In the considered opinion of the American Prospect, that would be me: an irrational, orientialist, fearful of all things Arab and Muslim.
I wrote a note to Mark Schmitt, the American Prospect's executive editor, pointing out that I have never said anything that could remotely justify the views ascribed to me. I added that I have worked closely with Muslims - not least those in my own organization (a think tank focusing on terrorism) since it was created almost 8 years ago, just after the attacks of 9/11. Coincidently, I had spent the past few days hosting a conference attended by at least half a dozen Muslims including ambassadors from two Muslim-majority countries. And years ago, as a journalist, I reported from many Muslim-majority countries. (I did not say that some of my best friends are Muslim.) Why, I asked Schmitt, "would your magazine print something like this about me?" I asked, too: "Are you oblivious to the possibility that telling such a lie will incite some crazy to attack me or my family?"
He replied: "We (and the Times) should have provided a link, but of course you know it was a reference to your much-discussed written comments on The Corner of April 24."
I did not, but I looked up that post on The Corner and found that I had explicitly written that I oppose torture. I had thought to add, however, that I understood there would be those who will label as "pro-torture" anyone who dares argue that there "may be methods of interrogation that are unpleasant but fall short of torture."
I went on to quote Abu Zubaydah, the captured al-Qaeda terrorist who, according to the CIA memos released by the Obama administration, told his interrogators: "Brothers who are captured and interrogated are permitted by Allah to provide information when they believe they have reached the limit of their ability to withhold it in the face of psychological and physical hardships."
This struck me as an important and potentially life-saving insight into the thinking of militant Islamists. "Imagine an al-Qaeda member who would like to give his interrogators information, who does not want to continue fighting, who would prefer not to see more innocent people slaughtered," I wrote. "He would need his interrogators to press him hard so he can feel that he has met his religious obligations - only then could he cooperate. "
Schmitt insisted that what I had written was clearly "referring to interrogation techniques that are widely agreed to be torture" and therefore, the magazine's "characterization of your comments is entirely appropriate."
What's more, he said it was obvious that I was suggesting "there is a particular need to use extreme measures on Muslims/Islamists because of the nature of their religious beliefs, that is, for being Muslims."
I asked him if he genuinely failed to understand the difference between Muslims and Islamists, between -- for example -- a Kurdish businessman and al-Qaeda member with knowledge of plots targeting civilians, or between an Indonesian farmer and a leader of Hezbollah or Hamas. I know there are people on the far right who do not make such distinctions (I sometimes receive angry letters from them) but for the American Prospect's executive editor to hold this view struck me as astounding.
The reality, of course, is that Schmitt is not so ignorant. He simply endorses slander against people like me, people who have the temerity to dissent from the orthodoxy he advocates.
In this case, however, his magazine went beyond misrepresentation to encouraging violence - because anyone who actually does advocate torturing "Muslims because they're Muslim" should be prepared for a dose of his own medicine.
This is more than an assault on me. It's more than an assault on civil debate. It is an attempt to crush debate; to de-legitimize unwelcome arguments and to demonize those who make them. This is a way to say: Shut up or someone will shut you up.
This is the kind of irresponsible and thuggish use of media power that Krugman and Rich claim to decry. We have seen it many times before in many places around the world. But who would ever have expected to see it in The New York Times and The American Prospect, that "authoritative magazine of liberal ideas"?