Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Get Ready for Twenty World Trade Center Bombings (A MUST READ interview from 1997)
Middle East Forum ^ | June 1997 | Steven Emerson

Posted on 09/22/2001 6:16:00 AM PDT by Bull Man

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-135 next last
To: Lent
Is Emerson's PBS documentary "Jihad in America" available?

We should start a major FReep to demand that television networks show it again.

We are being treated like mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed merde.

Our leaders are still more concerned about PC and moslem hurt feelings and crocodile tears than they are about preventing the next 9-11.

41 posted on 09/22/2001 8:57:46 AM PDT by Travis McGee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
What's more, the Clinton administration knew (not quite ready to bury the hatchet as long as his pundits are rewriting history and blanketing the news shows as President Bush tries to unify the nation).

Bump!

42 posted on 09/22/2001 8:58:52 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
What you said!! Bump
43 posted on 09/22/2001 9:00:00 AM PDT by headsonpikes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
Assuming that the fundies are intelligent would they not want to provoke what you are saying in an attempt to open a battle on a second front? It seems to me that they could also divide the country by having a sympathizer use the right implements in a terror attack, call it a "Columbine for God." Do the fundies drop a second shoe, if so, when?
44 posted on 09/22/2001 9:02:54 AM PDT by junta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
Is Emerson's PBS documentary "Jihad in America" available?

I don't know, but I started a search on it look at the hornets nest it started:

7 July 1995

Press statement for immediate release

RE: NNTV's decisions to withdraw "Jihad in America ‘ from advertised line-up of programmes for
Tuesday 11 July.

The Freedom of Expression Institute strongly condemns the decision to withdraw -even if temporarily - the film ‘Jihad in
America' from the line up of NNTV's programmes on Tuesday night, 11 July. Apparently, the film has been withdrawn
following protests from members of the public following its screening on American television. The film deals with the rise of
Islamic fundamentalism in America, and has been criticised by fundamentalist groups there for being derogatory. We believe
that South Africans lodges objections with NNTV once the film was advertised on the basis of these criticisms, in spite of the
fact that the film has not been shown locally. We further believe that NNTV has not made a decision about when to reschedule
the programme, and plans to screen it with an accompanying panel discussion.

We find it reprehensible that NNTV, and the SABC generally, have chosen to buckle under public pressure. This action
smacks of the same editorial cowardice that characterised the Corporation's approach to the made-for-television series ‘The
Line' last year. Offended members of the viewing public have a right to reply after the programme has been screened, but the
SABC should not buckle under pressure once it has made editorials decisions on what to screen. Such actions make a
mockery of the supposed editorial independence of the SABC. We call on the SABC to have the courage of its editorial
convictions and screen the film Tuesday. The right of reply can then be extended to offended members of the public who would
by that stage be able to make an informed decision about whether the film is in fact offensive or not.
 

45 posted on 09/22/2001 9:05:27 AM PDT by Lent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Bull Man
Very important, Man. Thanks for finding this.
46 posted on 09/22/2001 9:13:10 AM PDT by headsonpikes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
Excellent thread. Steve Emerson was much in demand 8 years back. But ignored recently as America went into a national security slumber. 

Clinton sold us out to China. Wall Street and the dot coms all booming and illegal aliens by the boatload. Who really cared. Life was good.

47 posted on 09/22/2001 9:14:00 AM PDT by dennisw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee,ALL

Here is the ignominious "Washington Report" an on-line apologist for the pan Arab Islamic Agenda. Gutless.. A number of pro-Palestinians on Free Republic have been posting propaganda from this site. BE WARNED. Here was their attack on this timely Documentary by Emerson (:
 

WASHINGTON REPORT - On Middle Eastern Affairs (http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0395/9503020.htm)
 

Emerson's “Jihad in America”

                                       by Paul Findley

                   March 1995, pg. 20

                   The campaign to defame Islam in America is alive and robust.
                   As I watched Steven Emerson's hour-long production, "Jihad in
                   America," broadcast recently over national television, a sage
                   comment by an eminent Jew came to mind.

                   The late I.F. "Izzy" Stone, author, lecturer, commentator, historian
                   and for many years publisher of a weekly newsletter, once told
                   me, "Jews never had it so good as they've had it in the United
                   States." But, discussing their concern about Israel's position in
                   the Mideast, he cautioned, "They are afraid about the future.
                   They feel they are at war, and many of them feel they have to fight
                   and keep fighting." He added, "When people are at war it is
                   normal for civil liberties to suffer."

                   When I interviewed him, although in declining health and with
                   failing eyesight, he was still one of America's most respected
                   journalists, a hero to academics.

                   "Israel," he said, peering through the thick lenses of his
                   eyeglasses, "is on the wrong course. This period is the blackest
                   in the history of the Jewish people. Arabs need to be dealt with
                   as human beings."

                   If alive today, Stone would have cited Emerson's television
                   production as wartime propaganda. Because many Israelis see
                   Islam as an enemy, Emerson seems constrained to see Islam as
                   his own enemy.

                   One of Emerson's techniques is casting the word jihad in the
                   worst possible light. Emerson fails to note that in common Arab
                   usage jihad means struggle, not military onslaught. Literally,
                   jihad means to strive, struggle and exert effort. It is a basic
                   Islamic concept that covers, at one extreme, struggles against
                   evil inclinations within oneself and, at the other, stuggling on the
                   battlefield if absolutely necessary for self-defense. Acts of
                   individual, group or state terrorism are alien to Islam.

                   Jihad can involve military action only when legitimate states use
                   force to defend the weak, protect society or establish justice. But
                   Emerson presents it only as violent, explosive, indiscriminate
                   carnage. This sets it apart from campaigns familiar to Americans
                   that are entirely nonviolent like "wars" on poverty and illiteracy, a
                   usage much like the use of "jihad" by Muslims.

                   The film is replete with unsupported scare tactics. At one point
                   Emerson declares that Muslims want to establish an "Islamic
                   empire," but offers no proof whatever. At another he warns that
                   the single, isolated bombing of the World Trade Center in New
                   York City is a certain forerunner of terrible acts of destructive
                   violence nationwide.

                   He puts a false interpretation on a few emotional scenes
                   videotaped at programs to raise funds to finance Muslim
                   struggles in Afghanistan. Without any proof he presents them as
                   sinister, subversive schemes to finance "Islamic terrorism" here
                   "on American soil."

                   The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), based in
                   Washington, DC, concludes: "From beginning to end, 'Jihad in
                   America' and its producer, Steven Emerson, offered nothing but
                   distorted snippets of fiery rhetoric, unsupported allegations and
                   spurious juxtapositions to build a case against the Muslim
                   community in America.

                   Acts of individual, group or state terrorism
                   are alien to Islam.

                   "The film was portrayed as factual and educational, while it
                   contained many factual errors. The most obvious error was
                   defining jihad as 'holy war.' We see this documentary as just one
                   aspect of a recent trend toward anti-Islamic 'McCarthyism' by the
                   media. In terms of potential hate crimes, it is now 'open season'
                   on Muslims in America."

                   Emerson's recurring theme is that big trouble is brewing here
                   because of the "radicalism of Islam" and the clandestine
                   methods he attributes to it. He warns of "Islamic extremists
                   committed to jihad in America." The only evidence he offers to
                   support this forecast, according to CAIR's word-by-word
                   examination of the transcript, consists of sound bites--brief
                   cuttings from filmed coverage of meetings--in which U.S.
                   Muslims were being urged to help finance Islamic struggles, but,
                   contrary to Emerson's portrayal, the struggles were in other parts
                   of the world, not in America.

                   Emerson deserts the truth in his zeal to misrepresent Islam as a
                   barbaric, underground movement. For example, he leaves the
                   impression that he was able to gain access to secret video
                   tapes of clandestine meetings. In truth, almost all of the videos
                   from which he clipped have been available routinely to the public.
                   They were taken at public, not secret, meetings attended by
                   locally elected mayors and other public officials, including, on
                   one occasion, a representative of the Federal Bureau of
                   Investigation.

                   Emerson tries to give Islam an unjustified ugly, gruesome
                   appearance by quoting an Islamic militant as follows: "Allah's
                   religion, may He be praised, must offer skulls, must offer martyrs.
                   Blood must flow. There must be widows, there must be orphans.
                   Hands and limbs must be cut..." This suggests to viewers a
                   dreadful jihad in America. An examination of the entire video
                   makes clear that the speaker, a recruiter for volunteers to help
                   the Afghans, referred only to Afghanistan and the awful price
                   Muslims there have been paying. Had Emerson explained that
                   Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, viewers would have
                   avoided the false impression that the Muslim God is different
                   from the Christian God.

                   In two brief interludes of the program, Emerson said only a few
                   Muslims are terrorists, but this caveat was so fleeting it would
                   register only with viewers who watched intently. These gestures
                   to peace-loving U.S. Muslims were quickly obliterated. At one
                   point Emerson declared, "Our investigation has uncovered more
                   than 30 groups that fund radical Islamic activities and operate
                   under tax-exempt status."

                   By failing to identify the 30 groups, Emerson has put all Muslim
                   charitable organizations under a cloud of suspicion.

                   No Link to Terrorism

                   To his credit, a few days after the presentation, Ambassador
                   Philip Wilcox, coordinator of the Office of Counter-Terrrism of the
                   U.S. Department of State, declared: "There is no link between
                   Islam and violence and terrorism. That is a canard which we want
                   to dismiss at the outset. Nor is there a worldwide Islamic network
                   somehow waging jihad against the West. This is a concept that's
                   brooded about sometimes, and there is virtually no intelligence
                   information to suggest that such a network exists."

                   In a commentary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jack Shaheen,
                   professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University, calls the
                   Emerson program "perilous television, pandering to stereotypes
                   that feed collective hatreds. The program's poisonous images
                   encourage Americans to believe that all Muslims in the United
                   States and their charitable and academic organizations are
                   laundering money for a holy war in the Mideast. As a
                   result...some peace-loving Muslims who genuinely respect the
                   United States will likely be victimized by vicious slurs or hate
                   crimes."

                   Former Congressman Paul Findley (R-IL) is chairman of the
                   Council for the National Interest.









 

48 posted on 09/22/2001 9:15:10 AM PDT by Lent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: dennisw, Travis McGee
" The film is replete with unsupported scare tactics. At one point Emerson declares that Muslims want to establish an "Islamic empire," but offers no proof whatever. At another he warns that the single, isolated bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City is a certain forerunner of terrible acts of destructive violence nationwide.

Article above on criticism of Emerson's documentary. Something else hey? Maybe Findley and the Washington Report ought to be Freeped with this paragraph.

49 posted on 09/22/2001 9:21:01 AM PDT by Lent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee
 

 

 

 

What the apologists for Islam were saying 6 years ago








Emerson's “Jihad in America”
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0395/9503020.htm

by Paul Findley

March 1995, pg. 20

The campaign to defame Islam in America is alive and robust. As I watched Steven Emerson's hour-long production, "Jihad in America," broadcast recently over national television, a sage comment by an eminent Jew came to mind.

The late I.F. "Izzy" Stone, author, lecturer, commentator, historian and for many years publisher of a weekly newsletter, once told me, "Jews never had it so good as they've had it in the United States." But, discussing their concern about Israel's position in the Mideast, he cautioned, "They are afraid about the future. They feel they are at war, and many of them feel they have to fight and keep fighting." He added, "When people are at war it is normal for civil liberties to suffer."

When I interviewed him, although in declining health and with failing eyesight, he was still one of America's most respected journalists, a hero to academics.

"Israel," he said, peering through the thick lenses of his eyeglasses, "is on the wrong course. This period is the blackest in the history of the Jewish people. Arabs need to be dealt with as human beings."

If alive today, Stone would have cited Emerson's television production as wartime propaganda. Because many Israelis see Islam as an enemy, Emerson seems constrained to see Islam as his own enemy.

One of Emerson's techniques is casting the word jihad in the worst possible light. Emerson fails to note that in common Arab usage jihad means struggle, not military onslaught. Literally, jihad means to strive, struggle and exert effort. It is a basic Islamic concept that covers, at one extreme, struggles against evil inclinations within oneself and, at the other, stuggling on the battlefield if absolutely necessary for self-defense. Acts of individual, group or state terrorism are alien to Islam.

Jihad can involve military action only when legitimate states use force to defend the weak, protect society or establish justice. But Emerson presents it only as violent, explosive, indiscriminate carnage. This sets it apart from campaigns familiar to Americans that are entirely nonviolent like "wars" on poverty and illiteracy, a usage much like the use of "jihad" by Muslims.

The film is replete with unsupported scare tactics. At one point Emerson declares that Muslims want to establish an "Islamic empire," but offers no proof whatever. At another he warns that the single, isolated bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City is a certain forerunner of terrible acts of destructive violence nationwide.

He puts a false interpretation on a few emotional scenes videotaped at programs to raise funds to finance Muslim struggles in Afghanistan. Without any proof he presents them as sinister, subversive schemes to finance "Islamic terrorism" here "on American soil."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), based in Washington, DC, concludes: "From beginning to end, 'Jihad in America' and its producer, Steven Emerson, offered nothing but distorted snippets of fiery rhetoric, unsupported allegations and spurious juxtapositions to build a case against the Muslim community in America.

Acts of individual, group or state terrorism are alien to Islam.

"The film was portrayed as factual and educational, while it contained many factual errors. The most obvious error was defining jihad as 'holy war.' We see this documentary as just one aspect of a recent trend toward anti-Islamic 'McCarthyism' by the media. In terms of potential hate crimes, it is now 'open season' on Muslims in America."

Emerson's recurring theme is that big trouble is brewing here because of the "radicalism of Islam" and the clandestine methods he attributes to it. He warns of "Islamic extremists committed to jihad in America." The only evidence he offers to support this forecast, according to CAIR's word-by-word examination of the transcript, consists of sound bites--brief cuttings from filmed coverage of meetings--in which U.S. Muslims were being urged to help finance Islamic struggles, but, contrary to Emerson's portrayal, the struggles were in other parts of the world, not in America.

Emerson deserts the truth in his zeal to misrepresent Islam as a barbaric, underground movement. For example, he leaves the impression that he was able to gain access to secret video tapes of clandestine meetings. In truth, almost all of the videos from which he clipped have been available routinely to the public. They were taken at public, not secret, meetings attended by locally elected mayors and other public officials, including, on one occasion, a representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Emerson tries to give Islam an unjustified ugly, gruesome appearance by quoting an Islamic militant as follows: "Allah's religion, may He be praised, must offer skulls, must offer martyrs. Blood must flow. There must be widows, there must be orphans. Hands and limbs must be cut..." This suggests to viewers a dreadful jihad in America. An examination of the entire video makes clear that the speaker, a recruiter for volunteers to help the Afghans, referred only to Afghanistan and the awful price Muslims there have been paying. Had Emerson explained that Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, viewers would have avoided the false impression that the Muslim God is different from the Christian God.

In two brief interludes of the program, Emerson said only a few Muslims are terrorists, but this caveat was so fleeting it would register only with viewers who watched intently. These gestures to peace-loving U.S. Muslims were quickly obliterated. At one point Emerson declared, "Our investigation has uncovered more than 30 groups that fund radical Islamic activities and operate under tax-exempt status."

By failing to identify the 30 groups, Emerson has put all Muslim charitable organizations under a cloud of suspicion.

No Link to Terrorism

To his credit, a few days after the presentation, Ambassador Philip Wilcox, coordinator of the Office of Counter-Terrrism of the U.S. Department of State, declared: "There is no link between Islam and violence and terrorism. That is a canard which we want to dismiss at the outset. Nor is there a worldwide Islamic network somehow waging jihad against the West. This is a concept that's brooded about sometimes, and there is virtually no intelligence information to suggest that such a network exists."

In a commentary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jack Shaheen, professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University, calls the Emerson program "perilous television, pandering to stereotypes that feed collective hatreds. The program's poisonous images encourage Americans to believe that all Muslims in the United States and their charitable and academic organizations are laundering money for a holy war in the Mideast. As a result...some peace-loving Muslims who genuinely respect the United States will likely be victimized by vicious slurs or hate crimes."

Former Congressman Paul Findley (R-IL) is chairman of the Council for the National Interest.

 


50 posted on 09/22/2001 9:26:34 AM PDT by dennisw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: junta
An old blame-the-Jew trick from mediaeval Europe was to declare that all widespread illnesses were from Jews poinsoning the water wells. It always worked. Pogroms, you know.

I look for water systems being tampered with, to achieve scarerism in a very cheap stab at terrorism. One or two real poisoning would produce the desired result. If executed only in towns with mosques, Islam will get the blame and the terrorists will get the blame. Success for terrorism.

Y2K should have taught us all to have stored water in the house, 10 gallons person. The Red Cross's guideline is at a MINIMUM have 10 gallons for two weeks. I'd bet that less than 5% have such survival stores.

51 posted on 09/22/2001 9:27:26 AM PDT by SevenDaysInMay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Lent
Holy cow! I just posted the same blast from the past. From Paul Findley
52 posted on 09/22/2001 9:28:20 AM PDT by dennisw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: dennisw
Hey, you posted the same Washington Report piece of junk I did. Same wavelength today! And to think we've had a number of PalPot apologists using this on-line rag.
53 posted on 09/22/2001 9:29:50 AM PDT by Lent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Bull Man
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Islamic leader in New York said Friday that the U.S. government had no evidence to justify attacking Afghanistan and complained of a surge in violence against Muslims after last week's attacks on America.

Although condemning the assaults on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a leading imam said Washington was rushing to judgment in naming Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden as the mastermind and threatening to attack Afghanistan if it did not hand over bin Laden and his followers.

"It is injustice. It is a war of aggression," said Sheikh Mohammad Gemeaha, the imam at the Islamic Cultural Center, one of the largest mosques in New York.

He said the "perpetrators of last week's horrendous event must be punished" but also opposed any military response that would lead to the deaths of more innocent victims.

"Americans haven't woken up yet to who the real criminals are," he told reporters without elaborating after reading a sermon at Friday prayers. Gemeaha added that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement had the right to defend itself if attacked.

"There is a difference between launching a war and defending themselves. Every responsible nation has the right to defend itself and its people," he said.

In a speech before a joint session of Congress on Thursday, President George W. Bush warned the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden and his followers or "share in their fate" as U.S. forces prepare to strike back.

GOVERNMENTS PUT ON NOTICE

Bush also made clear he expected cooperation from governments across the world in his campaign against the al Qaeda organization of religious militants.

"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," he said.

Bush's decision to threaten the Taliban and extend his anti-terrorism campaign beyond al Qaeda has raised concern he could antagonize Arab and other Muslim nations.

The Taliban called Friday for Washington to provide proof that bin Laden directed last week's attacks, a request flatly rejected by the White House.

Bush has stressed that no one should attack or show disrespect to America's own Muslims and Arabs, but Gemeaha said Friday such attacks had already begun.

"Unfortunately, although many Arabs and Muslims also died in the towering inferno that used to be the World Trade Center, their families and friends and all Arabs and Muslims in every part of our country are now the targets of increasing acts of violence, and of personal attacks," he said.

Some Muslims in New York said after Bush's speech they were worried about a further polarization between Muslims and non-Muslims both at home and abroad.

"What is dangerous is that Muslims are one family. If you hurt one, you hurt them all. If you hurt one, others will come to their defense," said Hassan Abdul-Rahim, a retired New York policeman and now a security officer at the Islamic Cultural Center.

"If they attack (Afghanistan) and innocent civilians are killed, like they did in Iraq, you are going to see a lot of problems," he said.

(With additional reporting by Manuela Badawy) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

54 posted on 09/22/2001 9:33:32 AM PDT by Pipe Dog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Samaritan
Read The Afghan Vortex and the EIA on Gas, Oil and Coal reserves in Afghanistan.

Can you direct me? I tried "search" without success. Is this an article or a book?

55 posted on 09/22/2001 9:35:20 AM PDT by I am still Casey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: dennisw Lent
Won't we all be surprised if the bulk of Terrorists turn out to be living here now.

If the Terrorists resist at all, this could get very ugly.

Smoke 'em out, hunt 'em down, and kill 'em.

56 posted on 09/22/2001 9:37:22 AM PDT by headsonpikes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Pipe Dog
"Americans haven't woken up yet to who the real criminals are," he told reporters without elaborating after reading a sermon at Friday prayers. Gemeaha added that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement had the right to defend itself if attacked.

What a goof. Yeah the real criminals are the liars who do their best to subvert the American people and their legitimate attempts to crush the Jihad and protect themselves.

57 posted on 09/22/2001 9:38:34 AM PDT by Lent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: headsonpikes
Won't we all be surprised if the bulk of Terrorists turn out to be living here now.

Looks like the masses have hidden their collective heads in the sand while guys like Emerson and Pipes were sounding the warnings for several years now.

58 posted on 09/22/2001 9:44:07 AM PDT by Lent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: dennisw,ALL FREEPERS,veronica, Sabramerican,NorthernRight, DistantVoice,Monkeyshine
Please email this bunch from the Washington Report about this past criticism of Emerson 's excellent documentary. I did, with a highlighting of the paragraphs which are particularly scandalous now that we see Emerson was exactly correct:info@washington-report.org
59 posted on 09/22/2001 9:54:00 AM PDT by Lent
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

Comment #60 Removed by Moderator


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-135 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson