CAIR outraged after Allen West's Facebook page posts Islamophobic meme about John Mattis

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The meme, which included a picture of Gen. James Mattis, was posted Friday
It said: 'Fired by Obama to please the Muslims. Hired by Trump to exterminate them'
Editor-in-chief of West's website said the ex-Rep doesn't support its message
It was posted by a third party, the editor said - though how was left unexplained
Council on American-Islamic Relations asked why West didn't comment directly
And its Florida CEO said he should be out of the running for the Trump Cabinet

Published: 10:00 EST, 13 December 2016 | Updated: 10:15 EST, 13 December 2016

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Muslim groups have lambasted one of Donald Trump's possible Cabinet pics after an Islamophobic meme was posted on his the Facebook page.

The meme, posted Friday on the page of ex-Rep. Allen West, showed Trump's proposed Defense Secretary, General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis, with the message 'Fired by Obama to please the Muslims. Hired by Trump to exterminate them.'

West's Facebook editor blamed the post on an unnamed third party and rebuked its contents, but that wasn't enough for the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), ABC Local 10 reported.

Islamophobic: This meme appeared on ex-Florida Rep Allen West's Facebook page on Friday. It depicts Trump's new Secretary of Defense pick, James 'Mad Dog' Mattis

Apology: The editor-in-chief of West's website said a third party put up the 'despicable' image and apologized, saying it didn't represent West's views or her own

No comment? A spokesman for the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) asked why West (pictured entering Trump Tower, Dec 12) didn't apologize for the meme himself

West, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, has been seen entering Trump Tower for meetings with the President-elect several times this month. He is rumored to be in the running for a Cabinet position.

But Hassan Shibly, CEO of CAIR-Florida, demanded that West be pushed out of the running after the meme post, and accused him of being a 'well-known Islamophobe'.

She added that he was an 'integral part of the multimillionaire [sic] and dangerously active Islamophobia industry in America.'

'The former congressman's irresponsible and openly xenophobic Facebook's [sic] posting insinuating that Trump nominated Gen. Mattis to exterminate Muslims should be taken serious by President-elect Trump,' she added.

'This public statement clearly disqualifies Allen West from any future public appointments of nominations.'

West has previously gone on record as describing Islam as 'not a religion' and saying that the violence exhibited by Islamic terrorists is not a 'perversion' of the faith, but what the Koran demands.

He has also described the Islamic Prophet Muhammad as 'a murderous warlord, psychopath and, by modern day standards, a pedophile'.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Michele Hickford, Editor-in-Chief of allenbwest.com, apologized, saying the meme was posted 'without Allen West's knowledge or consent' and that it 'was reprehensible in its message'.

Hickford said she took 'full responsibility... although I was not the one who posted it, and it was posted without my knowledge.'

She also said that the 'despicable' and 'offensive' meme was not created by any of West's staff and 'does not reflect Col. West's beliefs, principles and values'.

In the running: West, a retired army Lieutenant Colonel, is believed to be in the running for a Trump Cabinet position. A CAIR CEO has said he should be kicked out of the running

It was not explained whether the person in question was reprimanded, or how they had been able to post the image on West's page.

The apology from Hickford was not enough for some.

ALLEN WEST ON ISLAM

'You must realize that this is not a religion that you're fighting against. You're fighting against a theo-political belief system and construct. You're fighting against something that's been doing this thing since 622 AD - 7th century - 1,388 years. ... You need to get into the Qur'an, you need to understand their precepts, you need to read the Sunnah, you need to read the Hadith and then you can really understand this is not a perversion: They are doing exactly what this book says.' Speech at Reclaim American Liberty Conference, January 13, 2010

'You could have articulated how a 7th century savage and barbaric ideology inspired by [Muhammad,] a murderous warlord, psychopath, and, by modern day standards, a pedophile, was not a radical but the leader of a militant phase of Islam introduced after the 622 AD event referred to as Al Hijra [the pilgrimage of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, sometimes wrongly identified as the start of the Islamic calendar].' Open letter to Khizr M Khan, a Muslim and father of slain US soldier Humayun Khan, July 31, 2016

In a text message to ABC Local 10, Wilfredo Ruiz, a spokesman for CAIR, a decorated Navy attorney, said: 'And no reaction from West himself? Hmmm.

'In such a delicate issue we [are] still missing any reaction from Allen West himself disowning this xenophobic expression.'

The post was deleted after it was made, though not before it received at least 46,000 reactions on Facebook - the top three being 'like', 'ha ha' and 'love'.

It was also shared by more than 10,000 people.

Mattis, nicknamed 'Mad Dog', is famous both for his tenacious attitude in war and his motto of 'Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.'

He was made commander of United States Central Command in 2010, by President Obama, replacing General David Petraeus.

But according to a Foreign Policy article in 2013, he was pushed out from his position as by the Obama administration because of his constant questioning of the Iran nuclear deal. He retired from the military that same year.

He is now Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense, although that will require waiving a rule that holders of that position cannot have served in the preceding seven years.

If he gets the role, it will be the second time the rule has been waived, after President Truman gave George Marshall the position in 1950, during the Korean War.