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Linda Chavez was part of a panel discussion at Federalist Society meeting yesterday (Photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

Linda Chavez is calling for Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, to be fired for his statements last weekend about military diversity in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings.

Casey last week made remarks on television programs expressing concern that Muslim army personnel might face a backlash as evidence emerges that alleged shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan may have been motivated in part by Islamic extremism. “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said.

Speaking yesterday at a Federalist Society panel on civil rights, Chavez said Casey’s remarks reflected the “diversity at any cost” mentality that “does now permeate every institution in American life.”

“A tragedy is when you have 13 soldiers die in a helicopter crash. A tragedy is when you have 13 sailors whose ship goes down in a stormy sea,” Chavez said. “But when you have a fellow officer jump to a table at a military installation shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ before pumping 100 rounds of ammunition into his fellow soldiers, that is not a tragedy, it is an attack.”

Chavez is an author, columnist, commentator and talk show host who founded the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank opposed to affirmative action. President George W. Bush nominated Chavez to be Secretary of Labor in 2001. But she withdrew after it was revealed she gave money to an undocumented immigrant who was living in her home in the 1990s.

“Now I believe that General Casey should be fired for his statements,” said Chavez. “But he will not be fired because in fact the whole premise behind his statements suggests how pervasive and how pretentious the ‘diversity at any cost’ rational has become.”

She added: “I have to say that if this diversity rational as so articulated by General Casey is to be understood than what we are really saying is that protecting diversity is more important than protecting lives, even the lives of those who defend the freedoms we enjoy, and if that’s the case, than the world has gone mad.”