Bill O’Reilly made an extraordinary statement last night in addressing the difficult fact that “we can’t kill all the Muslims.” This follows an equally bizarre statement from his interviewee Fox News contributor Col. Ralph Peters that there are no Christian or Jewish terrorists.
Here is what O’Reilly said:
Barack Obama wants to win hearts and minds in the Middle East, in the Muslim world, which is a good thing and you know that. As a soldier, we can’t kill all the Muslims. So we wanna win as many hearts and minds of good moderate Muslims as we can. So he goes out of his way, you’re absolutely right, Colonel, he goes out of his way, to avoid the “Muslim terrorist” label, which clearly applies to Hasan.
Putting aside O’Reilly’s incredible statement, Peters also added to the interview with the question of where all the Christian terrorists are? He apparently was not alive when Timothy McVeigh destroyed the Oklahoma City Federal Building or the recent shootings in churches by Christian gunmen.
It must be wonderfully liberating to be able to speak without an sense of the need for historical or factual accuracy.
That is part and parcel of your categorical imperative; is it not?
Mike A.,
Shouldn’t Bill O’Reilly be judged the same way that states are on this issue; i.e. amorally?
If I understand O’Reilly correctly, he is suggesting that although the preferred course of action would be the killing of all Muslims, since that is not feasible our fallback position is to befriend as many of the “good ones” as possible.
Turley: “He apparently was not alive when Timothy McVeigh destroyed the Oklahoma City Federal Building ….”
McVeigh was engaged in Christian terrorism?
Since when?
Mike S., I don’t know if terrorism requires a conspiracy, but I agree with you that the term is routinely abused by government sources, primarily to frighten people into submitting to evermore intrusive surveillance techniques. I believe that a fair investigation will reveal that this gentleman was seriously disturbed, told no one about his intentions and came apart at Ft. Hood only because that’s where he happened to be stationed at the time.
Mike S.,
Agreed. I liked Glenn Greenwald’s column discussion of the word terrorist in this connection as well.
Gyges, I owe no fealty to your queen, and I shall yield her none.
The usage of “terrorist” in this context is up to this point fallacious. I would submit that for an act to be terrorism there must be two or more people involved in a criminal conspiracy. The facts thus far show this man operated alone and so his actions are murder, if he is indeed guilty. Call me a cynic, but just because the government claims he is the shooter, doesn’t make it a fact. The whole episode just seems too pat for my tastes.
Rcampbell,
Weren’t those Northern Irish Catholic? We all know they’re not really Christians anyways.
Here’s what nice christian boys do (story below). From everything that has come out so far it would appear that this govt. completely dropped the ball on Mr. “Terrorist”. He gave multiple indications that he was mentally unhinged and might be willing to act in a violent manner. The excuse given for failure by the Army to take action in his caae is that it is difficult to fire someone, even under these circumstances. Should we accept this assertion, what is not difficult is to take someone aside for observation and to ask them to receive mental health counseling. He worked for the military. If they relieve him of duties, he is relieved. They ignored clear warning signs. Now to those nice christian boys:
“A former Blackwater employee and an ex-U.S. Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” and that Prince’s companies “encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life.”
In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by transporting “illegal” or “unlawful” weapons into the country on Prince’s private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have intentionally deceived the U.S. State Department and other federal agencies. The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their safety.
These allegations, and a series of other charges, are contained in sworn affidavits, given under penalty of perjury, filed late at night on August 3 in the Eastern District of Virginia…”
Professor Turley,
Here’s an interesting story from tampabay.com:
Tampa police: marine reservist attacked Greek he mistook for terrorist
TAMPA — A Marine reservist armed with a tire iron beat and chased a man he thought was an Arab terrorist and even called 911 to say he was detaining the man, police said.
But the man he assaulted was actually a Greek Orthodox priest visiting from overseas who spoke limited English, police said.
That’s why police arrested reservist Jasen D. Bruce on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/tampa-police-marine-reservist-attacked-greek-priest-he-mistook-for/1050707
Bill O’Reilly: a self-appointed “World’s Foremeost Expert” on everything and anything. He’s one of my “triple B’s”–Bloated Bloviating Blowhards.
I’ve included him in my pantheon of political pop singers.
SHRILLO BILLO
Listen to his vocal crescendo
And not-so-subtle innuendo
I do have limits on who I let sign my check, AY. Rupert is way, way out of bounds.
Well Buddha,
I guess you should apply.
I didn’t know Billo and Col. Peters employed a comedy writer.
Methinks the Col. Peters was not paying very close attention during “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland.
There needs to be a better way to honor veterans than accuse them of wanting to do some form of genocide to Muslims.
O’Reilly should speak for his own demented self and leave the veterans out of his bloviations.
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/11/all-security-is-local.html
Well this gives meaning to the term Peter principal. So any bets on how long it will be before you salute him as Brig. Gen.?
O’Reilly isn’t really the problem here. The problem is the throng of people that watch such drivel and agree with it. Whose ideology feeds from such sentiment.
This man serves a purpose and he is very good at it. Never underestimate the ability of those to keep the masses ignorant and divided.
Bet Colbert does an entire 5 minute bit on this one.