Terrorism Archives
Huckabee's "apologies" for Bhutto death probably bad choice of words
By Michael Fumento
Many bloggers are attacking GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee who, reacting to the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, expressed "our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan." Apologize for what, they're asking.
I'm no Huckabee fan, but my first reaction was that Huckabee meant "regrets" or "sympathy" when he said "apologies." In many languages the same term is used for both of these words. For example, in German you can apologize or sympathize with an expression that translates to: "It's to my regret." In French, a way of saying "I regret it" as in "I regret we don't sell that type of photo film" translates literally to "I excuse myself."
Indeed, the Huckabee campaign later tried to explain he "intended to extend his deepest sympathies to the people of Pakistan when he used the word 'apologies.'" So he seems to realize that he made a faux pas even if he's not entirely sure why.
December 28, 2007 12:03 PM · Permalink
Hollywood's War on War on Terror, my piece in the NYSun
By Michael Fumento
Critics have labeled the new movie "Rendition" a "political thriller." Thriller? Maybe. "Political?" Absolutely.
As I write in the NYSun, it's merely the latest in an unbroken series of major films about the war on terror that range from those seeking to assure us that Islamist terrorism isn't the threat we might think, to those depicting the terrorists as no worse than those who fight them.
Consider:
Tom Clancy's "The Sum of all Fears," when made into a film, converted Islamist terrorists into an Austrian neo-Nazi. How's that for realism? The reason for the change was an explicit kowtow to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a supporter of Islamist terror activities.
In "Babel," the accidental shooting of an American tourist is treated as a terrorist act; but in the end the only "terrorist" killed is a cute little boy.
"Live Free or Die Hard" makes you think at first that Islamist terrorists are the threats. Turns out it's an evil cyber-villain with a beautiful Kung Fu sidekick who once worked for . . . the DHS!
In "The Kingdom," we find out in the final seconds of the film that FBI agents sent to Saudi Arabia to track down the killer of 200 American civilians are on the same moral footing as the terrorists they tracked.
In "Rendition," a clearly innocent American "family man" born is Egypt is snatched from U.S. soil and shipped to a country where torture is allowed. And torture they do!
The predictable excuses don't wash.
1. "Hollywood just wants to make money. If we want to send a message, we use Western Union." Right. "Babel" lost money and so will "The Kingdom." "Rendition" is already a flop.
2. "Islamic terrorists are unsellable villains." Right. They routinely explode bombs in markets and launch chlorine gas attacks. They build torture chambers and make and display videos of beheadings in which the victim screams in agony as his head is sawed off with a dull knife. Even their foiled plots are often bizarre, such as Richard Reid's "shoe bomber" attempt. These guys are a scriptwriter's dream. Quentin Tarantino couldn't think this stuff up.
3. "We don't want to stereotype Muslims or Arabs." Right. Nobody suffers more from Islamic terror than Muslims themselves. Islamist terrorists everyday kill and maim Iraqis and Afghans. Now they've blown up at least 136 Pakistanis greeting former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. All were Muslims.
Truly, Hollywood has declared war on the War on Terror.
Some of Michael Fumento's combat footage from Iraq can be viewed on the History Channel over the Veterans' Day weekend.
October 25, 2007 11:31 AM · Permalink
One cheer for Obama's call for attacking Pakistan
By Michael Fumento
Barack Obama is taking heat from the right over his comments that if elected president he wouldn't hesitate to attack al Qaeda in Pakistan to disrupt its safe havens.
But give Obama this, he is the first candidate (that I know of) who has called the Pakistanis to task for allowing al Qaeda and other international Islamist terror groups to operate there with impunity. Western Pakistan today is what Afghanistan was on September 10th. Terrorists currently operate in Afghanistan but there's little evidence they operate out of it. SOMEBODY in some way needs to clear out the Pakistani rat's nest and if Obama stirs debate as to how, all power to him.
I'm also tired of the black-white fallacy of "Musharraf or an Islamist" as Pakistani president. Musharraf overthrew a democratically-elected prime minister who has shown no inclination that I know of towards Islamism. There's no reason to believe Islamists would win in a free election. What's clear is we need somebody with the balls (or ovaries, perhaps) to clear out western Pakistan and Musharraf does not.
August 3, 2007 11:37 AM · Permalink
Anti-terrorism equals racism
By Michael Fumento
After I blogged on the utter lack of anti-Islamist terrorist movies, the aptly-named "World o' Crap" blog accused me of being a racist for pointing out that the good guy FBI deputy director in the latest Die Hard movie looked Arabic (presumably to reinforce that this was not an anti-Islamist movie) and noted the actor is from New Zealand. But:
1. How my saying he looked Arabic has anything to do with racism is unexplained.
2. Arabs are Caucasian. That's my race.
3. The actor is an aborigine descendant, hence his dark skin. He actually PLAYED an Arab in the movie Three Kings.
Anti-antiterrorism is alive and well in both Hollywood and the blogosphere.
July 9, 2007 06:42 PM · Permalink
The "microscopic" terror threat
By Michael Fumento
Scripps Howard columnist Paul Campos, best known for his columns and book claiming that obesity is actually good for you, is now "weighing in" on terrorism. The University of Colorado law professor labels it a "microscopic risk." Maybe he's looking through the wrong end of the microscope, but he's hardly alone in his sentiments. It's a sad fact that the longer our government keeps us safe, the more cache people like Campos have. It's as if to keep these people out of denial, we need a 9/11 every 9/11. If you'd asked 100 Americans on September 12, 2001 whether we would be free of terrorist attacks at least until 2006, 100 Americans would have declared you nuts. Yet here we are. This is probably the greatest accomplishment of the Bush Administration but because it's a non-happening instead of a happening, nobody notices. What a sad reflection on our society.
January 5, 2006 04:07 PM · Permalink
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