[wvns] Steve Emerson's Fantastic Obsession
Obsession with slandering Islam and Muslims
Louay Safi
7/3/2007
http://www.iviews.com/Articles/articles.asp?ref=IV0707-3306
Steve Emerson's Fantastic Obsession
What would an investigative reporter turned director of a private
intelligence operation, who is increasingly obsessed with proving that
mainstream Muslim American organizations are radical, do when he fails
to find evidence to support his obsession? Human decency and Ethical
conduct dictate that he give up his obsession and admit that he was
wrong. Steve Emerson, the director of the shadowy Investigative
Project, thinks otherwise. Rather than doing the right thing and give
up his bigoted endeavor, he decides to use fantasy to forge evidence
and prolong his compulsive obsession.
Emerson belongs to a network of anti-Muslim pundits who, driven by
bigotry and exclusivist ideology, are bent on marginalizing Muslim
Americans, and using unscrupulous tactics to distort the image of
Muslims and instill fear of Islam and Muslims in the American public.
Their strategy is to repeat their unfounded accusations against
mainstream Muslim organizations so as to create a public record and
then use it to incite federal officials and agencies against Muslim
Americans. The idea is that if they can repeat a lie long enough, and
use different media outlets to propagate their accusations, the lie in
time becomes "believable" and takes the semblance of "truth."
Obviously, they have not heeded Abraham Lincoln's wise advice: "You
can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people
some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
In a recent article published in the National Review Online (June 28,
2007) under the title "Radical Outreach: Bush coddles American
apologists for radical Islam," Emerson lashes out against President
Bush for appointing a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC). Emerson made it clear that he resents Bush's
initiative, which is aimed at mending fences with the Muslim world,
and fauls OIC for being critical of Israel's treatment of the
Palestinians under military occupation.
Emerson was particularly upset that President Bush distinguished
between Muslims in general and fringe extremist groups whose attacks
on innocent civilians have been condemned by Muslim communities
throughout the world, and by mainstream Muslim organizations. By
making a distinction between ordinary Muslims and extremists, Emerson
proclaims, Bush advances the "very talking point [that] is the refuge
of America's supposedly [sic] mainstream Muslim organizations like the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public
Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Islamic Society of North American (ISNA)."
To undermine the distinction between mainstream and Muslim extremists,
he goes to the website of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
and picks up a news release that was published in 2004. The news
release reported then the decision of the US Navy Chief of Chaplains
to remove an article by Salman Rushdie that was intended to instigate
Muslims against the West and westerners against Islam. I wrote to Rear
Admiral Louis V. Iasiello, then the Navy Chief of Chaplains, asking
him to reconsider the decision to publish such a divisive article of
the website of the Navy Corps. Chaplain Iaseillo realized that it was
a mistake to republish the article on the Navy website and order its
removal.
Emerson takes the news release and turns its content upside down, and
without any ifs, maybes, or buts he attributes to me the divisive
argument advanced by Rushdie. Emerson writes: "In 2004, Louay Safi, a
top ISNA official, went further, writing that the 'assertion by 'world
leaders' that the war on terrorism is not a war on Islam is nothing
but a piece of propaganda and disinformation that was meant to appease
Western Muslims and to maintain the coalition against terrorism.'"
Emerson ignores the context of the above statement and omits a key
phrase that shows clearly that the quoted argument was that of Rushdie
and not my own as he claims. Here is the paragraph which Emerson
misquotes in its totality:
"Salman Rushdie's article 'Yes, This is About Islam,' originally
published in New York Times, argues that the assertion by 'world
leaders' that the war on terrorism is not a war on Islam is nothing
but a piece of propaganda and disinformation that was meant to appease
Western Muslims and to maintain the coalition against terrorism."
Emerson representation of my position is not simply an error of
omission, but a gross distortion of my words and a malicious attempt
to put a spin on my statement so as to support his thesis of assigning
anti-American views to Muslim American leaders, scholars, and
organizations. My correct position is in complete opposition to what
Emerson presented and is not easy to miss as it is spelled out in the
subsequent paragraph. Here is my response to Rushdie's argument:
"In his letter, Dr. Safi pointed out that the article not only insult
the overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide, particularly American
soldiers of the Islamic faith, who every day put their lives on the
line . . . but its cynicism cannot be easily missed as it accuses the
commander in chief, and virtually all senior members of the
government, of duplicity."
Mr. Emerson has in the past used innuendo and half-truths to malign
mainstream Muslim individuals and organizations, but he has recently
reached a new low as he is now willing to use fraud and fabrication to
undermine Muslim Americans. His unscrupulous attacks and insinuations
against Muslims in general and Muslim Americans in particular must be
condemned by every American of conscience, as his hatful and divisive
message would, if left unchecked, confuse the public and undermine the
efforts to isolate extremism and defeat terrorism.
Dr. Louay M. Safi writes and lectures on issues relating to Islam,
American Muslims, democracy, human rights, leadership, and world
peace. He is the author of eight books and numerous papers, including
Tensions and Transitions in the Muslim word, published by University
Press of America, 2003. His commentaries are available on his blog:
aninsight.org
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