If The State News so loves free speech, why then has it remained silent on the conviction of David Irving?

Irving must now spend three years in an Austrian prison because in 1989 he said that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.

It doesn't matter if you consider Irving a "Holocaust denier" or if you feel that making statements about the architecture of Nazi WWII facilities is anti-Semitic, Irving has a right (yes, even non-Americans have rights even if their governments indicate otherwise) to say so.

The State News has been more than happy to condemn Islamic reaction to free speech; let it now condemn Austria. Let it berate Canada and half a dozen other Western European nations for having draconian laws against free speech.

I want to see an article that says the Anti-Defamation League is an organization that is dangerous to our liberties, lobbying every day for hate speech/thought crime laws in America. Don't take my word for it, go to its Web site.

It would seem The State News would rather run stories about how unethical Islamic stances on the issue are in comparison to our own. Doing so will help drum up sympathy (if not support) for any future military action against Muslim countries, but not convince Muslims to tolerate the denigration of their religion.

The threat to our freedom is much closer to home than Danish cartoons or Middle Eastern riots, but don't count on The State News to say so — it would be anti-Semitic to question the imprisonment of a man who has some questions about World War II.

Being seen as anti-Semitic as opposed to anti-Islamic is simply unacceptable, even for free speech's sake.

David Garlock
music senior