Discussing guest Robert “Buzz” Patterson's new book War Crimes: The Left's Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror (Random House, June 2007), 1310 KFKA host Amy Oliver asserted that “American universities are very similar [to ”mosque schools"] in the way they indoctrinate young people." After Oliver noted that such schools “indoctrinate particularly young boys into hatred for America,” Patterson agreed that “many of our nation's universities and high schools do much the same thing.”

Oliver and Patterson also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for having traveled to Syria earlier this year, omitting that congressional Republicans also visited the nation, both before Pelosi and as part of her delegation. Additionally, Patterson distorted remarks by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) that were critical of U.S. policies in the Iraq war and against international terrorism; Patterson asserted, “American soldiers are being killed because of those statements.”

Patterson, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, also wrote Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America's National Security (Regnery Publishing, 2003) and Reckless Disregard: How Liberal Democrats Undermine Our Military, Endanger Our Soldiers, and Jeopardize Our National Security (Regnery Publishing, 2004). Media Matters for America and Colorado Media Matters have documented several examples of how Patterson has used misinformation and falsehoods to attack Democrats.

Oliver, who is also director of operations for the conservative Independence Institute, said during the interview that she wanted to “examine why the Left is betraying the United States.” Along with Patterson, she professed to draw a distinction between “dissent” and “betrayal.”

From the July 2 broadcast of 1310 KFKA's The Amy Oliver Show:

OLIVER: One of the things you make -- you make clear in the book is, there is a huge difference between -- and I, and I want to set this up so that we can examine why the Left is betraying the United States as opposed to just expanding the dialogue on the war on terror. You make a great distinction between dissent -- in other words, having that debate and having a difference of opinion -- and betrayal, which could be seen as almost treasonous, and disloyal. Because you hear from the Left, “Well, if you disagree you're called, you know, unpatriotic and not an American.” What is that difference? Explain that, that difference, because I think it's a very important one.

PATTERSON: Yeah, I think it's essential, actually, Amy, not only to the thesis of this book, but it's essential to what's going on in the war, you know, over in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I -- and I actually wanted to make sure in the book very clearly that -- that's, I want the Left to read the book too. I think that they need to read the book. You know, I, I spent my entire Air Force career defending the rights of Americans to speak freely and to live their lives as they, as they see fit. And I, and I do. I value dissent and, and political discussion in this country. Where I draw the line is where statements, irresponsible statements that take the dissent to the battlefield in, where American soldiers are being killed because of those statements. And I believe when Harry Reid stands on the floor of the Congress and says, “The war is lost”; when Dick Durbin likens our soldiers at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis and Soviets and gulags; you know, when, when John Kerry says our soldiers are stupid, that goes right to the heart of what the enemy is, is expecting and hoping for, is for American resolve, American backbiting to wither and, and have another Vietnam-type scenario and we fizzle out. That, that -- when those sorts of statements show up on Al Jazeera and Al Arabia and are flashed up on Al Qaeda websites across the world, that emboldens the enemy, and it gets Americans killed.

But in characterizing as “irresponsible” Reid's observation at an April 19 press conference that the Iraq war “is lost,” Patterson failed to acknowledge, as Colorado Media Matters has noted, that at the same press conference Reid clarified his statement, adding, "[T]he war, at this stage, can only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically." Reid explained that in a meeting with President Bush the previous day, he had delivered this same message -- which he called one that Bush “needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear.”

Patterson's assertion that Kerry "[said] our soldiers are stupid" apparently refers to a remark Kerry made at an October 30, 2006, campaign rally, which Kerry later explained to have been a botched joke directed not at U.S. soldiers but at President Bush, as Colorado Media Matters has noted. The Boston Globe reported on November 1, 2006, that copies of Kerry's prepared speech released to reporters suggested that the written remarks did, in fact, take aim at Bush and Bush administration policies:

Kerry aides yesterday said the senator bungled a line intended to make fun of the president, a fellow Yale University graduate who has poked fun at his own lackadaisical attitude toward his schooling. According to Kerry's prepared text, as provided to reporters, Kerry intended to reference Bush in that portion of the speech.

“Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy?” Kerry was to say. “You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.”

Oliver and Patterson then repeated misleading criticism of Pelosi for having led a delegation that met with Syrian President Bashar al Assad on April 4:

OLIVER: And how about Nancy Pelosi going to Syria?

PATTERSON: Yeah, exactly. Going to Syria, wearing, wearing, the, you know, the traditional Muslim headdress -- which is fine -- but going to Syria -- she's not the State Department, and she's not commander in chief. And I think that, you know -- there's definitely stories about the, about this in the book War Crimes, Amy. It's just time and time again. It's not just a handful of incidents. It's, it's everything from Nancy Pelosi to Harry Reid to Michael Moore's movies being played over there, to Hollywood, to academics in this country that are, are hoping for American soldiers to be killed. I mean, it's just constant.

But neither Patterson nor Oliver disclosed, as Colorado Media Matters noted, that a House Republican delegation, consisting of Reps. Frank Wolf (VA), Joe Pitts (PA), and Robert Aderholt (AL), met with Assad on April 1, three days before Pelosi spoke with the Syrian president. As the Associated Press reported on April 1, the delegation's statement declared, “We came because we believe there is an opportunity for dialogue. We are following in the lead of Ronald Reagan, who reached out to the Soviets during the Cold War.” The AP in an April 5 article quoted Wolf as saying, “I don't care what the administration says on this. You gotta do what you think is in the best interest of your country.”

Additionally, as CBS News and the AP reported on March 31, Pelosi's delegation included Republican Rep. David Hobson (OH). Moreover, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (CA) met with Assad on April 5, a day after Pelosi's meeting; the April 5 AP article further reported that Issa “said President Bush had failed to promote the dialogue that is necessary to resolve disagreements between the United States and Syria.”

Finally, Oliver also asserted that American high schools and universities “indoctrinate young people” much like some radical Muslim schools known as madrassas, which Oliver said teach “hatred for America”:

OLIVER: Yeah, let's talk about that, because -- you lay out a couple of, of great -- what I would say, actually, sort of institutionalized betrayal. And that's really the way I would categorize it. One of the ones you, you talk about, for instance, if, if we put it in this perspective in the book: You know, over in the Middle East, they have these, these schools, sort of mosque schools where they indoctrinate particularly young boys into hatred for America. And, and it, it really starts at an, at an early age, and it really is designed to almost, I don't know, raise suicide bombers. But you bring it home and you say, and -- I looked at it and thought, “You know what, American universities are very similar in the way they indoctrinate young people.”

PATTERSON: That's exactly right. You know, Hitler, the Hitler Youth and the madrassas are what the, the Islamo-extremists use in Pakistan, and we have, unfortunately, in this country, many of our nation's universities and high schools do much the same thing. In the book, there's several studies that I, that I talk about that reveal that about 90 percent of most college faculties are left of center, some, some way left of center.