The United States
Army War College recently disinvited Raymond
Ibrahim, a scholar and clear-eyed observer of Islam, from a speaking event
at the Pennsylvania-based school that trains senior military officers and
civilians. A spokesperson for the school claims the event is just postponed
while officials attempt to locate another speaker who would “counterbalance”
Ibrahim’s talk, according to The College Fix. The decision to pull the
rug out from under Ibrahim, a Coptic Christian from Egypt whose family has
faced persecution, was made after the Center on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR) strongly urged the college to do so. Ibrahim was scheduled to give a
lecture on June 19th, on themes from his latest book, Sword and
Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West.
“CAIR,” an absurdly offensive acronym to
anyone aware of its actions, is an Islamist organization that has long been
linked to terrorist activities. Several U.S. allies consider it a “terrorist
organization” in its own right and some of its board members and staff have
been accused of terrorism. The U.S. considers CAIR an “unindicted
co-conspirator and/or joint venturer” with Hamas. CAIR almost never denounces
the sponsors of Hamas and Hezbollah, or the two terrorist groups themselves.
The public affairs director of the National
Association of Scholars, Glenn Ricketts, told The College Fix via email: “For me,
the disinvitation illustrates the depth to which political correctness and the
outrage/grievance industry have saturated American educational and corporate
institutions, with no apparent thought of the injustice done, the negative
influence on the morale of the institution or, in this case, to the training of
future defenders and military strategists. Good PR in the short term seems to
me the paramount consideration.” No doubt. He added: “NAS will be following
this closely, and we certainly hope that the Army War College will reconsider
this monumentally bad decision. Perhaps it will recall that its mission is to
train warriors, not social activists.” Good luck with that wish, Glenn.
If the U.S. military is so willing to lay down
and capitulate to a single foreign-focused and supported entity such as CAIR,
the end is indeed nigh. If politically correct bullshit and lies can induce it
to change its plans and agenda, the proverbial jig is up. If the United States
Army War College ceases fighting for American values such as free
speech, who will?
Imagine if the U.S. Army War College, founded
in 1901, had disinvited a speaker critical of Germany’s actions in the lead up
to World War II…because of pressure from the Nazis or the Waffen SS. Imagine if
the Air Force Academy disinvited a speaker who wished to give a lecture on the
Cold War machinations of the Soviet Union due to pressure from the KGB. Or if
the Naval Academy was persuaded not to allow a speech by an expert on North
Vietnam at the behest of the Viet Cong. What if speeches by Samuel Adams, John
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, et. al., had been nixed in Colonial
times because the British didn’t want to hear them?
The War College’s decision was insane.
You can’t win a real war if you won’t even fight a cultural one.
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