NPR and Dangerous Denial

Today the Obama Administration refuses to tell the truth about the war we are fighting with Radical Islamism.

Sadly, NPR is doing the same thing.

National Public Radio recently fired Juan Williams for his comments on the O’Reilly Factor regarding his fear of radical Muslims.

Juan Williams spoke truthfully about a fear that millions of Americans share: “Political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don’t address reality. I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

This honesty does not deserve censure.

Almost one year ago, on November 5, 2009, Major Nidal Hasan murdered 13 American soldiers and wounded 32 others in a terrorist attack at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas. Eyewitnesses reported hearing Hasan shout “Allahu Akbar!” while on his rampage.

The evidence is overwhelming that Hasan was motivated to commit mass murder because of his allegiance to Radical Islamism, but the Obama Administration will not acknowledge this.

As national security expert Frank Gaffney notes in our recent movie, America at Risk: The War With No Name, the after-action report on the Fort Hood shootings failed to mention the words Islam, Muslim, Muslim Brotherhood, Sharia, Jihad, or Islamic terrorism.

Perhaps no scene in America at Risk better captures the refusal by political leaders in Washington to tell the truth about the war we are fighting than an exchange during a congressional hearing between Congressman Lamar Smith and Attorney General Eric Holder. Addressing possible motives for recent terror attacks, Smith asks, “Do you feel that these individuals might have been incited to take the actions that they did because of Radical Islam?” Four times Holder refuses to directly answer this question and never once acknowledges that Radical Islamism could have been one of the contributing factors to these attacks.

It is this attitude of willful blindness by the Obama Administration that keeps our nation at risk for future terrorist attacks on our homeland.

Now NPR is enforcing its own unwillingness to share the truth about the justified fears Americans have toward Radical Islamic terrorism.

Williams’ firing should be treated as an opportunity to have a frank discussion about the realities of Radical Islamism and the threat it poses to America.

NPR is creating a “no-go” zone with regard to America’s national conversation about the threats from Radical Islamism. This dangerous denial is precisely the wrong approach and will only continue to put America at risk.

Our message in America at Risk is designed to start a national dialogue about the threats we face today and our strategy for victory.

We are long overdue for a serious global strategy in fighting terrorism and the ideology behind it. We must have the courage to tell the truth and to act on that truth. It’s time to be honest about what we know.

(Newt and Callista Gingrich are Executive Producers and Hosts of the recently released documentary film, America at Risk: The War with No Name.)