Did O'Reilly even watch Obama's Afghanistan speech?
Following President Obama's speech at West Point addressing the war in Afghanistan, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly criticized Obama for supposedly not "saying, 'Look, these are bad guys. We're fighting evil" and for not warning Americans that "[i]f we lose, this is going to lead to more bloodshed all over the world." In fact, Obama referred to Al Qaeda as "extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam ... to justify the slaughter of innocents," he called the Taliban "a ruthless, repressive, and radical movement," and he warned that withdrawing from Afghanistan now "would significantly hamper our ability to keep the pressure on Al Qaeda and create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks on our homeland and our allies."
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From the December 1 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: You know, there wasn't this sense of urgency that you would expect from a wartime commander, saying, "Look, these are bad guys. We're fighting evil." He didn't define the evil. He didn't get emotional. He didn't put any urgency behind his words, like, "If we lose, this is going to lead to more bloodshed all over the world. Let's wise up everybody and get in there and win it." I didn't see any of that. It was more like an academic speech.
O'Reilly Claim: Obama didn't say, "Look, these are bad guys. We're fighting evil"
O'Reilly claimed: "You know, there wasn't this sense of urgency that you would expect from a wartime commander, saying, 'Look, these are bad guys. We're fighting evil.' He didn't define the evil."
Reality: Obama said Al Qaeda is "a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam ... to justify the slaughter of innocents." In his speech, Obama said:
OBAMA: We did not ask for this fight. On September 11, 2001, 19 men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith, or race, or station. Were it not for the heroic actions of passengers on board one of these flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington, and killed many more.
As we know, these men belonged to Al Qaeda -- a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world's great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents.
Reality: Obama said Taliban are a "ruthless, repressive and radical movement." In his speech, Obama said:
OBAMA: Al Qaeda's base of operations was in Afghanistan, where they were harbored by the Taliban -- a ruthless, repressive, and radical movement that seized control of that country after it was ravaged by years of Soviet occupation and civil war, and after the attention of America and our friends had turned elsewhere.
[...]
OBAMA: Under the banner of this domestic unity and international legitimacy -- and only after the Taliban refused to turn over Osama bin Laden -- we sent our troops into Afghanistan.
O'Reilly Claim: Obama didn't say, "If we lose, this is going to lead to more bloodshed all over the world"
O'Reilly claimed: "He didn't put any urgency behind his words, like, 'If we lose, this is going to lead to more bloodshed all over the world. Let's wise up everybody and get in there and win it.' I didn't see any of that."
Reality: Obama said "new attacks are being plotted" from region, and withdrawal now would "create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks." From Obama's speech:
OBAMA: I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by Al Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9-11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat. In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders, who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror. And this danger will only grow if the region slides backwards and Al Qaeda can operate with impunity. We must keep the pressure on Al Qaeda, and to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region.
Of course, this burden is not ours alone to bear. This is not just America's war. Since 9-11, Al Qaeda's safe havens have been the source of attacks against London and Amman and Bali. The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that Al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them.
These facts compel us to act along with our friends and allies. Our overarching goal remains the same: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future.
To meet that goal, we will pursue the following objectives within Afghanistan: We must deny Al Qaeda a safe haven; we must reverse the Taliban's momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government; and we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's Security Forces and government, so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan's future.
[...]
OBAMA: First, there are those who suggest that Afghanistan is another Vietnam. They argue that it cannot be stabilized, and we're better off cutting our losses and rapidly withdrawing. I believe this argument depends on a false reading of history. Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognizes the legitimacy of our action. Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency. And most importantly, unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border. To abandon this area now -- and to rely only on efforts against Al Qaeda from a distance -- would significantly hamper our ability to keep the pressure on Al Qaeda and create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks on our homeland and our allies.

















1. The fact that I'm not surprised by the blatant lying on the right scares me. These deplorable tactics are becoming accepted, or at least commonplace, and that is a sad thought.
2. How does Bill O'Reilly sleep at night? I know it's a stupid question because he has no morals, but damn... these statements are pretty blatantly untrue. Does he not know or not care?
When you hear this Phrase do you Frown or do you consider it a Proper Noun?
It's Truly Amazing that we still ask questions about Bill O'Reilly whose integrity was long ago delegated to Lost & Found.
Hi, I'm not a Fool but i play one on TV? That just want Cut it anymore, not in my Town.
Speak truth to power,
Mr. News
O'Reilly couldn't give a flip about being fair to Obama as O'Reilly is always dragging in his own preconceived notions about Obama, the "liberal guy". Good job to Kucinich for later calling O'Reilly out on his misuse of the liberal label.
Oh, wait. No he wouldn't. President Obama is a Democrat.
Is there a difference?
"Bad guys", "fighting evil", "wise up", "win it".
Here's one for you, Bill: pinhead.
Probably not... he likely already had his faxed sheet of talking points all ready to go before president Obama was even being introduced to the West Point cadets!
I'm hoping that more people like the Little Green Footballs guy, Andrew Sullivan and others will turn away from these phony "conservatives" and bring civility back to our national discourse. This is just ridiculous.
Clearly O'Reilly's reading comprehension (or that of one of his staff members) isn't all that good.
this.
There is no urgency in a decade old war. After 9/11 there was a sense of urgency. At this point, a sense of urgency would be totally transparent like it was with bush in his second term. No one was buying the fifteenth speech for war because they were worn out.
Obama did paint evil with a broad brush like bill said he didnt do but this also seems like a distortion of the truth that obama should have clarified. Obama did say the election was wrought witih corruption but frankly, karzai's government is also brutal and intolerant. There is no black and white, no allied and axis, no communism and democracy. It seems we are choosing the best of two evils, propping up one to topple the other. There is no good and evil here - there is religious radical and less religious radical. Honestly, such blurring of the lines is why this war was doomed from the start. As soon as we leave, no doubt afghanistan will fall right back into civil war.
They are traitors. They put party before country and this is, again, clear evidence of this.
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And, for the record, I think President Obama has this absolutely right. 100%
Oreilly is such a prostitute for self-inflation and promotion.
As to the lies: the bar has indeed been lowered, but opinion cannot always be a lie. The uninformed, misinformed or those seeking to influence should at least be held accountable for being chronically wrong, will-fully misinformed or just plain lying, but that is not TVNews today.
Besides, Bildo's 'talking butt memo' was probably prepared prior to Mr. Obama's speech. Why would falafel man waste his time listening to words he knew he would never find credible.
Falafel's audience wants to hear "WE NEED TO GET OUR COUNTRY BACK"!
I'm glad that President Obama's speech was about the safety of the region and of our nation. It shouldn't be characterizing them as Evil...
How did the "Axis of Evil" work out for Bush?
We need the world to hate us less for our own self-interest
Andrea
http://cornucopia2009.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/on-topic-afghanistan-from-the-left/
BHO: They are bad guys.
BOR: You didn't call them evil.
BHO: They are certainly evil
BOR: You didn't tell us we were fighting them over there to prevent bloodshed elsewhere.
BHO: We are fighting them there to prevent bloodshed elsewhere.
BOR: You didn't wear a flag pin...
o'reilly has a fair one on emotion. when you send armies into harm's way, you might want to motivate them to win. jeez, bring in dick butkus for a pep talk if you have to. obama sounded like he was giving the cadets a permission slip for a field trip. that's just the attitude the taliban expects from an organization planning a camping trip thru july 2011. with an announced deadline they'll just dig in and wait it out, no matter what is done to them in the interim. who believes 18 months is of any concern to an enemy with generations used to war outside their front door?
it made perfect sense to go in and destroy the al-qaeda training camps. but now, even though obama told afghanis otherwise last night, we are and have been just occupiers. and to what end? that's what obama failed to make clear last night, other than some vague idea of restoring democracy and addressing developing threats. and just because bush did this also is no excuse, this is obama's baby now and has been for nearly a year. afghanistan was relatively quiet during the presidential campaign, and obama hinted he was going to do just what he's doing there now. but the nobel committee and the rest of his devoted followers apparently were too enamored with his "we never should have gone to iraq" policy and his general apologetic tone, on display again last night, toward the rest of the world.
why are we in afghanistan and why don't we just destroy the taliban, again, and come back as needed?:
boeing
ge
general dynamics
lockheed martin
raytheon
an extended visit anywhere, rather than just kicking the enemy's ass, is better for their bottom line... you can rail all you want about bush and cheney being all too cozy with halliburton, but dems are no strangers to corporate america.
reporting from murderland ranch,
i'm mookie von zipper
massmurdermedia
That is the correct question to me. We can set timetables or not set timetables - it doesn't matter. This is their land. They will always wait us out. I do not see an end game here. I never have. I understand wanting to go in and get bin Laden after 9/11. I am still for going after him. I think there are still ways to get to him. I just do not see what we plan on achieving with the troops. The people we are fighting in Afghanistan are, in no way, a threat to our sovereignty. I just do not see the need to lose more lives of our younger generation.
I also agree with you and Eisenhower on the military industrial complex. However, I do not agree with the pep talk. If our soldiers are in need of a pep talk in order to perform their duties at the high level they always have, then we need to bring them home NOW.
Thumbs-up from me, mookie. I don't agree with the entirety of the post, but certainly valid opinions. And, the kind of thoughtful, intelligent disagreement from the right that this country needs more of, not less.
either because they are mostly dummies anyway.
He can bloviate whatever he wants to because every day
the O'Rielly fan wakes up in a brand new world that
Bill will explain and simplify for him.
He isn’t the one continuing Bush policy.
P.S. MMFA censor, when will my posts appear in real time? This time lag is annoying. Fox News lets you post immediately. I guess they have a higher class of posters.
what happend to not attacking the president during wartime? or was that hannity....?
Therefore Billo is at least technically correct. But, I thought the folks at Faux didn't do 'nuance'.