Senator Dick Durbin (search) slams his own country. I think it's safe to say that most Americans see the war on terror in a far different way than many in the rest of the world. And before we analyze the incredible remarks by Senator Durbin, it's important to understand exactly what the majority of nations inside the UN are willing to accept.
First, chaos inside Iraq. That could lead to the rise of another terrorist state, even worse than Saddam's regime. Nuclear weapons in the hands of fanatical Iranian mullahs and the protection of top al Qaeda (search) leaders by those same mullahs. Nuclear weapons in the hands of the brutal North Korean regime. Captured terrorists being given Geneva Convention (search) rights which means no coercive interrogation. A world court that after nearly four years still can't complete the trial of Serbian dictator Milosevic and genocide in the Sudan.
That is what the world is willing to accept. And if the USA does not accept those things, then we are considered the problem. There is also a fifth column within America that's willing to accept the aforementioned and it is here where things get dicey because irresponsible dissent can undermine the war effort.
Enter Dick Durbin, the liberal senator from Illinois who voted against the action in Iraq this time around and back in 1991 after Saddam invaded Kuwait. Senator Durbin didn't want the U.S. to take military action against Saddam even when his thugs were murdering and raping Kuwaitis.
So I was a bit puzzled when Durbin went off the rails after reading an FBI report that said Gitmo (search) interrogators had kept suspects chained in hot and cold rooms.
SEN. DICK DURBIN, (D) IL: If I read this to you and didn't tell you that it was an FBI (search) agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime, Pol Pot or others that had no concern for human beings.
O'REILLY: Now, I hope Durbin will come on "The Factor'" because I have a simple question for him. If he's so concerned about human beings, what about the Kuwaitis? Or the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis whom Saddam murdered? If it were up to Durbin, Saddam would still be sitting there killing people. It's a simple question because I'm a simple man.
What it comes down to is this, ladies and gentlemen, do you the American people approve of coerced interrogation of suspected terrorists? Again a simple question. As for Durbin, the good people of Illinois have got to vote him out. His provocative sound byte will be used all over the world by anti-American media and that in turn will create more hatred for the U.S.A. The simpletons abroad will say, "See? Even a U.S. senator says American is like Hitler."
Senator Durbin is entitled to dissent. But his unreasoned condemnation of his own country is disgraceful and more importantly, it's dangerous. And that's "The Memo."
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
As you may now Bob Geldof (search) is organizing Live 8 (search), eight concerts in eight cities on the same night, to bring awareness to the poverty issue in Africa. The concerts are free, but some who have tickets have been trying to sell them on eBay.
Geldof asked eBay (search) to halt that. EBay ignored him, so Geldof called the outfit an electronic pimp and asked people to swamp it with phony bids on the tickets. That wreaked havoc, and now eBay has withdrawn the concert tickets from sale.
Ridiculous? Nope. Geldof did the right thing. These Internet people have to be held accountable.
—You can watch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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