists,’ conspiracy theorists, neo-Nazis, and other anti-Semites, in which he identified a small group of people who he said had poisoned American culture," the SPLC reported. "’These guys,’ he explained, ‘were all Jewish.’"

Lind is the publisher of the website Traditional Right. According to the editor-in-chief Brent Gerrity, the website’s "objective is to preserve Western civilization" and "preserve Western people" by supporting the creation of a European ethno-state.

"The ethno-state, if the state as an institution is to continue to exist at all in the future, is [Traditional Right’s] default position of support concerning geopolitics," Gerrity wrote.

Lind’s controversial history was not mentioned during the June 17 panel discussion.

"It’s a real privilege to be part of this event, all of the panelists and participants with whom I’m very familiar, some of whom I’m personal friends," said Duss after he was introduced.

According to Duss’ biography at CAP, part of his work "focuses on the issue of Islamophobia in the United States." Duss co-authored a 2011 CAP study called "Fear, Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America," which accused several commentators and activist groups of engaging in anti-Muslim rhetoric.

During the June 17 panel, he agreed with Lind’s point that some Islamic countries should take more responsibility for protecting themselves against regional threats, but politely dissented from Lind’s support for a decades-long Sunni-Shia war that would result in a massive purge of young Muslim men in the region.

In the past, Duss has declined to debate the individuals he has accused of Islamophobia, arguing that he "wouldn't debate David Duke on race either."

The American Prospect did not respond to a request for comment.

Matt Duss of the Center for American Progress returned a request for comment saying, "I was unaware that Lind held those views, all of which I reject."