[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 19042-19043]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   CALLING TERRORISTS ``TERRORISTS''

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, since September 11, journalists have been 
working overtime to report on the war on terrorism. They have done a 
good job. Terrorism, the Taliban, Afghanistan, are not well understood 
by the American people, and our newspapers and electronic media have 
been working hard to educate us.
  I have one serious concern, though. Some of our news organizations 
have decided not to use the word ``terrorist'' to describe the suicidal 
maniacs who took so many lives 4 weeks ago.
  Now, I understand that reporters want to be objective. I understand 
that if they are going to be trusted and

[[Page 19043]]

taken seriously, the media does not want to take sides.
  But reporters also have a duty to report the truth. There comes a 
point when this kind of even-handedness stands in the way of the truth. 
The truth here is that the killers were madmen and terrorists, willing 
to take the law into their own hands and kill thousands of innocent 
men, women, and children.
  The lie is that they were victims of Western imperialism who died 
valiantly for their cause. This is not a debate even the media should 
be removed from, it is a debate between good and evil. If we refuse to 
tell the truth or call a spade a spade, we are making the killers just 
a little bit stronger.
  We should call bin Laden's killers terrorists, because that is what 
they are.

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