How Americans perceive and address global (and local) Jihad

Opposing camps of foreign policy experts are vying for influence with Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, according to the New York Times in "2 Camps Trying to Influence McCain on Foreign Policy."

"... now one component of the fractious Republican Party foreign policy establishment — the so-called pragmatists, some of whom have come to view the Iraq war or its execution as a mistake — is expressing concern that Mr. McCain might be coming under increased influence from a competing camp, the neoconservatives, whose thinking dominated President Bush’s first term and played a pivotal role in building the case for war.

The concerns have emerged in the weeks since Mr. McCain became his party’s presumptive nominee and began more formally assembling a list of foreign policy advisers. Among those on the list are several prominent neoconservatives, including Robert Kagan, an author who helped write much of the foreign policy speech that Mr. McCain delivered in Los Angeles on March 26, in which he described himself as “a realistic idealist.” Others include the security analyst Max Boot and a former United Nations ambassador, John R. Bolton. "

Atlas Shrugs reports from the Freedom of Speech in the Age of Jihad event in NYC in photo and video. Sponsored by Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion and Clifford D. May of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, speakers included Steven Emerson, Frank J. Gaffney, Ibn Warraq, Mark Steyn, Ezra Levant, Rachel Ehrenfeld, and Robert Spencer.

Red Country's Jonathan Constantine asks concerned citizens to protest against the Muslim Students' Union's screening of the film, The USA vs. al-Arian on April 17th at the Woodbridge 5 Theater on Barranca Parkway in Irvine. (Courtesy of Janet Levy-Ross). The theater's phone number is (949) 733-0980. Their corporate office in Dallas is at(877) 884-6494.

Update 14 April from Red Country: Early this morning, Starplex Cinemas commented on my previous post that the Sami Al-Arian film screening and legal defense fund-raiser scheduled for April 17 in Irvine has been canceled.

Starplex Cinemas has no ties or relations with the organization that rented the theater to do a film screening. The intent and content of the film was not disclosed. We have not political affilication and have canceled the screening.

We thank the community for brining this to our attention. For any questions or comments, please contact Kristen Wheaton at kwheaton@starplexcinemas.com.

In a phone call with Wheaton later this morning, she explained that the decision was made because of the highly politicized nature of the screening, and the lack of disclosure by two female representatives from the Muslim Student Union concerning the content of the event. More specifically, according to a representative from Woodbridge 5, they described the screening as a "student film," despite the involvement of outside political organizations like CAIR.