Shooting Ourselves in the Foot

Apparently some earnest young man in the US House of Representatives is trying to protect us from bad reporting from the Arab world.

We are looking at H.R.2278
Title:  To direct the President to transmit to Congress a report on anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East, and for other purposes.
The Sponsor is Rep Bilirakis, Gus M. [FL-9], and he introduced the bill on 6 May of this year.

To quote from the bill:

It shall be the policy of the United States to--
(1) designate as Specially Designated Global Terrorists satellite providers that knowingly and willingly contract with entities designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224, to broadcast their channels, or to consider implementing other punitive measures against satellite providers that transmit al-Aqsa TV, al-Manar TV, al-Rafidayn TV, or any other terrorist owned and operated station;
(2) consider state-sponsorship of anti-American incitement to violence when determining the level of assistance to, and frequency and nature of relations with, regional states; and
(3) urge all governments and private investors who own shares in satellite companies or otherwise influence decisions about satellite transmissions to oppose transmissions of telecasts by al-Aqsa TV, al-Manar TV, al-Rafidayn TV, or any other Specially Designated Global Terrorist owned and operated stations that openly incite their audiences to commit acts of terrorism or violence against the United States and its citizens.

Instead of trying to harass and shut down Arab broadcasts transmitted over satellites, we should be working to encourage greater freedom of expression.  Remember, it isn't that al Jazeera is often wrong or slanted, but that al Jazeera is doing a better job than a lot of state run media.  We need to be building on success.  And, of course, we need USIA back!

The approach in this bill is going in exactly the wrong direction.

Heaven protect us from Washington and its efforts to protect us.

I hope our Representative, Niki Tsongas, is going to vote NO on this puppy, if it ever emerges, and encourage others to do the same.

Regards  —  Cliff