U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, didn’t think much of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ demand that he stop associating with figures the group considers anti-Muslim.

West’s response, on congressional stationery: “NUTS!”

CAIR South Florida Director Nezar Hamze (recipient of West’s “Don’t try to blow sunshine up my butt” admonition at a February town hall meeting) seemed puzzled by the response and told a Miami TV station that West should “stop the schoolboy insults.”

The Miami New Times reported today that West’s office “has yet to explain to New Times what the congressman meant.”

West watchers shouldn’t be surprised. The 22-year Army veteran regularly peppers his speeches with military references from ancient Greece to Vietnam. West referred to at least five Union generals by name in recounting a Battle of Gettysburg story to tea partyers Monday night.

And West frequently mentions World War II Army Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, who was immortalized during the Battle of the Bulge for his one-word reply to a surrender demand from the Germans.

McAuliffe’s response: “Nuts!”

POMPANO BEACH — In his seventh week as a member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, dismissed suggestions he run for president in 2012 at a town hall meeting tonight that drew about 250 people.

West, who has often had harsh words for Islam, also got into a heated exchange with Council on American-Islamic Relations South Florida Executive Director Nezar Hamze. Hamze held a copy of the Koran and asked West to “show me one verse in this Koran where it says to attack America, attack Americans, or attack innocent people.”

Hamze also attended West’s Jan. 31 town hall in Boynton Beach, where he said West had “consistently demonized and insulted my religion.”

West will hold a town hall meeting for Palm Beach County constituents Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Jupiter at 5353 Parkside Drive on Florida Atlantic University’s north campus.

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Four leaders of Jewish, Christian and interfaith groups signed a letter Wednesday expressing “deep concern” to U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, about his recent criticism of Muslim U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and West’s “tendency to offer intemperate comments about Islam.”

In an interview on The Shalom Show, West (around the 1:50 mark on the video above) referred to Ellison as “someone that really does represent the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.”

The letter writers also note that West has called Islam “a totalitarian theocratic political ideology, it is not a religion.”

West sent a letter back to the interfaith leaders Wednesday saying he’s “neither anti-Muslim nor anti-Islam…It is the extremist, radical element that has hijacked Islam that presents a dangerous threat to both our country and our allies throughout the world.”

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