Islamic Terminology Banned From Times Square Bomber Investigation?

PJTV's CEO Roger L. Simon calls for federal agents to be unshackled from political censorship

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., May 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PJTV's CEO Roger L. Simon today called for federal agents investigating the Times Square bomber to be unshackled from the ties of censorship in an exclusive PJTV video.  During recent months, PJTV has conducted in-depth investigations into document sanitization, finding evidence of censorship in the Fort Hood report and the FBI's Counter Terrorism Analytical Lexicon, among others.

"The public needs to know if our national security professionals are constrained in their use of Islamic terminology in their written and verbal communications," commented Simon.  "This is a matter of national security for all Americans, but given the history of 9/11 and this recent incident, New Yorkers, in particular, deserve uncensored documents and unrestricted analysis in this investigation."

Although the bipartisan 9/11 Commission report contained 600 occurrences of Islam, Muslim, Sharia, Jihad, Hamas, and Hezbollah, subsequent documents (such as the FBI's Counter Terrorism Analytical Lexicon) eliminated the terms from the documents completely, as further explained in an April 2010 PJTV investigative report.  

In response to these recent events, Simon formally requested a congressional hearing on the censorship of Islamic terminology in the U.S. government.  More specifically, he requested the investigative hearing focus on four key topics:

1. To what degree are government documents and reports (perhaps both public and classified documents) being sanitized regarding Islamic terminology?
2. To what degree is there a program or practice of verbal censorship? What are government employees allowed to say in their internal meetings?  And are there internal policies or what the media might call "style guides" that prevent department secretaries, their staff and even the White House press spokesperson from using specific Islamic terminology?
3. Who are the people or organizations inside the government that are pushing for this censorship?
4. What people or groups outside the U.S. government may have been advocating this censorship?

"America has never been the land of censorship," added Simon.  "Certainly, Vice President Biden and Rahm Emanuel have refused to censor their language in the public sphere. Yet, it is quite possible that public liaisons such as Robert Gibbs, Eric Holder, Robert Mueller, and Janet Napolitano have established policies that constrain the use of certain descriptive terms in national security documents and speeches.  If this is so, we need to know.  As such, I sincerely request a congressional hearing investigating this important subject."

About Pajamas Media and PJTV

Pajamasmedia.com, a division of Pajamas Media, receives more than 16 million page views per month.  Launched in 2005, it provides commentary and analysis in text, video and podcast form created by correspondents in more than 40 countries.  Its blogs cover politics, government, culture, the economy and finance, national security, the Middle East, media, and education, as well as breaking news and current events. 

PJTV, a division of Pajamas Media, is the first center-right online television network, providing commentary and analysis via video over the Internet.  PJTV's video segments cover politics, government, culture, the economy and finance, national security, the Middle East, media, and education. PJTV's main studio is located in El Segundo, CA, with remote studio locations in midtown Manhattan in New York City, blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C., and web cam locations around the world.

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