[Peace-discuss] Kerry to the right of Fox News hack

[C. G. Estabrook]

http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/06/oreilly-faster-we-get-out-of-there.html

Bill O'Reilly apologized to the nation in February for having been "wrong
about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq":

"Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly says he was wrong about weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq and that's made him more skeptical of the Bush
administration as a result.

"O'Reilly, who has the top-rated political talk show on cable news, was
confronted on ABC's 'Good Morning America'; about his statement before the
Iraq war that if Saddam Hussein is overthrown and there were no such
weapons found, he'd apologize to the nation.

"'Well, my analysis was wrong and I'm sorry,' O'Reilly told Charles Gibson
on Tuesday. 'I am much more skeptical of the Bush administration now than
I was at the time.'"  (The Associated Press, "Bill O'Reilly Admits He Was
Wrong about Iraq,' February 13, 2004 )

O'Reilly has since gone further.  In a speech at the Economic Club in
Southwest Michigan, he said that "we should get out of there as soon as we
can get the heck out of there" :

"He detailed what he said were the war's successes and said he believed
the Bush administration had 'very good intentions' going into Iraq.

"He then launched into the current dilemma: Should we stay or should we
go?

"'We cannot baby-sit (the Iraqis),' he said to the applauding crowd. 'Give
them a chance, give them stability, but we should *get out of there as
soon as we can get the heck out of there.'*

"He explained his position, saying, 'The majority of the Iraqi people do
not appreciate what we've done for them.'

"For that reason, O'Reilly said the U.S. military should ship out and not
let another soldier die for that ungrateful nation. For good measure, he
added three other reasons: the lack of weapons of mass destruction, the
current Iraqi insurrection and the recent human rights violations at
Abu-Ghraib prison."  (emphasis added, K. Aaron van Oosterhout, "Bill
O'Reilly Rips 'Open Society' in Speech at Economic Club," St. Joseph
Herald Palladium [Michigan], May 24, 2004)

O'Reilly put it even more emphatically at Lake Michigan College:

"Bill O'Reilly, host of the most popular prime-time cable news program,
came to Lake Michigan College on Sunday afternoon to deliver his opinions
about the battle in Iraq....

"In Iraq -- 'a very heartbreaking situation' that was entered into with
'very good intentions,' he said -- O'Reilly favors stabilizing the
country, then leaving. The Iraqi people, who he says had an opportunity to
fight for their freedom but have chosen not to do so, 'have lost me.'

"'I don't want one soldier dying for them ... They don't appreciate us ...  
*The faster we get out of there, the better,'* he said. 'We gave them a
chance like we gave the South Vietnamese people a chance.'

"O'Reilly was equally harsh in his opinion of what he called the 'thugs'
involved in the prisoner abuse scandal.

"'It's awful and it embarrassed all of us, particularly the fine military
people who are putting their lives on the line every day. I'm furious and
I want them punished.'

"And he criticized those who attempt to downplay the significance of the
abuse. 'This is not hazing, as some on the far right would tell you. These
are human rights violations.'"  (emphasis added, Alesia I. Redding, "Fox's
Bill O'Reilly Brings message to LMC; Citing U.S. Lack of Traditional
Values, He Says He Doesn't Want 'an Open Society' as He Understands It,"
South Bend Tribune, May 24, 2004, p. A1)...

[O'Reilly's comment about Vietnam is rather like a Nazi's saying about the
French after D-Day, "I don't want one soldier dying for them.  They don't
appreciate us. The faster we get out of there, the better.  We gave them a
chance like we gave the Polish people a chance..."  And since he made the
comments above, it's become undeniable that the "thugs" he refers to are
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft et al. --CGE]