Kilmeade falsely claims “all terrorists are Muslims”

Kilmeade: “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.” On the October 15 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Kilmeade defended O'Reilly's comments on the October 14 edition of ABC's The View by claiming the show's hosts “were outraged that somebody was saying there's a reason -- there was a certain group of people that attacked us on 9-11. It wasn't just one person. It was one religion. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.”

Later during his radio show, Kilmeade asserted that it's a “fact” that “every terrorist is a Muslim.” On the October 15 edition of Fox News Radio's Kilmeade & Friends, Kilmeade stated: “Not every Muslim is an extremist, a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim. You can't avoid that fact.” From Kilmeade & Friends:

KILMEADE: Muslim extremists, Al Qaeda, blew up those buildings -- blew up the Khobar Towers, blew up the Cole, blew up the embassies, tried to blow up Times Square, tried to blow up the plane. The shoe bomber, the Times Square bomber, the underwear bomber -- they have one thing in common. They are all extremists, and they are all Muslims.

Not every Muslim is an extremist, a terrorist, but every terrorist is a Muslim. You can't avoid that fact. And that is ridiculous that we got to keep defining this - the people that equate Timothy McVeigh with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, which is growing and a threat that exists.

Fox News VP says Kilmeade will “clarify” his comments on Monday. On October 15, The Huffington Post reported that Bill Shine, Fox News' senior vice president of programming, said that Kilmeade will “clarify” his comments on Monday. From The Huffington Post:

Fox News SVP of Programming Bill Shine says Kilmeade will address the comments on Monday.

“Brian was talking about the events on 'The View' yesterday and was referring to the radical extremists who killed Americans on 9/11,” Shine told the Huffington Post. “Obviously, not all terrorists are Muslim and Brian will clarify this point on television and radio on Monday.”

In fact, numerous domestic attacks and attempted attacks have been committed by non-Muslims

Anti-government/right-wing extremists

Timothy McVeigh detonates a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. In December 2007, Timothy McVeigh was executed for the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. CNN noted that McVeigh was angered at the government because he believed it was trying to take away his rights and weapons. McVeigh and his partner, Terry Nichols, killed 168 people.

Attempted anthrax attacks on media outlets and Democratic congressmen focused on Bruce Ivins before his suicide. The so-called anthrax attacks occurred following the attacks on September 11, 2001. According to the FBI:

In September and October 2001, at least five envelopes containing significant quantities of Bacillus anthracis (also referred to as "Ba") were mailed to United States Senators Patrick Leahy and Thomas Daschle in the District of Columbia, and to media organizations located in New York City and Boca Raton, Florida.

The investigation focused on Dr. Bruce E. Ivins, a government microbiologist. The FBI cited extreme stress as a result of professional failure as a motive. Following Ivins' suicide, the case was officially closed.

Right-wing extremist Krar arrested by federal agents in possession of materials for a chemical bomb. In April 2003, William J. Krar, Judith Bruey, and Edward Feltus were arrested for possession of chemical weapons. Krar was a right-wing extremist with ties to white supremacy groups. According to the Anti-Defamation League:

In an April raid on a storage unit rented by Krar and Bruey in Noonday, Texas, FBI agents found chemicals, including nitric and acetic acids along with the sodium cyanide, and instructions on how to produce chemical weapons. Agents also found machine guns, more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition and materials for pipe bombs.

According to FBI Special Agent Bart LaRocca, authorities also found white supremacist literature, including “The Turner Diaries,” during the raid of the storage room. “The Turner Diaries,” a novel about a white supremacist guerrilla army fighting to overthrow the government, was written by now-deceased National Alliance leader William Pierce. It has inspired terrorists from The Order to Timothy McVeigh.

Jim David Adkisson arrested after shooting spree motivated by a hatred of “liberal politics.” In February 2009, Jim David Adkisson was sentenced to life in prison for the shooting death of two and the wounding of six others at a Tennessee church in July 2008. As The Associated Press noted when he was sentenced, Adkisson attacked the church “because he hated its liberal politics. ... Assistant District Attorney Leslie Nassios said Adkisson gave a statement to police and left a suicide note. They showed he planned the attack on the church, where his ex-wife was once a member, because he hated the church's liberal politics and Democrats, whom he believed 'were responsible for his woes.' The Unitarian Universalist church promotes progressive social work, including advocacy of women and gay rights.”

Richard Poplawski allegedly murders three Pittsburgh police officers, motivated by right-wing conspiracy theorists. In April 2009, Richard Poplawski allegedly murdered three Pittsburgh police officers during a shootout. Poplawski reportedly feared “the Obama gun ban that's on the way.” Poplawski also reportedly “turned to a far-right conspiracy Web site run by Alex Jones” and “joined Florida-based Stormfront, which has long been a clearinghouse Web site for far-right groups” prior to his attack.

Byron Williams' attempts to attack California ACLU and Tides Foundation thwarted by traffic stop. On July 18, Byron Williams engaged in a shootout on an Oakland freeway with California Highway Patrol officers. As Media Matters has noted, Williams was influenced by Fox News' Glenn Beck in formulating an attack on “people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU.” Williams was prevented from carrying out his attack due to a stop for erratic driving. In the ensuing shootout, Williams injured two CHP officers.

Animal rights/Eco-terrorism

FBI, ATF: “Violent animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists now pose one of the most serious terrorism threats to the nation.” According to a May 19, 2005, CNN report, “Senior officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives told a Senate panel Wednesday of their growing concern over” extremist animal and environmental rights groups, specifically singling out the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). The article added that “John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said animal and environmental rights extremists have claimed credit for more than 1,200 criminal incidents since 1990. The FBI has 150 pending investigations associated with animal rights or eco-terrorist activities, and ATF officials say they have opened 58 investigations in the past six years related to violence attributed to the ELF and ALF.”

ELF and ALF member on FBI's “Most Wanted” list. Justin Franchi Solondz, who is affiliated both with the ELF and ALF, is listed as one of the FBI's "most wanted" alleged domestic terrorists. Solondz is accused of bombing the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle and “several buildings and vehicles” in Clatskanie, Oregon. In addition, according to the FBI, Solondz is implicated in an October 15, 2001, “arson and attempted animal release [that] took place at the Litchfield Wild Horse and Burro Corral in Susanville, California. Investigators found multiple improvised incendiary devices at the crime scene.”

ALF and ELF singled out in DHS report on left-wing extremism. A January 2009 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report singled out AFL and ELF as prominent “animal rights and environmental extremists.” From DHS:

(U//LES) Animal rights and environmental extremists seek to end the perceived abuse and suffering of animals and the degradation of the natural environment perpetrated by humans. They use non-violent and violent tactics that, at times, violate criminal law. Many of these extremists claim they are conducting these activities on behalf of two of the most active groups, the Animal Liberation Front and its sister organization, the Earth Liberation Front. Other prominent groups include Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty; and chapters within the Animal Defense League, and Earth First!

Anti-abortion terrorism

Roeder convicted of killing Kansas abortion doctor. On April 1, Scott Roeder was sentenced to life in prison for killing Kansas abortion provider George Tiller in May 2009. According to CNN, Roeder “agonized over the decision to kill Tiller, but said the act was done so that the doctor could not 'kill again' ”:

“It was the most agonizing and stressful decision I have ever had to make, and it took years to come to this conclusion, especially with the knowledge that I may never see my son, my daughter or my family again,” Roeder said at his sentencing at the Sedgwick County Courthouse.

“It is the duty of the state of Kansas to protect all of the people, including those whom George Tiller killed. Had the courts acted rightfully, I would have not shot George Tiller,” he said.

James Kopp convicted of murdering Buffalo-area abortion provider. James Kopp was convicted of second-degree murder for the October 1998 death of Buffalo-area abortion provider Barnett Slepian. The New York Times reported that Kopp was an “avowed opponent of abortion rights” and was “also suspected in the shooting of at least four other doctors in New York and Canada, all of whom survived.”

Salvi convicted of murder in 1994 shootings at Massachusetts clinics. In December 1994, John Salvi killed two women and wounded five others during attacks on two reproductive clinics in Brookline, MA. Salvi was arrested the following day after he began shooting at an abortion clinic in Norfolk, VA. According to eyewitness accounts, during the attack, Salvi shouted: “This is what you get! You should pray the rosary!” Salvi's lawyers attempted to prove he was insane, but Salvi was sentenced to life without parole.

Former minister killed Pensacola abortion provider in 1994. In July 1994, Paul Jennings Hill, a former Presbyterian minister, killed abortion provider John Bayard Britton and Britton's volunteer escort outside of a Pensacola, FL, clinic. Hill was quoted as saying “I believe in the short and long term, more and more people will act on the principles for which I stand. ... I'm willing and I feel very honored that they are most likely going to kill me for what I did.” Hill was the first person in the United States executed for anti-abortion violence. Prior to the execution, then-State Attorney General Charlie Crist “received death threats in letters that contained bullets.”

Griffin found guilty of murdering abortion provider during protest outside of clinic. In March 1993, Dr. David Gunn was killed by anti-abortion activist Michael Frederick Griffin. According to The Washington Post, Griffin attended an anti-abortion protest and followed Gunn after he left his car, shooting him three times. The Post further noted that "[w]hile abortion providers routinely are threatened with death, and their clinics have been bombed and vandalized, the killing here is believed to be the first in the nation's ongoing struggle over abortion."

Self-described “terrorist to abortionists” mailed fake anthrax to abortion clinics. As USA Today reported in November 2004, Clayton Lee Waagner was convicted in December 2003 of “mailing hundreds of threat letters containing bogus anthrax to abortion clinics in 24 states.” USA Today further noted that "[d]uring his trial in Philadelphia, prosecutors documented Waagner's ties to the Army of God, an extremist group that believes violence against abortion providers is an acceptable way to end abortion." The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported (accessed via Nexis) that Waagner described himself as a “terrorist to abortionists.”

Man sentenced to 40 years after leaving explosive device at Texas clinic. According to The Houston Chronicle (accessed via Nexis), Paul Ross Evans was sentenced to 40 years in prison “for attempting to use an explosive at an Austin clinic that performs abortions” in April 2007. The Chronicle reported that Evans placed a homemade bomb “in the parking lot near the clinic entrance and activated the timer” but that the “bomb did not detonate because the triggering wire did not make contact with the explosive material, investigators determined.”

Army of God member Eric Rudolph carried out a series of bombings against abortion clinics and the 1996 Olympic Games. Christian extremist Eric Rudolph in 2005 pleaded guilty to four bombings. In a written statement, Rudolph claimed the government had “forfeited their legitimacy and moral authority to govern” due to the fact that it had “legalized, sanctioned and legitimized” abortion. Rudolph, in addition, called “the concerted effort to legitimize the practice of homosexuality” an “assault upon the integrity of American society.” Rudolph attacked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, AL; Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta; and a family-planning clinic and lesbian bar, both in Atlanta.

Anti-Semitic attacks

James Von Brunn attacked U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In June 2009, James W. Von Brunn attacked the U.S. Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. Von Brunn allegedly held white supremacist and anti-Semitic views, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Von Brunn had previously spent six years in prison for attempting to take hostages at the Federal Reserve in 1981. Von Brunn died in federal custody about five months after the attack.