THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 205, September 27, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
IT'S TIME TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST
DEATH THREATS BY ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS
By Ayaan Hirsi & Daniel Huff
LEGAL WEAPONS NEEDED TO PROTECT U.S. CITIZENS FROM INTIMIDATION TACTICS EMPLOYED BY ISLAMISTS AGAINST
CRITICS OF ISLAM: HIGH TIME FOR FREE-SPEECH ADVOCATES TO LOBBY FOR A FEDERAL STATUTE MAKING IT A
CRIME TO THREATEN PEOPLE IN THE EXERCISE OF THEIR FREE-SPEECH RIGHTS & PERMITTING VICTIMS TO SUE FOR
DAMAGES -- WHAT SUCH A FEDERAL LAW WOULD ACCOMPLISH: (1) DETER VIOLENT TACTICS, BY FOCUSING
NATIONAL ATTENTION ON THE PROBLEM & INVOKING THE FORMIDABLE ENFORCEMENT APPARATUS OF THE U.S.
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. (2) EMPOWER VICTIMS OF INTIMIDATION TO ACT AS PRIVATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL TO DEFEND
THEIR RIGHTS.
FULL STORY:
Earlier this year, after Comedy Central altered an episode of "South Park" that had prompted threats because of the
way it depicted Islam's prophet Muhammad, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris proposed an "Everybody Draw Muhammad
Day." The idea was, as she put it, to stand up for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and "water down the pool
of targets" for extremists.
The proposal got Norris targeted for assassination by radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar Awlaki, who has been linked
to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and also to several of the 9/11 hijackers. This
month, after warnings from the FBI, Norris went into hiding. The Seattle Weekly said that Norris was "moving,
changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity."
It's time for free-speech advocates to take a page from the abortion rights movement's playbook. In the 1990s, abortion
providers faced the same sort of intimidation tactics and did not succumb. Instead, they lobbied for a federal law making it
a crime to threaten people exercising reproductive rights and permitting victims to sue for damages. The Freedom of
Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE, passed in 1994 by solid bipartisan margins. A similar act is needed to cover
threats against free-speech rights.
A federal law would do two things. First, it would deter violent tactics, by focusing national attention on the problem and
invoking the formidable enforcement apparatus of the U.S. national government. Second, its civil damages provision
would empower victims of intimidation to act as private attorneys general to defend their rights.
Such an act is overdue. Across media and geographies, Islamic extremists are increasingly using intimidation to stifle free
expression.
In 2004, Theo van Gogh was butchered on an Amsterdam street in broad daylight for his film criticizing Islam's treatment
of women. By 2006, it was reported that "dozens of people" across Europe were "in hiding or under police protection
because of threats from Muslim extremists."
Some targets, including the co-author of this Op-Ed, fled to the United States, where it seemed safer -- and so it is, for now.
However, the stark truth is the United States was never immune and the situation is deteriorating.
In 1989, two American bookstores carrying Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses were firebombed. Spooked major
chains took it off display. And there have been many more threats that received less publicity. Few have heard, for
example, about Oklahoma atheist Sabri Husibi, who received death threats after writing a 2009 article critical of his former
faith. His aged mother in Syria was warned she would never see him again. "Clearly shaken," he requested the paper that
published his article clarify that he is critical of all faiths.
These kinds of threats have had a formidable chilling effect. Mindful of the retaliation others faced, Yale University Press,
the Met, the director of the disaster epic 2012 and countless others have decided to preemptively censor
themselves.
The kind of legislation we propose is essential, if we are to win the war of ideas against extremists, who use threats to
drive the moderate message out of public discourse.
Existing state laws prohibiting intimidation are inadequate. On the criminal side, the heightened standard of proof deters
prosecutors from investing scarce resources. Explicit grounds for a civil action do not always exist, and damages can be
difficult to quantify. By contrast, the FACE Act, which provides the model for the proposed legislation, lets victims opt
for preset damages.
The "South Park" incident neatly illustrates the benefits. On April 15, 2010, following the first of a two-part episode
mocking Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad, RevolutionMuslim.com announced that "[w]e have to warn Matt and
Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh." The "warning" included the
names, photos, and work address of "South Park's" creators, a graphic image of Van Gogh's mutilated body, and pictures
of other targets of Muslim extremists. Overlaying this was audio of Awlaki preaching about assassinating anyone who
defamed the Prophet. Panicked, Comedy Central heavily censored the episode.
This rather obvious threat could not be prosecuted. New York Police Department officials explained it did not rise to a
crime. Were the FACE Act applicable here, a civil suit would have been available, and precedent suggests it would have
been successful.
In 2002, on very similar facts, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a civil award to abortion doctors who sued
using the FACE Act. A fringe anti-abortion group, the American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA), had in various
public venues displayed "Wanted"-style posters bearing the names, photos, and addresses of doctors who performed
abortions. Their names were also posted on the Internet, alongside a list of wounded and murdered doctors whose
names were struck through. The 9th Circuit held that ACLA's activities constituted true threats unprotected by the First
Amendment.
If we leave our artists, activists, and thinkers alone to weather the assault, they will succumb and we will all suffer the
consequences.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Islamist Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Political Correctness, Censorship, Thought Control:
Supression of Unacceptable Views & Opinions
Lawfare -- The Use of Law as a Weapon in War & Politics:
Islamist Lawfare & the "Legal" Jihad Against America & the West
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch parliament, is a resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute
and the author of Nomad: From Islam to America. Daniel Huff is Director of the Middle East Forum's Legal
Project.
The foregoing article by Ayaan Hirsi and Daniel Huff was originally published in the Los Angeles Times, September 27,
2010, 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.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/2754/death-threats- islamic-extremists)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
September 27, 2010
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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