On the August 21 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, during a discussion with former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and former Clinton White House counsel Lanny Davis, co-host Sean Hannity asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) statement that “our troops are killing civilians, air raiding villages” is “not true.” As co-host Alan Colmes suggested later in the program, Hannity was apparently referring to Obama's August 13 remark that "[w]e've got to get the job done there [in Afghanistan] and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there." Hannity provided no evidence to support his assertion that Obama's comments are “not true.” In fact, as Media Matters for America noted in response to Hannity's earlier mischaracterization of Obama's comments, U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan -- and accounts of resulting civilian casualties -- have been widely reported in the media and have reportedly provoked criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a British commander stationed there. Additionally, as the Associated Press reported in a “Fact Check” responding to conservative attacks on Obama, “Western forces have been killing civilians at a faster rate than the insurgents.” Further, in a July 7 article on NATO and U.S. air strikes reported to have killed more than 100 Afghan civilians, Reuters cited the assessment of military analysts that “a shortage of ground troops means commanders often turn to air power.”

Also during the segment, Hannity mischaracterized two of Obama's earlier statements on foreign policy, claiming that Obama “says he takes nukes off the table,” and that Obama said he “is going bomb an ally in the war on terror, [Pakistan President] General [Pervez] Musharraf, and possibly invade them.” From this, Hannity concluded that Obama is “finished” as a presidential contender. As Media Matters noted, Hannity made similar claims on the August 14 edition of Hannity & Colmes by asserting that Obama has stated his “willingness to invade an ally against their will,” referring to Pakistan, and asserting that Obama has said “he would take away the nuclear deterrent that we've had in this country.”

However, as Media Matters has repeatedly noted, Obama never said he would “bomb an ally in the war on terror, General Musharraf,” nor has he claimed that he would “invade Pakistan.” Rather, Obama stated in an August 1 speech: “If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets [in Pakistan] and President Musharraf won't act, we will.” Further, Obama never stated that he would “take[] nukes off the table” entirely, nor did he claim that he would “take away the nuclear deterrent that we've had in this country.” Rather, Obama said he would not use nuclear weapons “in any circumstance” to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, specifically.

From the August 21 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: One of the things, I would have preferred that Barack Obama had turned out to be a stronger candidate. For some reason, [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY], when she called him naive and irresponsible when he said he would meet with Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-Il and no preconditions. Then he says he takes nukes off the table. You know, the idea that he is going bomb an ally in the war on terror, General Musharraf, or possibly invade them, you know. Now this, he said, you know, our troops are air raiding villages and killing civilians. He's finished. He's done. She's got the nomination. I wish he were a stronger candidate, because now Hillary will just be after the Republicans.

DAVIS: Well, first of all, I have a great deal of admiration for Senator Obama's theme which is the theme of my book, that gotcha politics is destroying America and that both parties have to learn to have civil debate the solve people's problem. I think Hillary has the experience to make change happen as opposed to Senator Obama, who is a future great candidate but not right now.

HANNITY: You know something, I'm listening to Lanny Davis, Michael, and I believe he's sincere. But it's kind of hard to believe the Democrats are capable of it: The president is a liar, Barack Obama saying our troops are killing civilians, air raiding villages, not true. [Sen.] John Kerry [D-MA] made some other statements, [Rep. John P.] Murtha [D-PA] has made them. The most vitriol is coming from the left and from high-ranking Democrats today.

STEELE: Well, that's always the case. And, you know, I quite frankly took Hillary Clinton's flip- flop, if you will, to heart. I think as Republicans we should be lauding her, you know, coming around to common sense and waiting to see the surge unfold and in fact acknowledging, begrudgingly, but acknowledging, that there has been progress made. So I'm less concerned about that part of it.

[...]

COLMES: Michael, you know, the Republicans -- I should say Democrats keep getting blamed for accusing the troops of doing these horrible things. Barack Obama said we have to get the job done in Afghanistan. And that requires us to have enough troops so we are not air raiding villages and killing civilians. That was what Barack Obama said. What John Kerry said was backed up by the Red Cross, that there were civilians who were being terrorized.

But, you know, Hillary Clinton was quite clear and she said that it's working in Anbar Province. She said, “But we have to make sure that the Iraqi government is involved doing the right thing or there is no point, and we have to start getting our troops out of a civil war.” And that is no different than what she said in January when she said pursuing a strategy that under present circumstances cannot be successful, those circumstances being the Iraqi government. There was no flip-flopping here, Michael.