Video: To watch "The Memo" click here.
Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight.
The war on terror, why the USA is not fighting it effectively. That's the subject of this evening's "Talking Points" memo.
This is a tale of two strategies. Militarily, America's doing fine against the terrorists who would kill us. Al Qaeda has been disrupted, and Saddam Hussein will soon be an endangered species. America's military has been outstanding.
But things go rapidly downhill from there. We all now know that the CIA and the FBI did not protect us from bin Laden's murderers. They say things are getting better. Let's pray they do.
As far as the INS is concerned, the situation remains disastrous. As we demonstrated last night, just about anyone in Saudi Arabia can get a visa to enter the USA, and our borders are still porous, with Canada and Mexico not really helping very much.
So we are not going to keep determined terrorists out of here.
And when we catch suspected terrorists, chaos reigns. The civil libertarians are all over the government, demanding due process for POWs and accused war criminals. Unless the Bush administration begins defining a coherent policy toward prosecuting alleged terrorists, judges like Shira Scheindlin here in New York will continue to throw out charges against them, and unscrupulous lawyers will continue to batter national security in the name of an aggressive criminal defense.
Once again, al Qaeda people, even if they are American citizens, are not committing criminal acts. They are committing war crimes. Hitler and Himmler were not felons, they were executioners. War crimes are different than justice violations, even if they are committed inside the country.
Remember, the primary battlefield is here. So the Bush administration must articulate a well-defined war crimes policy and stop the judicial chaos that is making it easier for people to kill us.
As far as the captured terrorists are concerned, Evi Konaturovich (ph) asks an interesting question in today's "Wall Street Journal." Why are military interrogators not using truth serum on these people? Sodium pentathol and amytal are powerful painkillers, sedatives that can induce a person to talk freely. But our government does not use these drugs to extract information that could save lives without physically damaging the recipient.
It is clear that America is not close to using all the weapons it should be using to combat terror. We should be aggressively hunting down and assassinating known terrorists the world over. We should be aggressively interrogating prisoners with truth serum. And we should be using military tribunals to try captured terrorists, thereby protecting delicate intelligence gathering and at-risk witnesses.
But none of that is happening, and so we are not being protected as fully as we could be. It will take another horrendous loss of life before many Americans finally wake up and realize the lethal threat that is bent on destroying us. It is right here before our eyes, yet some will not see.
And that's the memo.
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
Time for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."
As predicted, Andy Rooney will not appear on The Factor. Last week, we talked with Bernard Goldberg about Mr. Rooney's statement on CNN that Dan Rather was transparently liberal. That's a quote. I wanted to explore that topic with Mr. Rooney, but no way he'll show up here. We still like you, Mr. Rooney, but come on, there's nothing to fear. All your compadres have been on The Factor. Don't be ridiculous. The invitation is still open. He'll never show up.
could provide a little pay back. Might be ridiculous, but either way, the strategy is sound.
— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox