Reason.tv - Topics

Are Drone Strikes and Kill Lists The New Normal?

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Disturbed by extra-constitutional U.S. drone strikes in countries such as Yemen and Pakistan? Presidential "kill lists" of suspected terrorists and security threats raise endless ethical and constitutional concerns?

A decade-plus after the 9/11 attacks and the launching of a vaguely defined and expansive global "war on terror", Americans are grappling with appalling revelations that the president claims the right, without any sort of judicial or legislative review or approval, to assassinate individuals (even American citizens) and groups he believes are national security threats.

Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with Eli Lake, the senior national security correspondent for The Daily Beast/Newsweek (and an occasional Reason contributor) and discusses the effects of technological developments and power grabs by both President George W. Bush and Barack Obama on military action.

Lake believes that a tentative consensus has formed around the use of drone strikes and targeted killings. "I think there's a much better chance, if libertarians are worried about it," he says, "of introducing some sort of oversight...and some degree of transparency in that process than it is to say we can't do it."

About 6 minutes. Produced by Joshua Swain, with camera by Meredith Bragg, Jim Epstein, and Swain.

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Remy: Grandma Got Indefinitely Detained (A Very TSA Christmas)

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EST

In seasons past, Grandma only had to worry about getting run over by a reindeer. With "Grandma Got Run Over by TSA," web sensation Remy gets us in the holiday mood with a song about Christmas, Homeland Security, and the joys of civil rights abuses.

"Grandma Got Run Over by TSA" is one of a series of collaborations between Remy and Reason.tv. To watch Remy's other videos, go here.

Approximately 2:25 minutes. Music by Remy. Video shot and produced by Meredith Bragg.

Scroll down for downloadable versions of this video as well as an mp3 of the song. Subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to get automatic notification when new material goes live.

Lyrics:

Grandma got indefinitely detained now
coming home to visit Christmas Eve
You could say she had a right to counsel
but some folks in the Congress disagree

she was flying home to our house
when she got checked by TSA
thought she might be Abdulmutallab
when they looked at her X-ray

Her hair had recently been colored
she paid cash for her Christmas gifts
two things apparently the Congress
says just might make you a terrorist

Grandma got indefinitely detained now
coming home to visit Christmas Eve
you could claim there's no right to due process
but check the 5th amendment and you'll see

they say they need to have these powers
to help protect this free country
but if it takes these steps to do so
what is it we are protecting?

Now she's an enemy combatant
as if that makes any sense
the only thing that she's combating
is her unpredictable incontinence

Grandma got indefinitely detained now
trying to come visit Christmas Eve
they took her rights in order to...protect rights..
the most genius plan ever in history

Grandma got indefinitely detained now
never made it home on Christmas day
she always wanted to live in Miami
at least now she's 90 miles away

"Shut Up. You Don't Get a Lawyer!": The Defense Authorization Act Guts Civil Liberties

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

"It is not unfair to make an American citizen account for the fact that they decided to help Al Qaeda to kill us all and hold them as long as it takes to find intelligence about what may be coming next," says Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) in support of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). "And when they say, ‘I want my lawyer,’ you tell them, ‘Shut up. You don’t get a lawyer.'"

No recent piece of legislation has been more controversial than the NDAA, which passed the Senate last week and includes provisions that apparently grant the president unlimited power to detain American citizens arrested in connection to terrorism. The House approved its version of the NDAA earlier this year, so the legislature must hammer out differences and present a final version to President Barack Obama. For his part, Obama has threatened to veto the legislation not because it tramples on civil liberties but because it subject executive actions to congressional oversight.

Earlier this fall, Reason's Matt Welch talked to Laura Pitter, counterterrorism adviser for Human Rights Watch. "The terms in the bill are so vague that it can really be applied to anyone the U.S. deems is an enemy,” says Pitter, who underscores that federal courts are far more effective and efficient when it comes to prosecuting terrorism-related cases. Since the 9/11 attacks, she notes, federal criminal courts have resolved over 400 terrorism-related cases while military commissions have prosecuted just six cases.

Approximately 5 minutes.

Camera by Meredith Bragg and Joshua Swain; produced by Swain.

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Unchecked Power: Damon Root Talks Eminent Domain Abuse and Undeclared Wars on Freedom Watch

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

Reason Associate Editor Damon Root appeared on Freedom Watch With Judge Napolitano to discuss the most recent abuse of eminent domain that cost a US citizen her home, and whether executive power remains unchecked when the word "terrorism" comes into play.

Air Date: November 24, 2011.

Approximately 13 minutes.

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Why We Should Fear Bathtubs More Than Terrorists: Authors John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart on Security Spending

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

The federal government has spent over $80 billion on aviation security in the past 10 years. Yet "your chance of dying in a bathtub is about one in a million, and from terrorism is about one in 3.5 million," says Ohio State political scientist John Mueller.

Mueller and his co-author Mark G. Stewart argue in their new book, "Terror, Security, and Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of Homeland Security ," that cost-benefit analysis needs to be applied to security expenditures. The authors calculate for current spending levels to be cost-effective, the U.S. government would "have to prevent four Time Square-type attacks every single day." So why are we spending so much for so little added safety?

Mueller and Stewart sat down with Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie to discuss the overestimating of risk from terrorism and zero-cost solutions to prevent another 9/11 attack.

Mueller is Woody Hayes chair of national security studies at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State; he's also a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Mark G. Stewart is director of the Center for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability at the University of Newcastle in Australia.

About 7 minutes.

Shot by Jim Epstein and Joshua Swain, and edited by Meredith Bragg.

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Shikha Dalmia Discusses Post-9/11 Foreign Policy with RT

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason senior policy analyst Shikha Dalmia appeared on RT to discuss how the War on Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan have cornered the U.S. into becoming the world police leaving America with few opportunities and double standards on Syria and Libya. Airdate: September 11, 2011.

About 5 minutes.

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9/11, The World Trade Center, & New York's Next Skyline

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:00:00 EDT

On September 11, I’ll be thinking less about the World Trade Center and more about my father and the relentless – probably unique – ability of New York City to bury its dead and move on without a backward glance.

My father was born in Manhattan in 1923, in a tenement building off Columbus Circle. A few years later, he moved to Brooklyn, a borough that was considered the country back then, a place that had more horses than cars. By the time he left there for good in 1966, it wasn’t the country anymore, that’s for sure.

He worked for Sea-Land, a shipping company that was one of the World Trade Center’s original tenants, and one of my very earliest memories is of my older brother and me playing in the company’s unfinished offices in one of the towers before the complex opened to the public in 1973.

Like many, probably most, New Yorkers, my father hated the Twin Towers at first, preferring the Chrysler and Empire State buildings, which had gone up during his childhood.

He’d seen King Kong when it came out in 1933, he explained, and he just couldn’t see the big ape climbing the towers. By the late ‘70s - after Philippe Petit tightrope walked across them, George Willig scaled them, Owen Quinn parachuted from them, and King Kong himself had been shot off them in a 1976 remake - he’d come around.

On a trip to Manhattan around then, he asked me if I wanted to see where he’d been born. He hadn’t been to the old neighborhood since before the war and was feeling nostalgic. We walked toward the Circle only to realize that not only the building he’d been born in was gone, but the entire street - paved over sometime in the ‘50s or ‘60s in the rush to build Lincoln Center, a place he’d never think of entering.

As the realization sunk in, he shrugged, turned to me, and said, “Well, do you wanna go see a movie instead?”

There’s nothing that will lessen the horror of 9/11 or do justice to the murdered souls interred forever at Ground Zero. But in a strange and beautiful and terrible way, New York – and America – will honor them most by pausing only briefly to pay our respects.

Written by Nick Gillespie and produced by Meredith Bragg.

Gillespie is the editor in chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com, and the co-author with Matt Welch of The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America. Bragg is a producer for Reason.tv and a 2010 finalist for a digital National Magazine Award for best video.

About 2 minutes. For downloadable versions of this video, links, and other supporting materials, go to Reason.tv.

For more Reason articles and commentary on the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, go here.

Matt Welch Debates Ann Coulter on the Iraq War, TSA, and using Torture with Stossel

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason editor in chief Matt Welch debated Ann Coulter on a special Stossel episode dedicated to how the government has responded to 9/11. Welch debated Coulter on how secure America is after invading Iraq, creating the TSA, and implementing torture for information gathering. Air Date: September 8, 2011

About 10 minutes.

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Reason-Rupe Poll: Do Americans Feel Safer After 9/11, TSA, and Foreign Wars?

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks arrives, do Americans feel safer after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq?

According to the new Reason-Rupe poll of 1,200 U.S. adults, “62 percent say we have less personal freedom today” but “81 percent have faith that the security measures implemented” has made America safer from terrorist attacks. Reason’s Katherine Mangu-Ward talks with Emily Ekins, Reason’s polling director, to find out what post-9/11 America thinks about today’s national security, personal freedoms, and the Iraq War.

This Reason-Rupe poll surveyed a random, national sample of 1,200 adults by telephone (790 on landlines, 410 on cell phones) over August 9-18, 2011. The overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The full Reason-Rupe survey is online here and ongoing analysis is online here.

This Reason Foundation project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation.

Shot by Anthony Fisher and Joshua Swain; edited by Swain. About 4 minutes.

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Damon Root Discusses Government Intervention in the Housing Market and Libya on Freedom Watch

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Associate Editor Damon Root appeared on Freedom Watch With Judge Napolitano to discuss how government intervention in the housing market is making for a difficult recovery and whether the military intervention in Libya is unconstitutional.

Air Date: June 16, 2011.

Approximately 7.24 minutes.

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Remy: Do The TSA Pokey Pokey

Fri, 20 May 2011 09:00:00 EDT

The Transportation Security Administration - with a little help from Reason.tv and international web sensation Remy - have produced an instructional video outlining proper airport screening measures.

"Do the TSA Pokey Pokey" is the second of a series of collaborations between Remy and Reason.tv.

Music written and performed by Remy. Video produced by Meredith Bragg.   About two minutes.

Scroll down for downloadable versions of the video and mp3 and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Check out our previous collaboration: "Why They Fought "

To watch Remy's other videos, go to here   

For Reason's coverage of the TSA, go to here

"Do the TSA Pokey Pokey"

You put your shoes in this
you put your bag in that
you put your personal items
in a tiny plastic bag
I do the pokey pokey
and I touch you all around
That's what it's all about!

Hi, I'm from the TSA. The only government agency that can check the status of both your flight and suppository. Not familiar with TSA security regulations? Well come on!

You put your arms like this
you spread your legs like that
we send the pictures back
and maybe to the internet
I do the pokey pokey
and I touch you all around
That's what it's all about!

and while we check out pictures of your naked body, we're also checking out the contents of your bag. Hmm, looks like somebody's about to wage a jihad--against plaque!

Please put your shoes in this
Please go take off your shoes
it seems we can't communicate
with anything that's wearing shoes
I do the pokey pokey
and I touch you all around
That's what it's all about!

And if you're not comfortable with the government taking naked pictures of your body, no problem. Here's how you opt out!

You put your rights in that
your dignity in this
we pat you up and down
cuz you don't want the naked pics
I do the pokey pokey
and I touch you all around
That's what it's all about!

And here at TSA we're always employing the latest in terrorist profiling procedures. Like these!
we touch your you kid like that

We grope your kid like this
we touch them up and down
cuz they might be terrorists
I do the pokey pokey
and I touch you all around
That's what it's all about!

You're welcome America!

Jacob Sullum Discusses the Targeted Killing of Bin Laden on The Alyona Show

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum recently appeared on Russia Today's Alyona Show to discuss the targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden. Sullum explains the legality of the assassination and whether the American government crossed a line. Air date: May 4, 2010.

Approximately 8 minutes.

Bollywood vs. Bin Laden: Why radical Islam fears pop culture

Mon, 02 May 2011 18:00:00 EDT

Even before Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. soldiers, his brand of anti-modern, anti-pleasure Islam was under attack by Bollywood, India's pop culture juggernaut that boasts a global audience of 3 billion people.

As Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia explains, Bollywood movies and videos appeal to young men and women in Muslim and Arab countries because they dramatize the sorts of tensions between traditional and modern ways of living. "Who should decide who one should marry - is it the parents or is it the boy and girls themselves?" asks the Indian-born and raised Dalmia. "In the West, in Hollywood movies, it's not even an issue. But it's a huge issue in that part of the world and all of Bollywood movies deal with that one central question."

Dalmia also notes that Muslims are among the most popular - and sexually suggestive - performers in Bollywood productions. "When you have Muslims succeeding in Bollywood as Muslims, it makes them feel, well, we don't have to give up our religion in order to be modern," observes Dalmia. "That's very, very subversive...of Islamic demands and Islamic extremism....If you can have a good time in this world...and still be religious, why do you have to strap suicide bombs to your chest and blow yourself up?"

Approximately 4,30 minutes. Produced and edited by Hawk Jensen; camera by Paul Detrick.

Go to Reason.tv for downloadable versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel for automatic notifications when new material goes live.

For further reading, check out Dalmia's article "Bollywood vs. Bin Laden" and "Look Who's Rocking the Casbah: The revolutionary implications of Arab music videos" and "In Praise of Vulgarity: How commercial culture liberates Islam - and the West," both by Charles Paul Freund.

Matt Welch Discusses Obama's Libya Speech on America's Nightly Scoreboard

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EDT

On Monday, March 28, 2011, just after President Barack Obama addressed the nation about U.S. military intervention in Libya, Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch appeared on Fox Business Network's America's Nightly Scoreboard to discuss the speech and assess Washington's current doctrine for using lethal force.

Approximately 3 minutes

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Shikha Dalmia Discusses the Overrated Threat of Al Qaeda on Freedom Watch

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST

Senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation Shikha Dalmia appeared on Jude Napolitano's Freedom Watch to discuss whether the threat of Al Qaeda is has real as the architects for the War on Terror say they are. Air Date: February 16, 2011.

Approximately 5 minutes.

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Nick Gillespie Debates Security versus Freedom on RT's The Alyona Show

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST

Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie debates American Center for Law and Justice's Jordan Sekulow if public security takes precedence over personal freedom in an age of terrorist attacks on Russia Today's The Alyona Show . Airdate January 24, 2010.

Approximately 9.10 minutes.

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Matt Welch Responds to Obama's Speech on the Tucson Shooting on RT's The Alyona Show

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST

Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch appeared on Russia Today's The Alyona Show to discuss Obama's unifying address to the nation after the Tuscon shooting and his avoidance in blaming "heated rhetoric." Airdate January 13, 2010.

Approximately 7.29 minutes.

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5 Rules for Coping with Tragedy

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST

Tragedies like the mass shooting in Tucson at a public event organized by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) are horrifying enough on their own, but they also have a way of bringing out the worst in reporters and politicians.

In fact, knee-jerk reactions often leave us with misconceptions and bad policies that stick around long after the healing has begun.

And so Reason.tv presents: 5 Rules for Coping with Tragedy

Approximately 2.45 seconds

Produced by Ted Balaker; written by Balaker and Nick Gillespie.

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Robert Poole Discusses Privatizing Airport Security on CNBC Power Lunch

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 EST

Reason Foundation's Director of Transportation Policy Robert Poole appears on CNBC's Power Lunch to defend a "trusted-traveler" program that would allow customers to opt-out of TSA screenings without sacrificing airline safety. Airdate: 11/12/2010.

Approximately 6.46 minutes.

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TSA "My Ding-a-Ling" Sing-Along

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST

Come on, everybody! Sing along with The Transportation Security Administration while you're waiting in security lines this holiday season!

Approximately 60 seconds. Produced by Hawk Jensen from an idea by Nick Gillespie.

Slide show courtesy of the Denver Post; music courtesy of here.

44 Ways to Say "TSA" ... What do those initials really stand for?

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST

Giving the TSA the respect it deserves.

Warning: Immature Subject Matter. Viewer discretion is advised

Approximately 75 seconds

"44 Ways to Say 'TSA'" is produced by Ted Balaker, edited by Austin Bragg, and written by Balaker, Bragg, Hawk Jensen, Alex Manning, Jacob Sullum, and Zach Weissmueller.

Related videos:

Con Air 2010 (TSA Remix) This holiday season, we're all convicts

Coming to an Airport Near You: Prison-style strip searches?

We're the TSA and You Can Count on Us! (to overreact to tiny threats and ignore big ones)

Visit reason.tv to download HD, iPod, and audio versions of this and all our videos, and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new content is posted.

Con Air 2010 (TSA Remix) ... This holiday season, we're all convicts

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST

Cameron Poe is back, and he's getting an enhanced pat down (just like you).

This holiday travel season, we're all convicts.

Approximately 30 seconds.

"Con Air 2010 (TSA Remix)" is written and produced by Ted Balaker.

Related video: Coming Soon to an Airport Near You: Prison-style strip searches?

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Coming Soon to an Airport Near You ... Prison-style strip searches?

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST

You've heard about the passenger who opted out of a full-body scan (a.k.a. "a virtual strip search") and was subjected to an intrusive and humiliating pat down. "If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested," passenger John Tyner told Transportation Security Administration workers in San Diego.

Well, rest easy, John—and other passengers offended by both full-body scans and hands-on searches.

TSA won't touch your junk—or your breasts or buttocks. If they begin to strip search passengers as if they're prison inmates, they'll do just what correctional officers do: They'll make you do all the nasty work.

What follows is an excerpt from a training video for prison guards on how to make sure that inmates aren't hiding contraband.

The video makes for extremely uncomfortable watching and viewer discretion—and outrage—is advised. After all, this may well be the next step in how the TSA, one of the least effective and efficient government agencies of all time, goes about its daily business.

Approximately 2.43 minutes.

Written and produced by Ted Balaker and Nick Gillespie.

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The Rise of America's Surveillance State: Q&A with "Watchers" author Shane Harris

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:00:00 EDT

In his new book The Watchers: The Rise of the America's Surveillance State , Washington, D.C., reporter Shane Harris chronicles 25 years of the intelligence community's efforts to "connect the dots" on terrorist threats in the United States.

Harris explains why we should have caught the Christmas Day bomber, how one promising electronic surveillance system was wiped out due to privacy concerns, and what it's like to be a spy in the age of Google.

In his day job, Harris covers electronic surveillance, intelligence, and counterterrorism for National Journal.

Reason Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward interviewed Harris in February 2010. Shot by Dan Hayes and Meredith Bragg; edited by Bragg.

Approx. 10 minutes. Scroll down for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel for automatic notifications when new material goes live.

T. Markus Funk on The International Criminal Court

Tue, 04 May 2010 15:00:00 EDT

T. Markus Funk is a former Oxford law professor who has worked for the U.S. Departments of Justice and State and the author of the new book Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court (he was also a Reason contributor in the 1990s).

Drawing on his experiences as a legal observer in Kosovo, Funk has written a book that provides insight and criticism of the way the International Criminal Court has functioned and, more importantly, should function. His book, writes Enver Hasani of the Kosovo Constitutional Court, "is a perfectly candid, and at times quite disheartening, assessment of the ICC's shortcomings, while also acknowledging its strengths. Providing a roadmap to reform and the establishment of a more 'professionalized' Court, Mr. Funk's book succeeds entirely in its bold effort to marry the theory of victims' rights with the practice of victim representation."

Approximately 10 minutes. Shot by Meredith Bragg and Dan Hayes, who also edited the piece.

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Judge Jim Gray on The Six Groups Who Benefit From Drug Prohibition

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST

In 1992, Jim Gray, a conservative judge in conservative Orange County, California, held a press conference during which he recommended that we rethink our drug laws. Back then, it took a great deal of courage to suggest that the war on drugs was a failed policy.

Today, more and more Americans are coming to the realization that prohibition's costs—whether measured in lives and liberties lost or dollars wasted—far exceed any possible or claimed benefits. Reason.tv's Paul Feine interviewed Gray about drug policy and the prospects for reform. The interview was shot by Alex Manning and edited by Hawk Jensen.

Judge Jim Gray is the author of Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs.

Approximately 8.30 minutes.

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And come back to Reason.tv March 15 through March 19 for the debut of Reason Saves Cleveland With Drew Carey: How to fix the "Mistake on The Lake" and other once-great American cities, an original six-part documentary series.

We're the TSA and You Can Count on Us! (to overreact to tiny threats and ignore big ones)

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST

We're the Transportation Security Administration. We're working hard to make sure you enjoy a safe flight. And while we cannot apprehend every terrorist, you can count on us to do what we're trained to do whenever there's a security breach--overreact to tiny threats.

Overreact to tiny threats; ignore the big ones. That's what we do, and we do it better than anyone.

Written and produced by Ted Balaker.

Approximately one minute.

Barack W. Bush?

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Amongst liberals, libertarians, and even some conservatives, there has considerable "hope" that a Barack Obama presidency would radically transform Bush administration policies regarding the "war on terror." And, on certain issues, the new administration has delivered a measured amount of "change." But were Obama's executive orders banning torture and closing down the prison at Guantanamo Bay, signed on his first two days in office, just a head fake? Were they designed to placate a certain segment of his base, while actually continuing—or even expanding—many of Bush administration terrorism policies?

Podcast here.

Napolitano at Reason in DC

dan.hayes@reason.org (Dan Hayes) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:00:00 EST

Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano is among the fiercest defenders of individual rights. Both in his daily appearances on the country's most-watched cable news network and in a series of books (most recently, A Nation of Sheep), Napolitano consistently and defiantly argues that the only legitimate government is that which respects its citizens rights in all cases.

In late October, Napolitano gave the keynote address at the conference Reason in DC, where he delivered a spellbinding speech that blended a masterful understanding of American history with a blazing outrage at the excesses of the new security state. "Who [is] the greatest violator of the Constitution?" asks Napolitano. "George W. Bush has shown less fidelity to the Constitution than any president since Abraham Lincoln."

Click above to view the Judge's speech (approx. 40 minutes).

"Where's the bra bomber at?"

ted.balaker@reason.tv (Ted Balaker) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:20:00 EST

Recently, I shot some of Alonzo "Last Comic Standing" Bodden's set in which he gripes about holiday travel and the TSA's 25% "success" rate at LAX.

Thanks to Alonzo for letting me bring it to you travel-weary folk; Check out his site here.

Submission

paul.feine@reason.tv (Paul Feine) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:44:00 EDT

On November 2, 2004, Mohammed Bouyeri shot and stabbed to death the filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a descendent of Vincent van Gogh's brother.

Pinned to van Gogh's chest with a knife was a five-page letter addressed to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born member of the Dutch Parliament who had foresworn Islam years before. In the letter, which quoted the Koran extensively, Bouyeri wrote:

“I know definitely that you, O America, will go down. I know definitely that you, O Europe, will go down. I know definitely that you, O Netherlands, will go down. I know that you, O Hirsi Ali, will go down.”

Earlier that year, Hirsi Ali and van Gogh had collaborated to produce a film called SUBMISSION about the mistreatment of women in Islamic cultures.

Now a resident of the US, Hirsi Ali continues to be an outspoken critic of Islamic cultural oppression. Her autobiographical book INFIDEL tells the story of how a young Somali woman subjected to genital mutilation and educated by radical imams found and embraced freedom in the West.

Rogier van Bakel interviewed Hirsi Ali for the November 2007 issue of reason magazine; you can read the interview here.