Mother of Killed Navy SEAL Protests Yale

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," March 23, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: On June 28, Navy SEAL Dan Healy was killed in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down by the Taliban. So you can imagine his mother Natalie's shock and outrage when she learned in February, less than nine months after her son's death, that the former spokesman of that murderous regime was now enrolled as a student at Yale University.

Now, today she tried to take her story directly to the president of Yale University, and Natalie Healy joins us now in a "Hannity & Colmes" exclusive to tell us what happened.

First of all, ma'am, my heart and I know our prayers and the prayers of our audience go out to you. I can't imagine the pain you lived through. Tell us what happened today.

NATALIE HEALY, SON KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: Well, I intended to go to Yale to actually just stand there, and voice my opinion, and call them to task for taking on this former Taliban as a student.

And I called the president's office. And lo and behold, he agreed to meet with me, but he was running late and he had a lot of appointments. And because I got caught in traffic and, for other reasons, I wasn't able to make it. So I didn't get to speak to him.

I spoke to someone else — Mr. Conroy. And basically, he just listened to what I had to say. He had no defense, really, and he had no answer to why they would allow that to happen, no definitive answer that I thought was satisfactory.

HANNITY: The bottom line is — and we've chronicled a lot of this — and this is when we sent our cameras, Natalie, to Yale to try and interview this person — but basically, this man was an apologist for the group that killed your son.

HEALY: Right.

HANNITY: He defended this brutal regime.

HEALY: Exactly. Exactly.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: It takes one's breath away to understand what Yale, a prestigious university, would ever have with somebody like that on their campus. What would you have told the president, if you had that chance?

HEALY: I would say that it's so harmful at so many levels to allow a person of his caliber, a person who has not shown any remorse, or very little, and to allow them to get a premiere education in this country. Certainly, if they want to have a bridge between the Afghanis and Americans, they could find a person of a different caliber.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Natalie, it's Alan. Thank you for coming on our show.

HEALY: Hi, Alan.

COLMES: And our hearts do go out to you, even if we might have some differences of opinion about whether he should or should not be at Yale, this guy. And, basically, you know, and those of us who think it's OK that he's there, meaning no disrespect to your family or anybody else who suffered, is that...

HEALY: But, see, that's the point, Alan, is that it's an insult to us.

COLMES: I understand. I understand that. But, you know, we live in a diverse country and many people feel that he's better off here than he would be back in a regime which is still infiltrated by the Taliban.

HEALY: When did it become OK to allow diversity to just shove decency out of the way?

COLMES: What specific danger is there for him being here? And isn't he better off in a democracy than back in Afghanistan?

HEALY: This is the specific danger — I believe that there is a climate in this country where the educational system is beating down patriotism. And the unspoken message to children in this country, when they hear that a wonderful institution of higher learning like Yale allows the former spokesman for the Taliban in, they get the wrong message.

COLMES: Well, with all due respect, ma'am, I think it's patriotic, in fact, to allow someone, no matter what their point of view is, to be in our educational system, with the hope that they might become better educated and more democratized. That's the whole idea.

HEALY: Not when they're still out killing our children as we speak. Not when the Taliban is still out killing our children as we speak.

COLMES: You don't want him back there with them killing them, do you?

HEALY: When our men and women are over in Afghanistan...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Natalie, I'm very sorry at the loss of your son. This is a disgrace to this country.

HEALY: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: This is a disgrace to this country that that man is even in here.

HEALY: Yes, it is.

HANNITY: God bless you and your family. Thank you for being with us.

HEALY: Thank you. Thank you.

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