Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Guilty Until Proved Otherwise
"Never Mind."
Yesterday, America's "Paper of Record" covered the fizzled bombing plot in Times Square by pointing its corporate finger at u-know-who - white and "right wing" males. In all its reporting and editorial writing, the New York Times left no doubt that, in its expert opinion, the perp was akin to The Unabomber, Eric Rudolph or Timothy McVeigh. Al Baker, lead reporter on the story, quoting James M. Cavanaugh, a former bomb expert with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives:
"There is a lot there to read into the case that really helps them," said Cavanaugh who investigated car bombs and tracked the Unabomber, Theodore J. Kazcynski and Eric R. Rudolph, the bomber of abortion clinics and other sites."
Further into the paper, Michael A. Sheehan, former NYC Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism penned an op-ed headlined, "The Terrorist Next Door." Keep in mind, as of two days ago, the MSM and the Times were all hot on the trail of the "white man" who was suspiciously removing his outer shirt near the bomb laden SUV. It was in the 80's that day and, as it turned out, the poor shmo was simply hot. But that, of course, cinched it for the Times. White males bombers will always give themselves away by bizarre, disrobing behavior in the middle of the most trafficked and videotaped intersection in the world.
Shortly we all learned that the perpetrator was - of all things - a Jihadist and naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Pakistan, one Faisal Shahzad.
Mr. Sheehan was obviously chosen by the Times for his synchronous theory that the potential murderer was a "home grown", "lone wolf" terrorist. Sheehan then went on to establish the linkage with the three "white males", Kaczynski, Rudolph and McVeigh. Walking down 44th St., beneath the Times' windows you could catch the collective sigh of relief from the convinced editors.
The writer concludes his piece with this:
"...We also need to reduce the threat they pose by identifying, infiltrating, and crushing any terrorist organization before it can mount a sophisticated operation, or before it provides deadly technical support and training to the next Times Square bomber."
Actual bomber: one Islamic killer. Scratch all that stuff about "identifying, infiltrating and crushing".
Diversity may be the first casualty as the head of the Army reminded us after Major Nidal Hassan's Ft. Hood massacre.
Not content with the lead story and an op-ed that completely missed the mark, the Times' carefully chosen letters to the editor reflected the same, weary, PC mindset:
Will the police now stop and question every such man in the city -- as they might if he had been an African-American man? Or a man of Arab descent?
Where white men in their 40s are concerned, my guess is that there will be no racial profiling.
Brenda Bowen
New York, May 3, 2010
As Emily Litella of Saturday Night Live back-in-the-day used to say, "Well, never mind."
Not that Mayor Bloomberg should escape the humiliation of asserting that the perp was most likely someone who was "disgruntled and unhappy with the Health Care Law" (indicting, by inference, The Tea Party members).
Fast forward to the day after the real bomber was identified. No Times editorials on the event and no op-eds indicting "white males." Instead, the letters (unattributable to the editors, of course) say it all. Here's the lead letter:
Re "Owner of S.U.V. Arrested in Times Sq. Bomb Case" (front page, May 4):
I condemn the recent terrorist plot to bomb Times Square and am relieved that there were no casualties. It is good to see that ordinary citizens and law enforcement agencies combined to prevent a tragedy.
I am a Muslim of Pakistani origin, and it angers and pains me to see that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, is Pakistani (though a naturalized American citizen).
Attempts to spread terror do great harm to the image of Pakistan and Islam. If the bombing attempt had been successful, what could have been achieved by killing innocent people from all across the world who crowd Times Square?
I want to praise Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who said after Mr. Shahzad's arrest that no backlash should be tolerated against Pakistanis or Muslims and spoke about the majority of peace-loving American citizens of Pakistani origin. These were the kind of soothing words needed at this juncture.
Pakistan has sacrificed more people in the fight against terrorists and extremists than most nations in the aftermath of Sept. 11 tragedy. The Pakistani Army, intelligence agencies and many ordinary citizens have played a crucial role. We need to win the battle of hearts and minds in the Islamic world. That is the best way to counter terrorists and extremists.
Raza Khan
Melbourne, Australia, May 4, 2010
It's all about the "backlash" and "soothing words". The letter writer's plea for tolerance notwithstanding, it's worth noting that if you're black or Jewish, FBI crime statistics reveal that for the past 10 years you're at least 5 times as likely to become the victim of a "hate crime" than if you're Muslim.
Yes, The Times They Are a-Changin', but not so The New York Times.
[Crossposted from JStreetJive.
FYI, New York Times article on Israel and j street and Jewish support for Obama.
On Israel, [some] Jews and Leaders Often Disagree
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/politics/06jews.html?ref=homepage&src=me&pagewanted=all
It's an all out assault on White Euro Christian Heterosexual Males, out there.