On the September 12 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck said that "[t]he Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians" and "[i]f they take over ... we're going to have to nuke the whole place." Beck said the thought came to him at “5 o'clock in the morning” after hearing of the failed attempt by four armed men to storm the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria. Beck added that the Syrian government is “no stranger in fighting terror” because, in the 1980s, when “the Muslim Brotherhood tried to overthrow the Syrian government,” the Syrian government “basically slaughtered as many as 40,000 people.” He then asked whether the Syrians had carried out the slaughter “because they're monsters that I just can't relate to or ... because that's the only way to defeat extreme evil, to wipe it out completely.” He added that the Syrians are “not really the good guys,” concluding: “I don't want to become the Syrians, but what are the other alternatives when you're dealing with people who won't stop. I mean, nothing will stop them until they kill you.”

From the September 12 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: Did you see the attack on our embassy in Syria? The Middle East is being overrun by 10th-century barbarians. That's what I thought at 5 o'clock this morning, and I thought, “Oh, geez, what -- what is this?” If they take over -- the barbarians storm the gate and take over the Middle East (this is what I'm thinking at 5 o'clock in the morning) -- we're going to have to nuke the whole place.

Well, geez, I don't want to be thinking that. And I certainly don't want to get on national television and say it later. But as nuts as that sounds, here's why that insane thought went through my head today, and it's because I know about this much of the history of the Middle East.

Let me introduce you to some other insane thinkers. It's called the government of Syria. They are no stranger in fighting terror. In the 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood tried to overthrow the Syrian government. How did the Syrian government respond? They basically slaughtered as many as 40,000 people. Nuts, right?

But here's what I was thinking this morning. Did they do that because they're monsters that I just can't relate to or are they doing that because that's the only way to defeat extreme evil, to wipe it out completely?

And remember, the Syrians -- not really the good guys in our scenario. I don't want to become the Syrians, but what are the other alternatives when you're dealing with people who won't stop. I mean, nothing will stop them until they kill you. And it's a pattern in the Middle East. Or at least it feels that way.