Editorial from Monday's Washington Times:
Private universities hold closed lectures and debates all the time; it fosters frankness. But there are some debates which should be aired far and wide. Tonight's talk by three ex-terrorists at Stanford University is one of them. But Stanford has barred the media and the general public. That makes the exclusive California university one of too many top-tier schools to decline full exposure for Walid Shoebat, a Palestinian Liberation Organization terrorist-turned-Christian convert whose unusual, tortuous story should be widely publicized. Airing out a dramatic story with relevance to the ideology of terrorism is better than bottling it up.The school cites security risks, following Princeton's cancellation of a scheduled 2005 Shoebat appearance as "too inflammatory" and Columbia's decision to bar the public at the last minute from an appearance on its campus in New York City last October. The two additional ex-terrorists slated to appear tonight at Stanford are the Lebanese-born ex-Fatah member Kamal Saleem and the ex-militant Zak Anani, also Lebanese. Both men are also converts to Christianity in their adulthood.
Here's a flavor of what Mr. Shoebat purveys. "The hope of the future is to destroy terrorism, and you have to destroy the theology behind terrorism just like you destroyed Nazi Germany," he told a reporter last year. The best known of the small but increasingly vocal number of recanted Middle Eastern terrorists making the rounds of the U.S. and foreign media right now, his life story zigzags recent Middle Eastern history. He joined the PLO as a young man, participated in terrorist attacks against Israel and was arrested and jailed in the "Russian Compound." He then began a remarkable transformation against radical Islamist terrorism which included a conversion to Christianity. Appearances the last three years include FOX, CNN, the BBC, newspaper interviews and various religious institutions.
Security is necessarily tight for such appearances and venues can change at the last minute for obvious reasons. We certainly understand the need to ensure safety for controversial guests and their audiences. But it's all worth the effort -- there would be no other explanation for the continued trouble so many institutions take to host Shoebat. In fact, we're not sure what Stanford is so worried about. If churches and temples with minimal experience hosting controversial guests can handle Mr. Shoebat without major incident, then certainly a major university should be able to, also.
Kudos to the "Students for an Open Society" who managed to get Stanford to hold the talk at all after repeatedly balking. Keep up the good work!
Hey that's good news and admirable persistence in all quarters .
I'm sure any Islamists who turn up, would be only to receptive to his views, just like their Left Wing apologists. They all sooooo love the cut and thrust of a healthy debate.
I guess we should consider this a "half a loaf." At least he is speaking at Stanford. Remember the Stanford "Indian." PC run amok, now the Stanford "Cardinal."
Too bad this editorial didn't mention the video taped versions of Shoebat's many interviews, including :
Islam: What the West Needs to Know
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West
And any number of televised interviews available on YouTube:
David Horowitz Freedom Center is sponsoring a Terrorism Awareness Project for tommorow April 19.
The project consists of free screenings of the movie "Obsession" (same as noted in above post) at a good size list of Universities throughout the country. Look here for the list of colleges:
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamo-facism-awareness/
There has been controversy before when this movie is shown on Campus. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn of some incidents caused by the MSA in Friday morning's news.
Thanks, Al E. Baba. I wished I'd known about the screenings further in advance. And wow! UW-Wisconsin in Madison is showing it. Surprise, surprise. (Major leftist bastion.)
Anybody know if/when/where Walid Shoebat will speak in the NYC area? I'd love to hear him in person, but he keeps getting cancelled!
Speaking of media, I get home from a trip, turn on the boob tube and started flicking, looking for a baseball game.
As I rolled through the NBC channel, I think, some show called Crossing Jordan), what do I see but a young South Asian being aggressively interviewed by an FBI agent.
Where did you go on your trip?, the Fed asked angrily.
Mumbai, answers the apparently Moslem Indian..
Bull, retorts Fed. We know for a fact that you went into Afghanistan from there.
I think to myself, say, this is progress. Maybe I have been a bit, er, over-cynical about the mainstream media.
The angry Fed stands up, storms out of the interrogation room, slams the door, and walks up to his partner in the War on Terrorism.
Just as I suspected...
I lean forward in my chair, the hogs oinking sleepily in the background, my ears perked.
... another damned Hindu extremist, let's go down to the crime lab and find out more about this kid.
Has anyone else noticed the irony - There is an implicit admission of the very real danger of jihad displayed in Stanford University's reluctance to give Shoebat a public platform due to "security risks", yet simultaneously using terms like "too inflammatory" to imply that Shoebat is the cause for concern and the one to be alarmed about.
Indeed, it is a triple irony because Stanford are clearly attempting to protect themselves by (1) appeasing the jihadists, which ultimately makes them more vulnerable (2) undermining Shoebat, which reduces their ability to learn how to defend themselves against jihad and (3) stifling the public debate, which helps to keeps the populous misinformed, helpless and unable to defend the values on which Stanford is built.
LivingVictory - I've noticed.
Principles don't stand up to threats most of the time... even in relatively safe places like middle California.
typical academics: Courageously standing up to those who would never harm them, but abject cowards when they are needed...except for the ones who are not cowards but collaborators.