Center for Security Policy president Frank Gaffney is co-sponsoring a conference today, Wednesday, January 8 in Washington D.C., where he and a panel of several other prominent Islamophobes intend to stir up fear surrounding Iran and its nuclear program.
Gaffney is one of the leading conspiracy theorists in the Islamophobia movement, and as of late, he has turned his attention to Iran, believing they pose a threat to the world should they acquire nuclear arms. Although Gaffney’s past of serving as Deputy Secretary of Defense during the Reagan Administration, where he focused on nuclear arms policy suggest he would be an expert at such matters, his anti-Muslim sentiments and bigoted conspiracy theories undermine any previously held credibility or experience. In addition, he regularly finds a way to tie anything back to his disdain for Islam, and discussing Iran’s nuclear arms prospects is just another talking point used to incite fear and further his anti-Muslim agenda.
The advertisement explaining the premise of the upcoming conference is telling of the conference’s motives. It reads: “What is the Iranian end game? What are the ideological motivators of the Islamic regime in its conflict with the United States of America and Israel?” This suggests that Gaffney will undoubtedly relate Iran’s nuclear program back to his own misconceptions and hatred toward Islam as well as provide a retrofitting of Cold War rhetoric for today’s anti-Muslim antagonists.
The conference flier also advertises that Gaffney will be accompanied by a panel of other notable Islamophobes, including Clare Lopez, Walid Phares, and Andrew Bostom. No matter the topic Gaffney presents to the public, he can’t avoid pulling in fringe “experts” to focus on the issue at hand.