Michael Moore: An Open Letter to Juan Williams

An Open Letter to Juan Williams from Michael Moore

Dear Juan,

Sorry to hear you got fired by National Public Radio for saying on Fox that you get nervous when you see Muslims on a plane with you. It was dumb to say such a thing, but I don’t think saying one dumb thing should be a firing offense. (I DO think an NPR journalist wanting to take money from Fox News to be a regular commentator should be a firing offense, but that’s another story).

But there’s more to this — and some important things that everyone is missing.

For instance, what you said about Faisal Shazad, the Pakistani immigrant who wanted to bomb Times Square. When he was being sentenced this month, he claimed, according to you, that his attempted attack was just “the first drop of blood.” We can’t let political correctness blind us to this, you explained.

I guess Shahzad made a big impression on you, because after being fired you went back on Fox and told them, “You can’t ignore the fact what has recently been said in court with regard to ‘this is the first drop of blood in a Muslim war against America.'”

Sadly for you (and this is also why you shouldn’t be working for a real news organization like NPR), Shahzad never said that. If you were a real journalist, you would have quoted him accurately. What he actually said was that he was the “first droplet of the flood,” not blood. But I know how easy it is to mishear things when scary Muslims are talking. And I guess it’s not a huge difference anyway.

What really matters is that you’re 100% right: We shouldn’t let political correctness stop us from paying close attention to what people like Shahzad say. The problem is you just haven’t taken it far enough.

Juan Williams

So Juan, I’m asking you to join me on a crusade — whoops! scratch that, let’s call it a “mission” — to publicize these statements by Faisal Shahzad as widely as possible. Because most of the media have not spent much time on what he had to say.

Here’s what he said at his recent sentencing (after talking about being a droplet in a flood):

“[Saladin] liberated Muslim lands … And that’s what we Muslims are trying do, because you’re occupying Iraq and Afghanistan…So, the past nine years the war with Muslims has achieved nothing for the U.S., except for it has waken up the Muslims for Islam. We are only Muslims trying to defend our people, honor, and land. But if you call us terrorists for doing that, then we are proud terrorists, and we will keep on terrorizing until you leave our land and people at peace.”

And this is what Shahzad said when he pled guilty back in June:

“I want to plead guilty, and I’m going to plead guilty 100 times over, because until the hour the U.S. pulls its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, and stops the drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen and in Pakistan, and stops the occupation of Muslim lands, and stops killing the Muslims, and stops reporting the Muslims to its government, we will be attacking U.S., and I plead guilty to that.”

Then there’s email that Shahzad sent to a friend in 2006:

“Everyone knows the current situation of Muslim World… Friends with peaceful protest! Can you tell me a way to save the oppressed? And a way to fight back when rockets are fired at us and Muslim blood flows? In Palestine, Afghan, Iraq, Chechnya and else where.”

And then there’s what Shahzad was telling friends and relatives even before that:

Mr. Shahzad had long been critical of American foreign policy. “He was always very upset about the fabrication of the W.M.D. stunt to attack Iraq and killing non-combatants such as the sons and grandson of Saddam Hussein,” said a close relative. In 2003, Mr. Shahzad had been copied on a Google Groups e-mail message bearing photographs of Guantánamo Bay detainees, handcuffed and crouching, below the words “Shame on you, Bush. Shame on You.”

So what do you say, Juan? Now that you have a new $2 million contract with Fox, let me come on with you for some in-depth discussions about the terrorists’ real motivations. We can’t let another day go by letting the PC brigade stop us from telling the truth: Terrorists aren’t trying to kill us because they hate our freedom. They’re killing us because we’re in their countries killing them.

Yours,

Michael Moore

P.S. If you want to understand suicide bombings, be sure to read the new book that studied every instance of it for the past 30 years. It’s been used by many groups of many religions, not just Arabs and not just Muslims. And almost all such terrorism has one motivation in common: occupation by foreign militaries.

P.P.S. Here’s something else that I’d sincerely love to talk about with you: what do you think when you see rich middle-aged white men talking on TV about how they get nervous around African Americans on the street? And then they explain that we can’t let political correctness stop us from talking about black-on-white crime?

Does it drive you crazy that they say this without even being conscious of the history of far greater violence by white people toward blacks? And do you maybe understand now how those middle-aged white guys get it so wrong?

UPDATE: Juan, you probably remember in 1986 when the Washington Post Magazine ran a Richard Cohen column defending jewelry store owners who wouldn’t buzz in young black men. It caused such a big controversy that the New Republic ran a bunch of responses to it, including one by you. You might find it interesting to go back and read what you wrote then — for instance, “Racism is a lazy man’s substitute for using good judgment … Common sense becomes racism when skin color becomes a formula for figuring out who is a danger to me.”

Follow Michael Moore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MMFlint

original article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/juan-williams-is-right-po_b_772766.html

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Comments

  1. Michael Moore! I have finally lost all respect for you. As far as I am concerned, you have sold your soul and any integrity that you had along with it. You are what’s wrong with America.

  2. Mr. Moore makes a lot of sense to me. What’s your beef?

  3. @Ryan When people are faced with the truth they don’t know how to respond. They spout general blanket statements such as what John has said without any specifics as to what they found so offensive about Micheal Moore’s argument. That takes actual thoughtfulness and reasoning which is in short supply in this country at the moment.

  4. The surprised one says

    Mr Moore says:
    “Terrorists aren’t trying to kill us because they hate our freedom. They’re killing us because we’re in their countries killing them.”

    What is wrong with this statement is that on 9/11, the terrorists killed over 3000 American civilians in NYC … that 9/11 in 2001 … way beforen the Afganistan and Iraqi wars.

    The terrorist hate US and the west because they hate our culture of freedom and because they see our culture as a threat to them, to their conservative culture, and to their domination. This has nothing to do with any war that US waged on them. They would be hating us, no matter how many wars we wage on them.

    Wake up, Mr. Moore!!!

  5. Has a few good points. Juan is insane for joining the xenophobic “news” organization called FOX.

  6. @surprised I wasn’t aware that our involvement in Eurasia began primarily AFTER 9/11. It’s convenient when our action is simply a response to theirs and not the other way around. That basically absolves us of any wrongdoing.

  7. @thesurprisedone

    bin laden’s primary concern pre-september 11th was getting rid of the american military presence in saudi arabia, his homeland and a place he saw as sacred to islam (and thus no place for a non-muslim military presence). imagine, conversely, the saudis opening up a military base on u.s. soil. that won’t ever happen, which is a bit hypocritical, suggesting that it is fine for us to have military bases on our allies’ soil, but not so fine for them to extend the same “courtesy” to us. this is the kind of behavior that is generally referred to as imperialism. and it’s the kind of foreign occupation that has led scores of individuals (of various religious and ethnic backgrounds) to engage in acts of terrorism or, in the case of colonial Americans, asymmetrical warfare, e.g. guerilla warfare. a good way to avoid being attacked by terrorists is to avoid setting up military bases on their home soil. no surprise that the majority of attackers on september eleventh were (allegedly) of saudi origin.

  8. The West has been kicking ass in the middle east for a long time, with the blessings of the wealthy sheiks too. http://ow.ly/2YFiF

  9. The link that Oilman posted is quite informative and anyone wishing to understand more about our involvement in that region should definitely have a look. The US government has been, for a long time, basically a corporatocracy.

    Check out this reenactment of a historic speech by General Smedley Butler, who could have been the first American dictator in a fascist coup to overthrow FDR. What the corporations didn’t realize was that he was already fed up with being a gangster for capitalism, as evidenced by this speech:

  10. darkoverlord says

    Fuck Juan asskissing right wing niglet stooges .This bastard like all the other shit eating house niggers,got what he deserved. This dam fucker as been so far up white racist amerikkans ass that he forgot he was just another nigger even to his masters. I don’t feel shit about him. Moore hit it right on the head,this fool got what all leeches and asskissers get the boot!

  11. juan williams is just another silly negroe who didn´t realise he was disposable