CIA's former bin Laden expert: "The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."
A grand piece of thinking from ex-CIA Michael Scheuer who told Glenn Beck: "The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States." Scheuer is the former head of the Bin Laden unit at the CIA under Clinton and Bush.
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Opening encouraging terrorism? How low can Fox go?
Love how this dipwad is still pulling the same "Obama ... I mean Osama" gag. That one never gets old.
Glenn Beck is a tool.
Seriously... why do you guys keep posting this stuff? We know FOX news is insane. We know people who watch it and it panders to are insane. We know the Bush administration was insane.
I'm trying to get past the hate
This sounds so psychopathic, it's hard to take in. It's mind boggling to comprehend that someone could say these things in all seriousness. The hypocrisy and hatred of the right-wing is disturbing at best.
I keep hoping we're missing some context of that remark and that it can't possibly be as bad as it sounds, but that does not seem to be the case.
I feel so sorry for these people, so consumed by hatred that they're willing to cut off their noses to spite their face.
A very bad tool, let's say a dull bent butter knife in the shark pool.
Suddenly the Bay of Pigs makes so much more sense.
Party over country. That's where they've been from the start.
Michael Scheuer and Glenn Beck...these dysfunctional morons are representative of what has been wrong with U.S policy and the media that has bound itself to American Idiocracy in recent years.
Please, Mike, Glenn, find a running car, a garden hose and a sealed garage to share together as soon as possible.
The saddest part is the millions of people who STILL think Fox News is a news channel.
Pasty, overweight paranoid white people. What willl America think of next.
both of them are absolutely, revoltingly reppellent
So much BS here, where to begin?
And why bother? If you've ever argued with a loyal FoxNews viewer you know they have a holster and bandolero full of talking points, and will counter anything you say with soundbites built on skewed statistics and arguments that would get them flunked from any Logic class.
That said, I would love to see someone to really grill Beck on his ridiculous "9/12 Project."
The only way to avoid a major attack in the US is to have a major attack in the US?
That makes sense.
Both of these double y chromosome cases need to be beaten with a sack of oranges.
We had to destroy the village in order to save it.
For a guy who is a stand up comedian, I don't find Glenn Beck all that funny.
I'm amazed that they can actually say what they say with a perfectly straight face.
"they send our soldiers into harm's way, and they're targets. They're not killers"
followed by
"but of course the democrats specialize in that"
It was republicans Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, WHO NEEDLESSLY SENT OUR SOLDIERS INTO HARM'S WAY WITHOUT BODY ARMOR OR ARMORED HMVs.
I used to think being a conservative was a political persuasion. Sadly, it is now a mental disorder.
"Obama. I mean Osama"
Why is this guy on TV more than Chris Elliot?
What an eejit...
Did he just exhort Americans to look to Gandhi for inspiration, while also arguing against gun control?
Wow. Any bets that the next terrorist attack in the United States will be a false flag operation, precisely so that Gen. Scheuer's scenario can be played out?
@Rainyrat: Maybe he meant Ghandi 2?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfvLcozLwtE
Well... least they aren’t goddamn LIBERALS, who hate their government, hate their country, and want the terrorists to win.
Sounds like this Scheuer guy has been mining _Little Brother_ for inspiration. The wrong people can sometimes read the right books too.
Glenn Beck is the new Stephen Colbert. He just doesn't know it.
I admit I watch FOX News every night. It's like a free ticket to a freak show combined with a car wreck of brushcuts.
Glenn Beck is insane, that's not news.
But the fact that this other guy had an important CIA job is pretty damn scary. No wonder we never caught OBL..
(and another kick in the groin for all conspiracy theorists.. The CIA - The supposedly near-omnipotent organization that has just as much inefficiency, incompetence and political infighting as anywhere else.)
I'd be fascinated to know how that's not a traitorous sentiment.
Glenn Beck is a tool.
Shouldn't a tool be useful?
"I admit I watch FOX News every night. It's like a free ticket to a freak show combined with a car wreck of brushcuts."
Thanks for raising their ratings. Just download the highlights clips, for chrissake.
"I'm trying to get past the hate"
Wouldn't it be nice if all we had to do was ignore the hate, and it would just go away?
Any bets that the next terrorist attack in the United States will be a false flag operation, precisely so that Gen. Scheuer's scenario can be played out?
It's still to early to pay out the bets on the last one.
"The most dangerous place in the world is the US-Mexico border"?????
What????
Someone send Glen Beck to Afghanistan's ghettos, please. Or maybe Somalia.
This is rehash of an old Fox News talking point. At least these two losers have the sense to say it in a roundabout way. John Gibson went down as the worst human on earth in my book when he made the same point much more bluntly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvx73OawqBw
@32: "I'm trying to get past the hate"
Wouldn't it be nice if all we had to do was ignore the hate, and it would just go away?
Actually, in this case it does kind of work that way. Fox News is a media company dependent on viewership numbers. If enough people were disgusted by the hate mongering and stopped watching it, it would go away.
Maybe the point at the end was that Bin Laden actually has no incentive to detonate a wmd in the USA. The delivery was kind of absurd, but that's what I took from it.
I'm just glad Glenn took a moment to remind us all of Dr. King and Ghandi. I was about ready to start open revolution against damn Harvard educated liberal fat cats in DC.
Scrolling marquee at bottom of screen reads "French Pres Nicolas Sarkozy said the burqa was not welcome in France, adding the head-to-toe vail .....
Instead of throwing insults, how about an intellectual discussion about the underlying question. Do we need to protect the border and, if so, how do you (collective) suggest we do it?
Glenn Beck being an undeniable whackjob is not news. Some dork talking to Glenn Beck being an even bigger whackjob also isn't news.
However, this whole remarkably misguided assertion of "the only way for America to come together as a nation is to be at war" is absolute hogwash. Forces have been at work to directly foster alienation and distrust between the regions for so long that it's becoming insurmountable.
Also, The Onion already did a piece satirizing this viewpoint, and they make the point even better than these snotheads do.
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/country_music_stars_challenge_al
Lastly, it's still sad to know that those who call for terrorist attacks against the great nation of The United States Of America are tolerated in this fashion. Personally I think people who say things like that ought to be punished.
Anyone still wondering if the upper levels of government are sick enough to consider things like False Flag attacks on its own citizens? Just check out Sy Hersh commenting that Dick Cheney considered dressing up US boats to look like they were Iranian to attack and provoke their own military forces. Sickening. Now you have this crazed ex-spook casually tossing off a similar idea saying it's the only way to save the country. Get it together, people. Psychopaths are at the control deck!
Fox: Television by idiots, for idiots.
I've seen Scheuer interviewed before where he made reasonable, logical points based on his years tracking terrorists with the CIA, so I wonder why he's suddenly hoping for an attack now. That kind of logic is childish, like tipping over the board game when you're losing.
I understand the reasoning behind a secure border, but with a country as big as the US, what's the point-- I can go cross the border into Canada right now via thousands of miles of remote woods. It's the same on the Mexico/US border. A wall will just mean they (whoever "they" may be) will find another way across the border: boats, tunnels, balloons, etc.
Do we have billions to blow on a border fence that won't actually do anything effective?
Personally, I love the part at the beginning, where Beck scoffs volunteers. "We have to ask for volunteers to protect our border?!".
Yes, Glenn, we do. The National Guard, just as the entire US military, is an entirely volunteer force. Why do you hate our troops so much, Glenn?
As far as false flag attacks, I agree that the bets haven't been settled for last one yet...
Wouldn't it be an awfully clever plan to create ridiculously crazy conspiracy stories about an attack to cover just a few tiny details that might have actually pointed to a conspiracy?
Did the Bush Administration really have to do 9/11 on their own? Did they have to blow up buildings themselves, create some silly plan to reroute planes with people that never existed, etc. as so many stupid conspiracy stories claim?
Or did the Bush Administration have to simply ignore briefings entitled "Bin Laden determined to attack in U.S." and just happen to let their guard down in the right ways at the right times?
THAT is how you do a false flag attack right - don't even do the attack yourself, just let it happen. Then create (or allow to proliferate) silly conspiracy theories that cover your tracks for you because everyone assumes there is no malfeasance due to the silliness of the prevailing theories.
The people in positions of power, including the media, have been perfecting the dark arts of intelligence, counter-intelligence, misinformation, and regime change (including domestic) for decades now. And we eat their BS and ask for more.
I love this country but always fear for its future.
Ill Lich - it's like tipping over the board when you're winning. They want their party to win, not the United States. They're like those lunatics who kill the women who reject them romantically.
The sad thing is that you can't make hate go away. But as far as a strategy goes, ignoring it isn't worse than any other attempt. To engage in it with rage is to feed it, unfortunately.
Is the anti-Harvard sentiment something Glenn Beck picked up while going to Yale? I mean, I know Yale has a very anti-bourgeois atmosphere cos all my working class friends go there.
So it IS supporting terrorism to think that the war in Iraq is futile and we have no chance of winning and we can never really stamp out terrorism but it's patriotic to say "Osama bin Laden should deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."
No way to describe how fucked up that is.
Also, referencing MLK and Gandhi to make the point that border guards should have guns. Anybody find that just a little wrong.
Whoever posted that John Gibson video, I'm going to punch that fucker in the teeth.
"Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks."
This is barely related but still interesting:
http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html
The posted video just reminds me of people who no longer see others of a different political ideology as people, but rather as objects. Out of their monkeysphere.
Rainyrat: consider the following Gandhi quote:
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest."
It`s not that surprising people coming out of government apparently think this way it`s the basis of the neo-con creed, that an outside threat creates internal unity.
Secondly, the facts say incompitent rather than evil master minds. Three days before the 11/9 attacks the US consulates abroad were circulating warnings to US passport holders that a substantantial terrorist action was in the offing. In other words the US knew something was due to happen they just didn`t believe it would be in the US.
I also think that that if they keep on about it long enough, another Timothy McVey will pop up rather than Osama B., at which point Fox will be full of "Evil monster turns against own countrymen after playing video games" type stories.
A general word of warning to those who watch Fox News for entertainment: Fox is simply a caricature of (neo-)conservatism. Regardless of its popularity, regardless of its wrongheadedness, if you watch Fox and associate its idiocy with all things conservative, you are making yourself dumber and reinforcing the biases you may not know you possess.
Fox is easily ridiculed and easily refuted. These are very dangerous qualities in a political opponent, as they will tend to cement your existing opinions despite containing no new relevant information. It is written:
"If you are selective about which arguments you inspect for flaws, or how hard you inspect for flaws, then every flaw you learn how to detect makes you that much stupider."
Fox does not represent the apex of conservative thought. Sophisticated conservative positions tend to be unsuitable for Fox's simpleton audience. If you have not sought out and attended to the most intelligent conservative arguments you could find, award yourself no points for seeing through their lesser counterparts.
A final note: If this comment led you to conclude that its author is probably conservative, please consider whether degenerate news programs might have conditioned you into an "us vs them" mindset. In the game of truth, there are no sides. Your intellectual energy may be far better spent looking for flaws in the arguments of those who agree with you.
I'm seeing enough hate and elitism here already, how about some of you actually distance yourselves from what you propose to... hate.
Yeah, not so easy is it?
rabble rabble, operation northwoods etc
other than simply bringing this to peoples' attention, nothing can be done about it.
it's really not that hard to convince a bushbot they're being brainwashed by fox news. but you know what happens then? they send you off with a big "F U" and go back to watching it. the 20%ers are the way they are out of personal pride; being a conservative media tool is all these people have left to try and feel important and necessary.
the only thing we can do about it is let it go. let them breed amongst themselves until their future generations can no longer work a remote; they'll disappear slowly but surely.
@ 55 Anonymous:
Hopefully nobody thinks that Fox speaks for all people who consider themselves conservatives. What's gradually happening, though, is that the word "conservative" is getting appropriated for the people who it does speak for. Hopefully others can build up the stage presence to take back the name, but it's possible that someday they may just call themselves something else.
It's happened with political terms before, after all.
rabble, rabble, rabble indeed!
This guy just called the majority of Americans uneducated dipshits (yes, you, Fox viewers!) with the minority of college educated people leading the country, now.
And they are ignoring thems idiots' security needs. Gosh!
Time for an uprising, people... could you see the gleam of "Please, do it! Grab yer guns!" in Beck's eyes as he begged 'America' to settle down and not rise up against Osama... I mean, Obama.
Flabbergasting, this sorta stuff is. Amazing that it's even accepted, but that's how grotesque and viciously mutated media output seems to be in the US. It's happened so quickly and is clearly reactionary nonsense. Hopefully something will tumble along that brings these people back to earth.
Perhaps a meteor?
doesn't the Patriot Act permit the arrest of these people?
@takuan
"Arrest"? You're getting soft. Clearly, this merits extraordinary rendition to a country like Syria, Egypt or Kyrgyzstan and all their interrogative delights.
no, no, they should be held in American hands.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/30/accountability/
Worth noting: Michael Scheuer is a harsh critic of the Bush Administration (he's the author of *Imperial Hubris*, first published anonymously) and is generally more cited by left-leaning, anti-war folks. Examples:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/148555.php
http://original.antiwar.com/scheuer/2009/06/08/what-if-osama/
No matter what side of the political spectrum cites him, however, he always struck me as a bit nuts, and aggressively anti-Israel to the point of anti-Semitism. Now he's out promoting that looniness with Glenn Beck, which should give all the people who cited him as a credible source during the Bush years pause.
To anyone who actually watches Glen Beck:
Please let us know which companies' ads were playing at the time.
I don't see any point in writing in to FoxNews, as the original link suggests. Surely they'd just see the mail as "victory! look how many people are watching!!" Better to contact the sponsors. Make it clear that we didn't actually see their ads, as no one in their right minds actually watches the crap they finacially support, but that we have seen, commercial free, the content and are horrified.
And don't use a form letter created by someone else. Those will be ignored as the junkmail that they are.
Wow, the liberal press is really dropping the ball on this one. I can find no mention of this in the NYTimes or WashingtonPost. Liberal press is once again serving the agenda of Limbaugh to destroy America, one bomb at a time.
Remind me to never criticise the Daily Mail (UK "news"paper) again.
Okay, maybe not. But.
...and Cheney just happens to have a "missing" nuke!
What a co-winky-dink!
This Shuere guy: he was a very vocal pro-torture apologist for the CIA, right?
i mean without Osama, there'd be no torture program, there'd be no wholesale copying of all internet communications: best thing that ever happened for the CIA ( an organization less than fifty years old!!), those attacks were: gave them all that they wanted, and more.
Now what did that Brit foreign minister say about al-quaeda before his sudden death? That that was the 1980's CIA code name (back when Cheney was SecDef), for their database of anti-Soviet Islamic fighters in Afghanistan?
plot was stolen from a novel by Taylor Caldwell titled "The Devil's Advocate".. I do believe it's a plot as old as time itself. Sad...
We all basically know that a guy with an ego that inflated was not going to allow himself to be caught that easily. Certainly NOT in a place with a funny name like Tora Bora!
Oddly enough, this is also the only chance we have with Martians...
Unfortunately, in order to safe the village, we had to destroy it.
As uttered by some American jerk-in-arms during the Vietnam holocaust.
it might not be news, but i'll be damned if Beck and O'Reilly aren't the most entertaining things on television.
in fairness, remember that to make news fair & balanced, FOX has to be right leaning enough to compensate for left lean ofcbs, abc, nbc, cnbc, msnbc, and cnn combined.
six times the fairness!
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00000871----000-.html
I think if that is a jail worthy offense then suggesting the use of WMD on US targets should be too. Do you think they would have aired this if this crackpot's conclusion was that presidential assassination was in the best interest of national security?
"I'm seeing enough hate and elitism here already"
How dare you not tolerate my intolerance!
Any-mous screeched:
"Sophisticated conservative positions tend to be unsuitable for Fox's simpleton audience. If you have not sought out and attended to the most intelligent conservative arguments you could find, award yourself no points for seeing through their lesser counterparts."
Where would I find these "sophisticated conservatives", in the pages of the National Review? Does Jonah Goldberg's book "Liberal Fascism" contain the most intelligent conservative arguments one could find? Or maybe the words and works of Ann Coulter, or Michelle Malkin, or Michael Savage? What websites should I visit where I can read the very best intelligent conservatives and interact in their sophisticated and erudite debates? Probably not Red State... maybe TownHall or Renew America? How about TV pundits, which of those represent the conservative intelligentsia? William "the bloody" Kristol? Charles "mine Fuhrer, I can walk!" Krautkramer? Who? I'd really like to know.
wow, that guy's a nutcase. i cannot believe this. yesterday i read a fear-mongering article by a republican saying that the democrats were going to instate the metric system in the u.s. ooh, scary, the metric system. i'll have to actually learn a better system, god forbid.
@ cognitive dissonance #74:
in fairness, remember that to make news fair & balanced, FOX has to be right leaning enough to compensate for left lean ofcbs, abc, nbc, cnbc, msnbc, and cnn combined.
Those are all conservative media outlets. They only seem liberal compared to Fox.
So is a mushroom cloud supposed to be some magic bullet that makes the USA a better place or something? Is there going to be some huge group-hug afterward where we all become conservatives? Scheuer seems to think there will be some mass uprising where we will impeach or depose all the politicians, which sure sounds like chaos to me (really: we're under attack so we'll in turn attack our leaders and drive them out of office, and have a rudderless ship. Great idea.)
Anyone else notice that if you grew this guy's beard out a little more, removed the Milhouse glasses and added a turban, he would probably look a lot like Osama?
$25 Million Please.
Tom Tomorrow already said it all...
:-o
This explains a lot about what our countries have done. I'm British. Loons exist every where.
The best thing for America is to give more blankets than bombs.
PHIKUs, it makes The Watchmen even more prescient.
I like how Glenn Beck and Michael Scheuer both comically agree at the very end that because of what intellectuals are doing to the country, Osama Bin Laden is less likely to attack.