THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 244, October 6, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DAVID LETTERMAN GETS IT EXACTLY RIGHT
By Adam Turner
DAVID LETTERMAN'S CELEBRATION OF THE U.S. MILITARY'S KILLING OF ISLAMIST TERRORISTS & MASS MURDERERS ILYAS
KASHMIRI & OSAMA BIN LADEN: LETTERMAN'S REFUSAL TO BACK DOWN, WHEN THREATENED BY ISLAMISTS --
HIS REFUSAL TO RECANT OR APOLOGIZE FOR HIS EXERCISE OF HIS RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH -- MAKING LIGHT OF THE
ISLAMISTS' THREATS, BUT TAKING PRUDENT PROTECTIVE PRECAUTIONS -- REJECTING SELF-CENSORSHIP AS A MEANS OF
APPEASING THE ISLAMIST MOVEMENT -- IS THIS THE START OF A NEW TREND?
FULL STORY:
Kudos to American television comedian David Letterman! On June 5, 2011, Letterman smiled and drew his finger across
his own throat on his CBS program "Late Show with David Letterman" to celebrate the U.S. military's reported killing of
Ilyas Kashmiri, an Islamist terrorist who apparently was the head of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami and a senior al-Qa'ida
leader. Kashmiri reportedly was one of the leading organizers of the deadly November, 2008, Mumbai attacks in India,
which killed 164 innocent people and wounded at least 308. He was also recently indicted in a U.S. Federal Court for
conspiring with other terrorists to plan a Mumbai-style attack in Denmark, directed at the newspaper Jyllands-Posten,
the newspaper that had published the infamous Muhammad cartoons. For good measure, Letterman also insulted
Osama bin Laden during the same broadcast.
Letterman's understandable sentiment provoked a serious reaction from a group of radical Islamists. These Islamists —
who themselves frequently express their joy at the murder of Americans — took offense at Letterman celebrating the
killings of two mass murderers. In a posting on the Islamist web forum Shumukh al-Islam, they called for
Letterman's murder, and encouraged the killer to cut off Letterman's offending tongue. The posting also mistakenly
labeled Letterman a "Jew," which to millions of Islamists is the ultimate insult.
To his immense credit, David Letterman did not back down. He and CBS tightened security at the Manhattan
theater where they tape the "Late Show," and Letterman increased his own security. Then, rather than buckle under, he
made light of the threat in a subsequent appearance on his show. Among other things, he thanked his audience,
saying: "You people are more than an audience tonight. You're more like a human shield." He even drew up one of his
famous "Top Ten" Lists for the occasion.
David Letterman should be saluted for his courage. He did everything exactly right. Even while taking prudent
protective precautions, he refused to apologize for his free speech, or to censor himself. He even went a step further,
by returning to the sensitive topic and actually making fun of those who would harm him. Considering how comically
challenged Islamists can be, and how bloodthirsty, this took extraordinary courage.
Hopefully, this is the start of a new trend. The past is littered with examples of Westerners — including other comedians
— who shied away from expressing their opinions, or apologized in the aftermath, out of fear of Islamist threats. Some of
the most prominent examples are:
The Danish Muhammad Cartoons: While Jyllands-Posten had the gumption to post the 12 cartoons of Muhammad in
2005, most other Western newspapers refused to follow the Danish newspaper's lead. They feared that publishing these
cartoons would lead to protests and violence across the Muslim world — and in their own offices. Indeed, violent mobs
did wreak havoc after the cartoons were published — at least in part at the instigation of one or more Arab governments
— resulting in a total of more than 200 deaths throughout the world. Only a handful of American news outlets had the
courage to print the cartoons.
Yale University: In August of 2009, Yale University Press published a scholarly book on the Danish cartoon
controversy — The Cartoons That Shook the World, by Brandeis University Professor Jytte Klausen. But, after
consulting more than two-dozen experts on Islam, terrorism and diplomacy, Yale ordered the offending cartoons excised
from the book, for fear they would incite further violence from Muslim extremists. In other words, in an act of cowardly
censorship, Yale published a book on the carton controversy, but omitted the cartoons themselves.
South Park: In 2006, and then again in 2010, the satiric television cartoon South Park, drawn by Trey Parker and Matt
Stone, aired four episodes that simply depicted Muhammad. Both times, Islamists threatened the artists and Comedy
Central personnel with death for "insulting" the religious leader. In response, Comedy Central censored the four
"offending" episodes, first just by blocking out the Muhammad depiction, but, later, also by muting much of the speech.
Ironically, the censored matter included criticism of censorship and a speech against intimidation, in addition to every
use of the name "Muhammad." In 2011, Comedy Central also edited Muhammad out of the DVDs of South Park seasons,
including a 2001 depiction that had never before drawn any controversy. To their credit, Parker and Stone opposed
Comedy Central's self-censorship.
Molly Norris: In 2010, in response to Comedy Central's self-censorship of South Park, Molly Norris, a cartoonist for the
Seattle Weekly, came up with an idea: "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day." The point she wanted to make was
that freedom implies the right to criticize and caricature, and that this freedom was now in jeopardy. Soon threatened with
death by an al-Qa'ida imam, Norris quickly retracted her proposal — but it was too late. On September 15, 2010, the
Seattle Weekly informed its readers:
"You may have noticed that Molly Norris' comic is not in
the paper this week. That's because there is no more Molly.
The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But, on the
insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is, as
they put it, 'going ghost': moving, changing her name, and
essentially wiping away her identity. She will no longer be
publishing cartoons in our paper or in City Arts
magazine, where she has been a regular contributor. She is,
in effect, being put into a witness-protection program —
except, as she notes, without the government picking up
the tab …"
Penn & Teller: Even the irreverent comedy team of "Penn & Teller" has deliberately decided not to subject Islam to
the same ridicule they heap on other religions, especially Christianity, because they're afraid of being attacked. Penn
Jillette openly admitted as much in an interview — when he also said that Islam is immune from their jokes because "we
have families."
This is not how free speech is supposed to work in a constitutional democratic society. No other religion is protected
from being challenged, or even from being verbally attacked.
David Letterman, who also has a family, stood up to Islamists threatening to kill him for his speech. We at the Legal
Project recognize that Letterman has far more resources than most to try to protect himself and his family. But even
their wealth can't fully protect them from terrorist reprisal. Yet, Letterman did not allow fear to silence him. His example
is important, not least because Letterman is so prominent, and this incident is so public. Let's hope he spurs others to
follow in his footsteps, so that threats and intimidation do not silence free expression in this country on any topic.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Political Correctness, Censorship, Thought Control:
Supression of Unacceptable Views & Opinions
Personal Rights & Liberties -- Issues Relating to
Individual Rights & Liberties under Natural & Civil Law
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
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
Adam Turner serves as Staff Counsel to the Middle East Forum's Legal Project. He is a former counsel to the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee, where he focused on national security law. His areas of expertise include the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA), the international law of warfare, foreign sovereign immunity, and U.S. law governing torture. As
Committee Counsel, Turner helped pass legislation making it easier for victims of terrorism to sue and collect damages
from foreign governments sponsoring terrorism.
Prior to his work on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Turner served as aide to U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Rick
Santorum, both elected from and representing Pennsylvania. Turner holds a Juris Doctor (Law) degree from George
Mason University, a Master of Arts in Political Science from American University, and a Bachelor of Arts in
Political Science from Pennsylvania State University.
The foregoing article by Adam Turner was originally published in The Daily Caller, October 3, 2011, 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/3061/david-letterman-shumukh-al-islam)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
October 6, 2011
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XIII, 2011
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity