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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
10 most 'spiked' stories of 2001
WND's annual survey highlights year's major underreported events
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By David Kupelian
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
WorldNetDaily.com has compiled its annual list of the most "spiked" stories –
unreported or underreported major news events of the last year – after
polling its readers and editors.
While most news organizations present year-end retrospective replays of what
they consider to have been the top news stories of the previous 12 months,
WND's editors have always found it more newsworthy to publish a year-end
compilation of the important stories most ignored by the establishment press.
WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah has sponsored "Operation Spike" every year
since 1988, and since founding WorldNetDaily in May 1997 has continued the
annual tradition. For the past three years, WND has invited its readers to
join in and submit what they considered the most underreported stories of the
past year in the site's "Operation Spike" forum.
Here then are WorldNetDaily's picks for the 10 most underreported stories of
2001.
1. Christian persecution worldwide: "The murder, torture and persecution of
Christians in the Third World, and even prosperous countries, is one of the
worst, and least-reported, of global human-rights abuses …" said former Time
magazine senior correspondent and Beijing Bureau Chief David Aikman.
Though WND filed many reports on the horrific worldwide uptrend – especially
in Sudan, where over 2 million non-Muslims, mostly Christians, have been
killed by the radical Islamic regime in Khartoum, mainstream press coverage
is tepid and understated as a rule. WND's popular monthly magazine,
Whistleblower, had a major piece on Islamic persecution of Christians in the
November "JIHAD" issue. And as the upcoming March 2002 edition of
Whistleblower – which is devoted entirely to Christian persecution – points
out, more Christians have been killed because of their faith in the last
century than in all previous centuries combined.
2. The real story of Islamic militancy worldwide. In close contention for the
No. 1 most spiked story, the true depth and breadth of the political movement
variously called "Islamism," "Islamicism" and "militant Islam" has simply not
been told by the mass media.
"Islam is a religion of peace," Americans have been told, and the 9-11
terrorists were part of a tiny renegade group that has "hijacked" Islam in
order to justify terrorism. In reality, as WND has reported ever since last
fall's multiple terror attacks – and especially in the "JIHAD" issue of
Whistleblower – approximately 10 to 15 percent of the world's approximately
1.2 billion Muslims are of the militant "Islamist" strain.
"The president dismissed al-Qaida's version of Islam as a repudiated 'fringe
form of Islamic extremism,' said veteran Mideast analyst Daniel Pipes.
"Hardly. Muslims on the streets of many places – Pakistan and Gaza in
particular – are fervently rallying to the defense of al-Qaida's vision of
Islam. Likewise, the president's calling the terrorists 'traitors to their
own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam' implies that other Muslims see
them as apostates, which is simply wrong. Al-Qaida enjoys wide popularity –
the very best the U.S. government can hope for is a measure of Muslim
neutrality and apathy."
3. The continued cover-up of both the alleged Middle Eastern connection to
the Oklahoma City bombing, and the likelihood that TWA Flight 800 was shot
down by a missile. Despite September's open and audacious declaration of war
by Islamic terrorists; despite mounting evidence that the crash of TWA Flight
800 was due to foul play; despite the obvious question, in light of the 9-11
suicide skyjackings, about the EgyptAir plane crash which killed 217 (a few
courageous analysts revisited the chilling 1999 disaster in which the
Egyptian co-pilot, a devout Muslim, reportedly had said "Allah Akbar," Arabic
for "God is great," before the plane plunged to its destruction); despite
Clinton impeachment prosecutor David Schippers' revelation in WND that he was
"thoroughly convinced that there was a dead-bang Middle Eastern connection in
the Oklahoma City bombing" – the press was, by and large, immune from
revisiting such stories, beyond reporting the official government
conclusions.
Only U.S. News & World Report, in a tiny news item buried in its "Washington
Whispers" column, saw fit to report that some top Defense Department
officials believe Timothy McVeigh, executed for his role in the bombing of
the Oklahoma City federal building, was an Iraqi agent.
4. Out-of-control illegal immigration across the Mexican border – including
Middle Eastern illegals – and the refusal of U.S. political leaders to stop
it. WND's exclusive report by J. Zane Walley, "'Arab terrorists' crossing
border," which created a sensation and was featured on "America's Most
Wanted," revealed that among the torrent of illegal aliens entering the U.S.
from Mexico are an increasing number from Middle Eastern countries.
"About one in every 10 that we catch is from a country like Yemen or Egypt,"
one Border Patrol agent told WND. Middle Easterners have paid smugglers up to
$50,000 to help them cross the border, reported Walley, who said the increase
in illegal aliens of Arab descent concerns law-enforcement officials who are
combating terrorism, since Arizona is reportedly the home of a "sleeper cell"
of al-Qaida.
WND also published several groundbreaking reports documenting corruption in
the U.S. Customs Service and how that opened a particular and major door to
mass terrorism inside the United States. The growing secession movement in
America's Southwest, fueled by unchecked immigration, has also been a focus
of WND's reporting. The entire February edition of Whistleblower – titled
'INVASION USA!" – focuses on America's enormous immigration and
border-control problems, and what can be done to solve the biggest single
threat to the nation's homeland security.
5. Saudi Arabia's support for Islamic terrorism. Long touted as America's
"friend," the supposedly "moderate" Islamic nation of Saudi Arabia, is, in
fact, undisputably the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. As
spelled out in detail in Whistleblower's "JIHAD" issue and reported on
WorldNetDaily in both news and commentary, Saudi Arabia, one of the most
closed societies in the world, aims at spreading Islam throughout the world.
Although Christianity and Judaism are not tolerated, churches are destroyed
and Christian worship forbidden by law, the Saudi royal family also fears the
radical brand of Wahabbi Islamism bred in its own kingdom. Therefore, the
regime finances the militant Wahabbis – which in turn funds terror against
America – as a way of buying peace within their kingdom. "In other words,"
writes WND Editor Joseph Farah, "the Saudis support terror abroad to avoid
terror at home."
6. Potential adverse impact to American citizens of the USA PATRIOT Act and
other post-9/11 legislation and executive orders. In the understandable hot
pursuit of homeland security after September's horrific terror attacks on
U.S. soil, most of the American public – and most of the press as well –
have paid scant attention to sweeping and profound changes in federal law.
Enacted virtually without debate, civil libertarians are profoundly concerned
about the erosion of constitutional rights that may result from the new
legislation. As Farah wrote in his extensive report, "Securing the homeland …
without gutting the Constitution," in January's Whistleblower magazine on
homeland security, ("AMERICA DEFENSELESS"): "The [USA PATRIOT] act, which the
president signed Oct. 26, gives federal agents broad new powers to eavesdrop
on phone calls and e-mails, detain immigrants and share details of criminal
investigations with the CIA. By increasing the snoop-and-search powers of law
enforcement agencies at all levels of government, it effectively guts several
key amendments in the Bill of Rights. Yet despite its obvious importance,
Congress did not receive copies of the finalized version of the bill until
the day of the vote. Nevertheless, members of both houses voted
overwhelmingly for it virtually sight unseen, unable to stand up against
appeals to their patriotism when lobbied by the administration and
congressional leaders."
7. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' Oct. 16 decision affirming the
individual right to keep and bear arms in the historic U.S. vs. Emerson case.
In an era when the establishment press is notorious for underreporting news
that shows gun-ownership in a favorable light – the media virtually ignored
the fact that it was two armed students that foiled the most recent school
shooting rampage at the Appalachian Law School – it was no surprise that
October's landmark court decision went all but unnoticed.
Essentially, the court demolished all theories that had previously held that
the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is a "collective" right (for
militias like the National Guard) and not an individual right.
In rejecting the Justice Departments' arguments that the Second Amendment
referred exclusively to a collective right to gun-ownership, the three-judge
panel excoriated the federal prosecutors, ruling: "There is no evidence in
the text of the Second Amendment, or any other part of the Constitution, that
the words 'the people' have a different connotation within the Second
Amendment than when employed elsewhere in the Constitution. In fact," the
appeals panel wrote, "the text of the Constitution, as a whole, strongly
suggests that the words 'the people' have precisely the same meaning within
the Second Amendment as without."
In light of major, unorthodox assaults on the Second Amendment during the
Clinton years – especially the dozens of government lawsuits against gun
manufacturers – the ruling came as a major setback to gun-control proponents.
8. The denial of water to the farmers in Klamath Falls, Oregon. One of the
most stunning stories of the year – both for the senseless deprivation and
devastation caused by environmentalism run amuck, and for the way in which
its victims have fought back – was the struggle between farmers in Klamath
Falls, Ore., and the federal government. Over 1,400 farm families in the area
struggled to stay afloat last summer after court-ordered directives to ban
the release of water from Upper Klamath Lake prevented farmers from
irrigating their fields.
The rulings – which essentially prevented farmers from growing crops and
transformed the town into a 200,000-acre dustbowl – were made to benefit
three species of fish the federal government has listed as endangered.
In response to what they considered the courts' willing sacrifice of human
beings in favor of fish, the farmers and their families – and many other
Americas as well – fought back. Among the mass demonstrations that occurred,
convoys of trucks traveling through seven western states, loaded with donated
livestock feed, canned food, clothing and supplies, turned out to support the
beleaguered farm families.
9. The failure of the IRS to investigate tax fraud on the part of Jesse
Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, as well as Jackson's extortion of
money and influence from large companies using the threat of racial
discrimination.
Neither last year's sensational revelations of Jackson's infidelity and
fatherhood of an out-of-wedlock child, nor the emerging picture of his
far-flung operation – including soliciting funds from corporate America on
pain of being castigated publicly as racists – has succeeded in removing the
civil rights figure from his unique status with the mainstream national
press. WND added to the pile of evidence of Jackson's misdeeds, in
documenting financial irregularities and tax underreporting by both Jackson
and his congressman son, Jesse Jackson Jr., and exposing a program aimed at
extracting money from churches. And CEO Joseph Farah made waves with his
column on Jackson's ties to the Communist Party USA.
The IRS, meanwhile, which during the Clinton years was so quick to
investigate organizations and individuals critical of that administration,
hasn't yet found Jackson's galling abuses worthy of the agency's interest.
10. The Clintons' exit from the White House and the attendant scandals – and
the lack of prosecution for them. Although the press briefly reflected the
widespread public indignation and revulsion over the manner in which the
Clintons exited the presidency – pardoning criminals in an apparent
last-minute auction for Clinton family, friends and donors; the first
couple's outright theft of expensive public property from the White House;
the unprecedented malicious vandalism by outgoing Clinton-Gore staffers – it
just as quickly mirrored the amiable "let's-move-on" rhetoric of the newly
elected President George W. Bush.
One year later, there have been virtually no repercussions for the former
president, and the establishment press – as it was on the myriad scandals
that plagued Clinton's two terms as president – has been muted.
Yesterday's spikes, today's scoops
Interestingly, many of WND's picks as 2000's most "spiked" stories have ended
up right in the middle of today's news cycle.
For instance, among 2000's "spiked" winners was "Palestinian kids raised to
be martyrs," encompassing many reports by the newssite that warned of the
widespread and growing phenomenon of grooming young Muslim males to be
terrorists and suicide bombers. On Sept. 11, 2001, the rest of the news media
picked up on the story.
Another 2000 "spike" was "border wars on the U.S.-Mexico boundary." Again,
although WND published 11 such exclusive news reports on the escalating
friction along the vast U.S.-Mexican border, the seemingly important story
attracted little other national press coverage – until Sept. 11 when the
urgency of homeland security has made America's borders more interesting to
the mainstream press.
Same story with WND's 2000 pick of "security meltdown during the Clinton
administration" – a series of WND reports in which career officials in the
U.S. intelligence community admitted privately that "the Clinton
administration came in and ordered a wholesale stand-down of national
security safeguards in every agency that counts." That 19 foreign terrorists
were able to hijack four passenger jets at the same time is now regarded as
undeniable proof that the U.S. intelligence and national security
establishments were asleep at the switch.
Farah, veteran of many past "Operation Spikes," commented on the current
selection:
"Compare this list to others that claim to reflect stories that are getting
censored by the establishment press and you will find one big difference. The
common thread in the stories chosen by WorldNetDaily readers is that they
reflect the opinions of free people thinking for themselves – not listening
to any party-line agenda and not letting their government do their thinking
for them," said Farah. "Thousands of people participated in putting this list
together – not just a handful of so-called ‘experts,’ but real, informed
people."
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David Kupelian is vice president and managing editor of WorldNetDaily.com and
Whistleblower magazine.
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