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Published January 27, 2017
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," November 6, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Continuing now with our coverage of the Fort Hood massacre. Joining us from Washington, FOX News strategic analyst Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters, the author of the book "The War after Armageddon." And Colonel Peters' column on the Fort Hood massacre will appear in the New York Post tomorrow.
So you heard Bernie and Geraldo, and what say you?
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LT. COL. RALPH PETERS, FOX NEWS STRATEGIC ANALYST: Bill, we just need to get a grip on this and put it in perspective. Very straightforward. What happened yesterday at Fort Hood was the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. It was committed by a Muslim fanatic, who shouted 'Allah is great' and gunned down 44 unarmed innocent soldiers and civilians.
And our president tells us not to rush to judgment, to wait until all the facts are in. What facts are we waiting for? This was an Islamist terrorist act, and I'm sorry if it's inconvenient for Washington to face the facts, but there is no question about it. It was a terrorist act. It was committed by an Islamist. We knew he was an Islamist. The military did nothing about it out of political correctness. So, Bill, what am I missing?
O'REILLY: OK. Let me tell me what you might be missing, because I'm not disagreeing with you because I simply don't know. But I think there is the possibility that while this guy was a rabid Muslim, and obviously sympathetic to the Muslim cause, whatever it was in his mind, OK? There is a possibility that this guy was so troubled personally that he just snapped and that the Muslim thing wasn't the primary motivator for him killing all of those people. Now, I think we'll learn whether your theory is right or whether that the snap theory is right from his computer analysis, which they're doing now.
PETERS: Well, Bill, I don't think there is any contradiction. I mean, terrorists are not, by nature, happy campers. Suicide bombers aren't necessarily from the middle of the bell curve. There are a lot of crazy people who become terrorists, and terrorist masterminds play on them.
O'REILLY: But a snap is more of a spontaneous act. You see now…
PETERS: Yeah.
O'REILLY: …if they can prove that this guy had planned this out for weeks, then he's a terrorist, as I said in the "Talking Points Memo."
PETERS: Bill, he acquired the weapons. That takes a couple days.
O'REILLY: OK.
PETERS: He gave away his possessions, basically closed down his apartment. He clearly was planning it for at least several days. It was a cold-blooded act. It wasn't a crime of passion. You know, a husband coming home and discovering his wife in bed with her girlfriend. This was something very, very different. It was a terrorist act.
Now, you don't have to be plugged directly into Al Qaeda to be an Islamist terrorist. And this guy, look, he's got — what troubles me beyond the fact that this was a terrorist and the media, the mainstream, lame-stream media won't deal with it as such, it troubles me that our Army has become so politically correct that they didn't get rid of this guy.
O'REILLY: Do you think there was enough evidence, Colonel, from what you heard and what you know to cashier the guy? Was there enough evidence?
PETERS: Oh God, absolutely. Look, he's a psychiatrist. He was at Walter Reed counseling our returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. And he gave a talk at Walter Reed talking about how Islam calls for infidels to be murdered. He was counseled reportedly for arguing against the war with his patients. My God. Our veterans deserve better than that. A psychiatrist who's arguing with them against the war?
Look, this guy was a nut case, but he was also an Islamist extremist. I want our president to take a stand, stop this "Oh there is no Islamist terrorism." Fort Hood, the new 9/11, active Islamist terrorism on our soil. Let's be honest about it.
O'REILLY: All right, but you're never going to get the media to be honest about it. The only network and maybe the only program discussing how the media is covering this mass murder is Fox and "The Factor." I mean, maybe somebody else will do it later on, but you're not gonna get this kind of analysis in any of the other media. They're not going to do it, so that the American people, unless tuned into us, increasingly more and more, are not going to hear any of this. It's going to be the total blackout that they've had, that you know, it's post-traumatic stress syndrome that caused the guy to do it. I mean, crazy stuff like that.
PETERS: Yeah, well, first of all, the charge, you know, he was harassed and he broke. Good God. You know, every soldier goes through a little harassment. But let me tell you from personal experience, if there's harassment toward a minority or a religious minority in our military, man, your career is over for harassing him. And this guy filed a charge that was found there was no foundation to the charge. He's been a troublemaker and a sad sack for a long time. But because he was part of a protected species, a protected minority, the Army let him slide, just reassigned him. And what happens, 13 soldiers, well, 12 soldiers and civilian dead. Twenty-eight seriously wounded. A few more lightly wounded. And what do we say? Oops.
No, it's time to get rid of the PC culture in the Army, in society, in the media. And Bill, I believe your viewers understand that this was an act of Islamist terror, and the media is not going to fool them. And President Obama's not going to fool them. And at some point, we need to stop focusing on how tormented this poor Major Hasan was. And remember, how many of the names do we know of the dead? What about the names of the wounded? Have the media covered the family lives that have been destroyed? The lives that have been destroyed? No, it's all about poor Major Hasan, and I am ready to puke.
O'REILLY: All right, Colonel. We appreciate that very much. Thank you.
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