Hate crime punished

His two phone calls and four email messages to my office were so obscene and so violent that I cannot reprint them in full. Sent to me, and some members of my staff, in the midst of the Israeli-Lebanese war of 2006, he said, in part, “The only good Lebanese is a dead Lebanese. The only good Arab is a dead Arab;� called me and my staff “wicked and evil�, said that “we should burn in the fires of hell for all eternity� and that the “US would be safer without� us. There was worse. Much worse.

The messages were frightening, and of concern. Even more disturbing was when I was informed by the investigating law enforcement officers that the perpetrator worked at the State Department. More troubling still was the fact that after DOS officials were notified of his behaviour, they did nothing and allowed the individual to remain at his job for another nine months until he was able to retire with full pension.

Perhaps worst of all was the fact, revealed in court, that the convicted foreign service officer had engaged in other anti-Arab behaviour earlier in his career, and that nothing was done by the DOS to censure or stop him. That the Department did nothing to correct this bigoted and criminal behaviour is unacceptable, for many reasons - not least of which is that it compromises the work of so many fine career foreign service officers, dedicated public servants who both serve America well and respect the people of the Arab world.

Finally, a word about hate crimes. There are some who argue that obscene, hateful and threatening language should not be punished, since to do so would be a violation of free speech. (This, in fact, was the initial defence raised by the individual in this case, before he ultimately pled guilty to the charges against him.)