July 31, 2005

Michael Graham Lets Our Soldiers in Iraq Do the Talking

From Michael Graham (likely the same Michael Graham discussed in this previous post): 

I was [in Iraq] as part of the much-maligned "Truth Tour" organized by Move America Forward, a conservative group based in California. According to reports in the mainstream media, I was part of a "propaganda" junket paid for by the Pentagon to buy some desperately needed positive coverage of the unwinnable military quagmire. All I can say is: If this was a junket, it was the worst-run junket in the history of public relations.

My radio station and I had to pay all my expenses, I slept on a bare cot in a tent in the desert, and at some locations the only available "food" (and I use that term under protest) were MREs — which stands for "Meals Ready to Eat...assuming you've already eaten both shoes and most of your undergarments."

This alleged "junket" failed in another way, too. The Pentagon didn't control what went out over the airwaves. Then again, neither did I. I left it all up to the soldiers.

I traveled about Iraq from Camp Victory at the Baghdad International Airport to Camp Prosperity on the very edge of the Red Zone, then down the Baghdad Highway to Camp Falcon, and on to the Command Headquarters in the heart of the city and, eventually, to the deserts of Kuwait and Camp Arifjan. And everywhere I went, I flipped on my mic, sat back, and let the troops tell their story.

...In all, I spoke to more than 100 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, with different ranks and different duties at their FOBs (forward operating base), and yet they overwhelmingly had the same things to say about the war in Iraq:

"We believe in the mission."

"We're making progress."

"The Iraqis are making progress, too."

And, perhaps most important of all: "We're going to win."

Read the whole thing.

(Hat tip: Steve Finefrock). 

Go Condi!

Rice Urges World to Stop Making Excuses for Terrorists

WASHINGTON -– The U.S. secretary of state wants people to stop making excuses for terrorists.

In an interview aired July 28 on PBS's "Jim Lehrer NewsHour," Condoleezza Rice fairly bristled at the suggestion that the United States was creating terrorists with its policies. "When are we going to stop making excuses for the terrorists and saying that somebody is making them do it?" Rice said.

Assault by CAIR on U.S. Freedom of Speech

Michael Graham is a Conservative talk show host in Washington, D.C. He'd made public comments "linking the current theology and structure of Islam to the repeated acts of terror in its name." CAIR -- the same organization which recently decided not to contest statements that CAIR was founded by terrorists -- "sent mass e-mails to its members urging them to contact ABC and demand the company to punish Graham for his remarks." The result: Disney, which owns the station, suspended Graham without pay.

Status:

• Islamofascists kill women and children in the name of Islam.
• An Islamist organization wants to keep us from talking about it and now...
• ...has gotten a radio host fired for talking about it.

Score for this round so far:

• Islamofascists: 1
• U.S. Freedom of Speech: 0
  

Oh sure, let's give up our freedom of speech to Islamofascists. Good idea.

What you can do to help:
Call or email ABC Radio in Washington and express your support for Michael Graham and U.S. freedom of speech.

Chris Berry
General Manager, ABC Radio
Washington, D.C.
202-686-3100
email: feedback@630wmal.com
or email via the radio station's official contact web site  

Update:  Here's the email I sent:

I want to show my support for Michael Graham and for Freedom of Speech in the United States. I also want ABC and Disney to know that ABC and Disney have my full and total support to stand up to CAIR and reinstate Graham.

CAIR is an organization that recently decided it could not contest statements that CAIR was founded by terrorists. (See http://tinyurl.com/ctona for documentation.) That is the organization that wants to stop Graham from giving his views on the statements made by the terrorists themselves that they kill in the name of Islam.

Our freedom of speech is powerful precisely because it lets us get to the bottom of things like this. Sometimes we all have to fight to preserve it. This is one of those times.

ABC and Disney, please reinstate Graham with full back pay.

Thank you.