[Peace] [Sdas] FW: [Fwd: Article from The Nation

[parenti susan rose]

 Though I should post this properly to the PEACE-DISCUSS list, it does
suggest an action that some of us could take.

WHOOPEE!!
Susan
=====================================
Special Report

 Tattletales for an Open Society
by Martin J. Sherwin



An Open Letter to Dr. Lynn Cheney and Senator Joseph Lieberman


This appeared as an advertisement in the January 21, 2002 issue of The
Nation.


Dear Dr. Cheney and Senator Lieberman:

On November 11, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), an
organization you co-founded in 1995, issued a report that listed the
names of academics along with 117 statements they made, in public forums
or in classes, that questioned aspects of the Administration's war on
terrorism. Concluding that "College and university faculty have been the
weak link in America's response to the attack," the report asked alumni
to bring their (presumed) displeasure about these views to the attention
of university administrations. While ACTA's report does not have the
cachet of President Nixon's "Enemies List," nor the intimidating force
(yet?) of Senator Joseph McCarthy's too-numerous-to-list lists, as an
American historian I am naturally interested in this project, and I have
decided to offer your organization my full cooperation.

Therefore, as an example to my colleagues, I am stepping forward to name
a name, my own--Martin J. Sherwin, the Walter S. Dickson Professor of
English and American History at Tufts University in Medford,
Massachusetts--and to tattle on myself. On December 3, 2001, I remarked
to a class at Tufts University studying World War II that there was an
ominous resemblance between the sense of panic in 1942 that produced
Executive Order 9066, permitting the internment of American citizens of
Japanese ancestry, and the post-9/11 atmosphere that supported the
Justice Department's arrest of hundreds of Muslims.

Later, on December 6, after hearing Attorney General John Ashcroft
assert before the Senate Judiciary Committee that civil-liberties
critics "aid terrorists...erode our national unity and diminish our
resolve," I told my class that Mr. Ashcroft had bolstered my resolve to
diminish his effort to remake our public discourse in the image of
Pinochet's Chile--even if senators who were equally shocked, were too
cowed at that moment to challenge such an un-American attitude.
Surrendering the liberties that define the unique character of our
nation will not help us to win the war on terrorism, I noted; on the
contrary, it will only erode the constitutional foundation upon which
the political strength of our nation rests. The AG's defense of military
commissions (secret trials) in the United States in 2002--even to try
suspected terrorists--is an affront to those who fought and died to
protect our freedoms in World War II. I recommended that students read
Robert Sherrill's book, Milit!
ary Justice Is to Justice As Military Music Is to Music.

Finally, Dr. Cheney and Senator Lieberman, I implore you as the Founding
Mother and Father of ACTA to exert your influence to assure that in the
next report Martin J. Sherwin is correctly spelled. Having been too
young to be of interest to Senator Joseph McCarthy, and having been
embarrassed by my absence from President Nixon's "Enemies List," ACTA's
list may be my last opportunity to publicly document my deep love for my
country. When my grandchild asks, "What did you do during the 'War on
Terrorism,' grandpa?" I will say, "Harry, I spoke out in order to
preserve for you and your friends the best things about America. You can
read what I said in the ACTA report of..." (date as yet unspecified).

In closing, I call on my colleagues to put political bias aside and
assist the organization that Dr. Cheney and Senator Lieberman created;
after all, they are one of us: She is a PhD and he claims to be a
liberal. You can now tattle on yourself in great company. The Nation
will post appropriate critical remarks on a new section of its website:
"Tattletales for an Open Society" (TAOS). If you are genuinely uncertain
whether a specific remark actually crossed the threshold of acceptable
criticism, err on the side of caution: Submit the remark to The Nation's
tattletale page and give ACTA a chance to determine whether you should
be published. Send your submissions to tattletales at thenation.com.

MARTIN J. SHERWIN

P.S. Kai Bird and I are writing a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer,
whose secret security hearing in 1954 is instructive in these matters.


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