Editorial: Censoring the Message

We are currently running a campaign to put an ad in as many college newspapers as is possible, which points out that the war on terror is seamless: the Islamic radicals who want to destroy the state of Israel are the same radicals who want to destroy us. This is a vital point to understand in the war on terror because the principal way our enemies seek to divide us and sap our will to resist is by arguing that our policies are a "root cause" of the attacks against us. Many who do not support the terrorists nonetheless will accept the argument that the attacks on us are caused by our support for the state of Israel and Israel’s policies, in turn, are the cause of the attacks against it. This is the argument, for example, of Pat Buchanan and the paleo-conservatives at The American Conservative. It is even more effective on the left side of the political spectrum, particularly on college campuses where a left-wing professoriate and anti-American radicals are able to exploit the distorted version of history that has already been inflicted on college students to turn them against the war in Iraq in particular and America’s war against Islamic terror in general.

Thus far we have been able to place the ad in 15 college papers, thanks to your contributions and support. But four college papers have already rejected the ad for political reasons. These are the Daily Californian (Berkeley), The Battalion (Texas A&M), The Exponent (Purdue), and The Maroon (University of Chicago). None of these papers would provide a reason why the ad was rejected. That is because the reason is intimidation by pro-terrorist groups on campus. When I spoke to the editor of the Texas A&M Battalion it was apparent to me that she had no quarrel herself with the ad and no reason for not running it. She kept referring to the “editors” ignoring the fact that she is the editor-in-chief. When I called Robert Wagner who is the “General Manager of Student Media” at Texas A&M, he told me that the paper had a right to reject the ad.

In fact the paper at Texas A&M doesn’t have such a right. As part of state institution, the Battalion is subject to the First Amendment, which means that its editorial decisions about whether or not to run political ads must be viewpoint-neutral. If the Battalion doesn’t run our ad in the next few days they will hear from our lawyer, who is John O’Neill, the leader of the Swift Boat vets.

Unfortunately, universities have dealt with the problem of the campus leftists’ political censorship by washing their hands of the problem. Thus, the Daily Californian and many other college papers are quasi-independent of the universities whose name they bear and whose offices they use, and can escape the protections of the First Amendment. Private universities like Purdue and the University of Chicago are also exempt.

What is really behind these editorial decisions is a campaign of intimidation by radical and pro-terrorist groups on campus. This is what the editor of the Chicago Maroon said to our staff when asked the reason for the rejection (as related by our staffer): “I just got a call from Judy from the Chicago Maroon. She said they have decided that our half page ad (“Israel Is The Canary In The Mine”) is “not appropriate” for their paper. She said that she won’t put this in writing the reasons for the rejection (as I asked her to do), because we “know the ad is controversial.” She said she doesn’t want to deal with the repercussions of publishing the ad. She said that people come screaming and yelling at her when she publishes anything like this. She said that we don’t have to hear them but she does, and that people threaten to stop others from advertising in their paper, and that she is not going to run the ad.

Mild as it may seem, this is a form of terror. In this issue of FrontPage, we are running another story about a similar terror conducted by Palestinians against College Republicans on the San Francisco State campus. As at Texas A&M, the administration at San Francisco State is in near perfect collusion with the intimidators on their campus. This situation will only change with the active involvement of the public, including the trustees and alumni donors to these universities and concerned legislators.

We are asking your support. First, give us the means to submit this ad to 100 college papers, not just the 20 our present resources allow us. Each ad costs us approximately $500 and reaches an average of 25,000 members of a campus community. It would be helpful if alumni and other concerned citizens phoned the university administrations to protest this censorship.

These incidents serve to confirm the central message of this magazine: The war on terror begins at home. Our troops are risking their lives for us in Fallujah. It is time for the rest of us to support them by taking on the forces of terror in the United States.

The war between Arabs and Jews is not the cause of the war on terror, as apologists for Muslim radicals claim; it is the war on terror.

Twenty-five years ago, there were two non-Islamic democracies in the Arab Middle East, Israel and Lebanon. This was too much for Islamic radicals, Syrian irredentists and Palestinians who joined forces to destroy Lebanon and make it a base for terror.

The goal of the post-Oslo Intifada is not to establish a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish state. Its goal is an Islamic umma extending “from the Jordan to the sea.” That is why Oslo was rejected by Arafat even though Barak and Clinton offered him an independent state on virtually all of the land Palestinians claimed in the West Bank of the Jordan. That is why the very birth of Israel is referred to by all the present Palestinian leadership as the “Naqba” – the “catastrophe.” To Islamic radicals at war with the West, the very creation of Israel is a catastrophe.

American apologists for Arab aggression are also apologists for Islamic aggression. In their eyes, Arab terror in the Middle East has a root cause in the policies of Israel, whom terrorists refer to as the “little Satan.” For apologists of the Islamic terror of 9/11 and the Zarqawi terror in Iraq, jihad is not a self-generating creed but has a “root cause” in the policies of “the Great Satan,” which is us.

Peace in the Middle East and peace in the war with al-Qaeda and Zarqawi will come only when the terrorists surrender or are defeated.

"The fashionable idiocy that haters must have justifications is one of those ideas that George Orwell said only an intellectual could believe -- because no one else could be such a fool." -- Dr. Thomas Sowell HERE.

Maybe A&M alumni will choose to withhold contributions and in doing so, inform A&M that the refusal of this publication to run the ad is why they are withholding their contributions. It would be nice if such became a national objective of alumni. These kids need to learn that their tuition pays only a fraction of the cost of their education and that alumni expect these kids to show a sense of responsibility while attending A&M.

According to Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations):

‘Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth’

(Report in the San Ramon Valley Herald of a speech to California Muslims in July 1998; quoted by Daniel Pipes in CAIR: Moderate Friends of Terror, New York Post, April 22.

In fact the paper at Texas A&M doesn't have such a right. As part of state institution, the Battalion is subject to the First Amendment, which means that its editorial decisions about whether or not to run political ads must be viewpoint-neutral. If the Battalion doesn't run our ad in the next few days they will hear from our lawyer, who is John O'Neill, the leader of the Swift Boat vets.

Doubt it will do much good. The University doesn't have any real control over the Battalion. Its run by students in the (soon to be gone) Journalism Department but (I'm 99% sure) the faculty & administration do not have control over the content.

The University doesn't have any real control over the Battalion. Its run by students in the (soon to be gone) Journalism Department

Then the Battalion should be completely spun off from the university along with all funding. I'm sure conservative alumni would be willing to generously fund a conservative newspaper on campus.

I am a Texas A&M alumni and I am madder than hell. First thing tomorrow I will be calling down there to see who was on duty when these PC jackasses infiltrated such a fine institution.

I am flabbergasted but I do believe the school in general is pretty conservative. There is a vocal minority screaming all the usual crap (gay rights, abortion, etc.) and they have a right to do so, but I am completely embarrassed by this.

As of right now, it might be gone very soon when the Journalism Dept. goes bye-bye. Last I heard no one was sure what was going to happen to it. The administration would probably never allow a "conservative" newspaper to be associated with TAMU. A&M is a university whose faculty votes liberal more (proportionally) than does UC-Berserkly.

While the Batt will run its token conservative editorials and letters, most are anti-Bush, anti-US, anti-Iraq War, and various other liberal causes. They even endorsed Chet Edwards for Congress (no real surprise there) all because he'll bring money to TAMU and is a former student. During the big uproar a while back over the YCT and some of their rallies, the Batt usually attacked them with all the usual liberal play book.

The administration would probably never allow a "conservative" newspaper to be associated with TAMU.

They'll have a hard time justifying that position if the Battallion is given any preferences on campus. The university is an agency of the State of Texas, and is required to operate under the constraints of the US and Texas constitutions. There is a lot of conservative money available from former students both to support a conservative paper and to fight unequal treatment.

During the big uproar a while back over the YCT and some of their rallies, the Batt usually attacked them with all the usual liberal play book.

But if there were real competition for camus news, the Battilion would lose bigtime. If they were cut off from access to student fees and dependent on advertising for all their revenues, they would be hurting.

According to Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations): ‘Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth’

That was probably taken out of context. /sarcasm

While the Batt will run its token conservative editorials and letters, most are anti-Bush, anti-US, anti-Iraq War, and various other liberal causes.

I find this very hard to believe, I was under the impression the college papers like the colleges themselves valued diversity. Now I'm starting to think they might be a bastion of the loony left.

...I'm starting to think they might be a bastion of the loony left. That was the danger 20 years ago, now the loony left are being eaten by the Islamic wolf. They are becoming the bastion of Jihad.

17 posted on 11/23/2004 10:44:08 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)

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