While campaigning in Iowa, Rep. Tom Tancredo recently said:

“If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina.”

The Saudis have responded. Abdul-Mohsen Al-Sheik, head of Mecca’s municipal council, in a released statement, accused Tancredo of being ignorant of history and said:

“If this candidate had a minimum knowledge of history, then this site would be holy for him before it being holy for Muslims because no adherent to heavenly religions doesn’t know Abraham and his son Ismail,” …

The Kaaba, which Muslims believe Abraham had built, is a cube-shaped stone structure draped in black cloth that Muslims around the world face during daily prayers.

The State Department has blasted Tancredo for the remarks:

Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters “It is absolutely outrageous and reprehensible for anyone to suggest attacks on holy sites, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or those of any other religion.”

Tancredo finished in fourth and last place in the Iowa Republican straw poll.

Speaking of Tancredo, don’t be fooled by his support for Attorney General John Suthers’ ruling that children of the undocumented who are American citizens can get in -state tuition at state colleges:

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, an ardent opponent of illegal immigration, said he agreed with the attorney general. “We’ve never had a problem with kids who are in the country legally,” Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa said. “If they’re legal citizens, they should be granted in-state tuition.”

Tancredo wants Congress to pass a bill denying citizenship to children of the undocumented who are born in this country. In other words, he would cause them not to be “legal citizens” entitled to in-state tuition. He doesn’t think the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States” should apply to these kids.