House Speaker Paul Ryan called on the Obama administration Monday to “release the full, unredacted transcript” of the Orlando massacre gunman’s 911 calls, slamming the Justice Department’s censoring of all references to Islam as “preposterous.”
Here’s what Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter, sounds like in the redacted transcript:
I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted].
No references to Islam, ISIS or Allah, who becomes “God [in Arabic].”
In other news, 911 calls from the Disney World alligator attack are being released after redacting all references to alligators.
It’s similar to 2012, when a terror attack (in Benghazi) was whitewashed in the months leading up to a presidential election, the thinking being that vulnerability to terrorism reflects poorly on the incumbent administration. This time they’re is not even bothering to lie about it (the Benghazi attack was supposedly a spontaneous response to an internet video), just “we’re taking out all references to Islam.”
Update: The DOJ has now reversed course and released a full transcript of at least one of the 911 calls. Allah is still “God [in Arabic]” but nothing else is omitted.