Free Juan Williams

Media: Public broadcasting strikes a blow for censorship by firing a nationally known commentator for suggesting a connection between Islamofascism and terrorism. Sorry, there is one, and it makes us nervous too.

Perhaps we should now call NPR, public broadcasting's answer to Air America, National Politically Correct Radio, as the Weekly Standard's William Kristol has suggested. The firing of resident pundit Juan Williams demonstrates that free and open debate is not NPR's thing, despite its publicly funded mission statement that all voices should be heard.

Appearing on Fox's "O'Reilly Factor" Monday night, Williams did not disagree with host Bill O'Reilly's observation that the "cold truth is that in the world today, jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet." That is, in fact, the cold, hard truth.

Williams cited the words of the Times Square bomber: "The war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts."

Williams went on to tell O'Reilly that "when I get on the plane, I've got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

That may be fair or unfair, but it is human.

To be fair, Williams warned O'Reilly that a blanket condemnation of Muslims wouldn't be any more justified than blaming all Christians for the actions of Timothy McVeigh in blowing up a federal building in Oklahoma City.

This is something liberals do all the time. Watch out for those right-wing militias and those racist Tea Partyers, you know. NPR, interestingly enough, recently engaged in politically correct stereotyping by running a segment on how to speak "tea bagger."

NPR is among those who consider any association between Muslims and terrorism profiling. We count ourselves among those who consider it a description of the suspects. We will repeat: Not all Muslims are terrorists, but nearly all terrorists are Muslims.

It is less likely that a church deacon from the upper Midwest is about to fly the plane you're on into a building or blow it up than a young, Middle Eastern male fresh from summer camp in Yemen. For essentially saying the same thing, Juan Williams was fired.

It is political correctness that forces grandmothers and children through body scanners. It was political correctness that allowed Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to rise through the ranks undetected until the day he shot up Fort Hood shouting "Allahu akbar!" (God is great) despite numerous warning signs. It is what caused us to ignore a group of young Middle Eastern men attending flight school to learn how to fly, but not land, a 747.

In its announcement of Williams' termination, NPR made reference to the recent O'Reilly appearance on "The View," when co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg stormed off the set when he said, correctly, that the 9/11 terrorists were Muslims.

Hear no truth, see no truth, speak no truth.

Terrorists are counting on using our political correctness as a shield to hide behind. They try to bully and even prosecute those who dare to speak the truth, from columnist Mark Steyn to Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

Political correctness is getting Americans killed. And those who worry about our civil liberties being taken away while they sit silently as our freedom of speech is suppressed are hypocrites.