The thought police are coming........

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The thought police are coming.....

 

 

Wed, 27 Jul 2005 13:49:10 -0700

A New Blacklist for " Excuse Makers "

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ACTION ALERT:

A New Blacklist for " Excuse Makers "

Those who think Iraq War sparks terror are " despicable, " says Friedman

 

July 27, 2005

 

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has urged the U.S. government

to create blacklists of condemned political speech--not only by those

who advocate violence, but also by those who believe that U.S.

government actions may encourage violent reprisals. The latter group,

which

Friedman called " just one notch less despicable than the terrorists, "

includes a majority of Americans, according to recent polls.

 

Friedman's July 22 column proposed that the State Department, in order

to " shine a spotlight on hate speech wherever it appears, " create a

quarterly " War of Ideas Report, which would focus on those religious

leaders and writers who are inciting violence against others. " But

Friedman

said the governmental speech monitoring should go beyond those who

actually advocate violence, and also include what former State Department

spokesperson Jamie Rubin calls " excuse makers. " Friedman wrote:

 

" After every major terrorist incident, the excuse makers come out to

tell us why imperialism, Zionism, colonialism or Iraq explains why the

terrorists acted. These excuse makers are just one notch less despicable

than the terrorists and also deserve to be exposed. When you live in an

open society like London, where anyone with a grievance can publish an

article, run for office or start a political movement, the notion that

blowing up a busload of innocent civilians in response to Iraq is

somehow 'understandable' is outrageous. 'It erases the distinction

between

legitimate dissent and terrorism,' Mr. Rubin said, 'and an open society

needs to maintain a clear wall between them.' "

 

The " despicable " idea that there may be a connection between acts of

terrorism and particular policies by Western countries is one that is

widely held by the citizens of those countries. Asked by the CNN/Gallup

poll on July 7, " Do you think the terrorists attacked London today mostly

because Great Britain supports the United States in the war in Iraq? "

56 percent of Americans agreed. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll

(7/7-10/05), 54 percent said " the war with Iraq has made the

U.S....less safe

from terrorism. " Since they see a connection between Iraq and terrorism,

a majority of Americans are what Friedman calls " excuse makers " who

" deserve to be exposed. "

 

Friedman's column urged the government to create quarterly lists of

" hatemongers " and " excuse makers " --as well as " truth tellers, " Muslims

who

agree with Friedman's critique of Islam. Friedman's proposed list of

" excuse makers " would have to include his New York Times colleague Bob

Herbert, who wrote in his July 25 column, " There is still no indication

that the Bush administration recognizes the utter folly of its war in

Iraq, which has been like a constant spray of gasoline on the fire of

global terrorism. "

 

Leading members of the U.S. intelligence community might also find

themselves on such a blacklist, based on a report summarized earlier this

year in the Washington Post (1/14/05):

 

" Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next

generation of 'professionalized' terrorists, according to a report

released

yesterday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's

think tank.... According to the NIC report, Iraq has joined the list of

conflicts--including the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, and independence

movements in Chechnya, Kashmir, Mindanao in the Philippines, and

southern Thailand--that have deepened solidarity among Muslims and helped

spread radical Islamic ideology. "

 

Though Friedman calls on the State Department to compile the " Top 10

hatemongers " list in a " nondiscriminatory way, " it's doubtful that such a

list would, in fact, even-handedly include all advocates of violence.

It would not be likely, for example, to include someone like Thomas

Friedman, who during the Kosovo War (4/6/99) called on the Clinton

administration to " give war a chance, " writing, " Let's see what 12

weeks of

less than surgical bombing does. " In a follow-up column (4/23/99) he

declared that " Like it or not, we are at war with the Serbian nation, "

and

insisted that " every power grid, water pipe, bridge, road and

war-related factory has to be targeted. " Despite the fact that by

calling for

attacks on civilian targets he was advocating war crimes, Friedman should

have no fear that he'll find himself on a State Department list of

" hatemongers. "

 

Friedman's suggestion that those who seek to understand or explain

political violence are not part of " legitimate dissent " comes at a time

when calls for censorship are becoming more and more blatant. Bill

O'Reilly (Radio Factor, 6/20/05, cited by Media Matters, 6/22/05) made a

chilling call for the criminalization war opponents:

 

" You must know the difference between dissent from the Iraq War and the

war on terror and undermining it. And any American that undermines that

war, with our soldiers in the field, or undermines the war on terror,

with 3,000 dead on 9/11, is a traitor. Everybody got it? Dissent, fine;

undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all those clowns over at the

liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you

have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains,

because they, you know, they're undermining everything and they don't

care, couldn't care less. "

 

The call for the arrests of Air America Radio hosts was said as though

it were a joke, though O'Reilly is deadly serious when he says that the

commentators on that network are " undermining " the war--and that such

" undermining " is treason.

 

O'Reilly more recently (7/25/05) went after Herbert's column that

argued that the Iraq War fueled terrorism: " Bob Herbert is most likely

helping the terrorists, but his hatred of Mr. Bush blinds him to that.

He's

not alone, but this kind of stuff has got to stop. We're now fighting

for our lives. And those helping the enemy will be brought to your

attention. "

 

" Attention, " rather than arrests, is all that Friedman has threatened

" excuse makers " like Herbert with. But it's a small step, as O'Reilly's

rhetoric demonstrates, between marginalizing critics of U.S. foreign

policy as " just one notch less despicable than the terrorists " --and

criminalizing criticism itself.

 

ACTION: Please let Thomas Friedman know that opponents of the Iraq War

do not deserve to be on a government blacklist--even if they oppose the

war because they believe it encourages terrorism.

 

CONTACT:

Thomas Friedman

c/o New York Times Editorial Page

editorial

 

As always, please remember that your comments have more impact if you

maintain a polite tone.

 

Read Friedman's column here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/opinion/22friedman.html

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