July 15,
2011
Where
Rachel Maddow Dares Not Tread
By Daniel
C. Maguire
High-profile U.S. journalists often like to boast that they
are free to cover whatever they want, but that is often because
they choose not to cross certain lines that would otherwise upset
powerful people or interests. Marquette professor Daniel C. Maguire
points out areas that even MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow avoids.
On
your show of July 14, you spoke of your complete freedom to say
what you want on your show and Bill Moyers gently demurred, speaking
of restricting forces that hover over journalists.
Bill Moyers was correct. I cannot believe you don’t care
but you are not free to address the political influence of the
Israeli lobby (which is far broader than AIPAC) on your show.
You are not free to invite John Mearsheimer or Stephen Walt, authors
of THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY. You are not free
to talk of how their first article that preceded this book could
not be published by The Atlantic even after they commissioned
it. They had to go to England to get it published. AIPAC’s
announced goal is to have “no daylight” between Israel’s
needs and U..S. policy. You cannot address their ongoing success.
You are not free to invite Hedy Epstein a holocaust survivor who
was on the Gaza flotilla on The Audacity of Hope to hear her side
of the Israeli illegal occupation and continuing expansion in
Palestine and in Jerusalem. You re not free to invite Ray McGovern,
former CIA policy analysis who used to report in person to the
Bush Sr. White House, who was also on that ship. Nor could you
invite the captain of The Audacity of Hope who was imprisoned
by Greece presumably at our and Israeli command. You can’t
go there.
You re not free to invite members of the family of Rachel Corrie
who was murdered by the Israelis driving a Caterpillar bulldozer
that was destroying water wells (!) and homes in Gaza. You are
not free to mention the book the Corrie family put out LET ME
STAND ALONE: THE JOURNALS OF RACHEL CORRIE or to invite members
of the Corrie family to discuss their ongoing search for justice.
I will copy Rachel’s cousin Elizabeth in on this e mail.
You are not free to invite some of the surviving member of the
USS Liberty whom I could make available to you to describe the
intentional attack on our spy which Israeli pilots had identified
as American and were ordered to attack anyhow. The date was June
8, 1967. Sailors on the deck had waved to Israeli planes flying
over them all morning. Then the naval and airforce attack struck
them in the afternoon. Israel, which was tripling its land size
in six days of war, wanted no witnesses to its takeover of territories
such as the Golan Heights until it was a fait accompli. You could
not invite James Scott author of THE ATTACK ON THE LIBERTY: THE
UNTOLD TORY OF ISRAEL’S DEADLY 1967 ASSAULT ON A U.S. SPY
SHIP. His father was on board. 34 American sailors were killed
and 171 wounded.
You could not invite Professor Geoffrey Wawro, author of the recent
comprehensive book QUICKSAND: AMERICA’S PURSUIT OF POWER
IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Much in that study is unmentionable elsewhere,
including on your show.
You cannot invite the Israeli Uri Avnery, former member of the
Knesset, who criticized the U.S. Congress for “jumping up
and down like yo-yos” as Netanyahu mocked Obama’s timid
efforts in the Middle East and lectured Obama as if he were a
school boy at what was to be a photo-op?
The congressional report on 9/11 cited Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s
statement that a principle motive behind the attack was our total
support of Israeli expansionism. We pay a great price for our
obedience to Israeli demands. You cannot go there.
Bill Moyers was right. There are limiting influences affecting
journalism and that also holds true for your otherwise outstanding
show, one my wife and I rarely miss.
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