THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 129, May 20, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
"LAWFARE" GAINS GROUND -- UN RESOLUTIONS
ON "DEFAMING" ISLAM ARE A CASE IN POINT
By Brooke M. Goldstein & Aaron Eitan Meyer
ISLAMIST LAWFARE AS A THREAT TO FREE EXPRESSION IN THE U.S.A. & THE REST OF THE WESTERN WORLD:
RADICAL ISLAM'S USE OF WESTERN LEGAL SYSTEMS IN EFFORTS TO SILENCE CRITICISM OF ISLAMIST TERRORISM &
ITS FUNDING -- THE "LEGAL" JIHAD AGAINST AMERICA & WESTERN CIVILIZATION -- THE NEED FOR A COUNTEROFFENSIVE
AGAINST THE "LEGAL" JIHADISTS, WITH WESTERNERS USING UN RESOLUTIONS & WESTERN COURTS TO CITE & REQUEST
EXTRADITION OF RADICAL IMAMS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES FOR THEIR ANTI-SEMITIC & ANTI-CHRISTIAN RHETORIC
FULL STORY:
The United Nations recently passed resolutions that would make "defaming" Islam a globally criminal act. The United
Kingdom first refused entry to Geert Wilders, a sitting European Parliament member and Islamist critic, and now has
issued a list banning 16 other individuals, which includes some banned solely for their exercise of free speech.
"Faith Fighter," an online video game featuring various religious figures, attracted considerable attention and
controversy, but was removed after the Organization of the Islamic Conference threatened the game's producers.
Valentina Colombo, an Italian professor, wrote about an Islamist who said liberal Muslims could be killed as apostates;
the Islamist has now sued Professor Colombo for damaging his credibility as a "moderate."
And the United States of America is not immune. As the presidential election race was under way, the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission claiming
that Obsession, a candidate-neutral documentary on terrorism, somehow constituted improper election activity.
More recently still, CAIR has demanded that Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner step down, for the "crime"
of co-hosting a conference on free speech at which Mr.Wilders spoke. Lawsuits charging "defamation" continue to
plague people who speak out against radical Islam and terrorism, including ongoing cases against Iranian-American
researcher Hassan Daioleslam, Americans Against Hate founder Joseph Kaufman, and Hawaii Free Press Editor
Andrew Walden. By and large, these events, and others like them, have not made the front page of any major
newspaper, or been featured on broadcast television, if mentioned at all.
Yet, along with a number of individual lawsuits aimed at silencing critics of Islamist terrorism and its funding, freedom
of speech is under siege, not only in the United States, but throughout the West -- and the ideology behind this
dangerous threat is Islamism, or radical Islam. And, while steps have been taken to counteract some forms of this legal
warfare, or "lawfare," there is a distinct need for a counteroffensive.
Perhaps, turning radical Islam's tactics against it is the solution. If Europeans can be prosecuted by Islamists using the
European Union's legal system, should it then not follow that radical Imams in Muslim countries can be cited by
European citizens and extradition be requested by them to European courts for their anti-Semitic and anti-Christian
rhetoric? Whatever the particular solution may be, some attempt must be made, and soon.
Recognizing the severity of the threat, and the necessity of responding to it, the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum,
in conjunction with the Federalist Society, the Center for National Security Law and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the
Protection of Free Expression, is hosting a conference titled "Libel Lawfare: Silencing Criticism of Radical Islam," on
Tuesday, May 26, 2009, in Washington, D.C. The conference, featuring experts in the field as well as victims of lawfare,
will fully address this dangerously underreported trend. The conference panelists represent diverse views, about the
nature and scope of the problem, as well as the solution. There will be no conference conclusion -- that is not its purpose.
The conference will achieve its purpose simply by engaging in precisely the type of speech that Islamists want to
suppress so desperately: open discussion on this critical issue of public concern, without fear of threats or reprisal.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Lawfare -- The Use of Law as a Weapon in War & Politics:
Islamist Lawfare & the "Legal" Jihad Against America & the West
Political Correctness, Censorship, Thought Control:
Supression of Unacceptable Views & Opinions:
Silencing Critics & Opponents
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Brooke Goldstein is a lawyer, an award-winning filmmaker and the Director of the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum.
Aaron Eitan Meyer is Assistant Director at the Legal Project and legal correspondent of the Terror Finance Blog.
The foregoing article by Goldstein and Meyer was originally published in the Washington Times, May 19, 2009,
and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks
to define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2138/ lawfare-gains-ground)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
May 20, 2009
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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