The Vatican and Kofi Annan Weigh In On Saddam

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly.  Thank you for watching us tonight.

The Vatican and [U.N. Secretary General] Kofi Annan weigh in on the capture of Saddam.  That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

Mr. Annan is a one-trick pony, a talker not a fighter.  He loves to inject theory into life and death situations, which is naive at best, dangerous at worst.

Now the U.N. Secretary-General is demanding that Saddam not be executed.  With all due respect to Secretary Annan, it's not his call.

He allowed Saddam to impose the death penalty on hundreds of thousands of people, so Annan has zero moral authority.  If this man had backed up tough action against Saddam five years ago, thousands of human beings would be alive today.

Not quite as offensive, but still outrageous are the remarks of the Cardinal Renato Martino (search), the head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace Department.

The cardinal said, "I felt pity to see this man Saddam destroyed, the military looking at his teeth as if he were a beast.  They could have spared us these pictures.  Seeing him like this, a man in his tragedy, despite all the heavy blame he bears, I had a sense of compassion for him."

Now, let's break down the cardinal's statement.

One, the U.S. military doctors looking in Saddam's mouth to see if poison was secreted in a tooth, a common form of suicide for war criminals.  Get a clue, Cardinal.

Two, showing pictures of a humiliated butcher may prevent other butchers from doing evil.  Get it, Cardinal?

Three, you can afford to feel compassion for Saddam, Cardinal, because the USA protects the Vatican from the forces of evil.  America has been doing this since 1945.  While you pray, we protect at the cost of American lives.

The cardinal's words were immediately used against the USA.  The dreadful BBC ran this headline: "Vatican slams handling of Saddam."  This, of course, causes more anti-American feeling throughout the world.

As a practicing Catholic, I respect my church's message of peace on earth and goodwill toward men, but I don't believe Saddam deserves compassion, respect or any other civility.

He has committed crimes against humanity.  He must pay for those crimes.  And his treatment should be based upon repentance.  If he gives up information that will help in the war on terror, he gets the minimum any criminal in the USA would get.  If not, then he suffers.

The problem with the Vatican and the U.N. and others who have no solution to fascism, terror, atrocities and mass murder is that they live in a dream world.  And they are afforded that luxury by America, Britain and other free nations who stood up to Nazis, communists, Japanese imperialists and now the terrorists.

Cardinal Martino and Kofi Annan may be well intentioned, but they're not looking out for us.  And we are the only thing standing between them and a bullet.

And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

Hanukkah is just three days away, Christmas nine days away, and I'm afraid to go to the mall.  That's right.  I fear the mall zombies who will eat your flesh if you get between them and a product they want.

Now because I'm looking out for you, I have a way around the zombies.  Both The Factor, which we'll give you the address in a moment, and billoreilly.com offer a wide variety of gifts to please everyone except Barbra Streisand.  There just is no pleasing that woman.

Now, if you don't have a computer, you can dial 1-877-4 -- the number four -- ALL-GIFTS.  And Santa or one of the elves will be there to take your order.  So we're looking out for you, OK.  We're looking out for you with the computer or without.  1-877-4-ALL-GIFTS.

And you see this pen right here?  This is like the "Spin Stops Here" pen that I use here.  The official pen.  We have it.  And all this stuff is just designed to make your life easier.  And I'm writing some big checks to charity this evening.  This evening.  My hand's shaking, OK, because that's what we do with a lot of the money.

And if you don't have a phone or a computer, I just can't help you because that is truly ridiculous.  Even Santa has a phone.

All right.  Before we go to the mail, this is the billoreilly.com poll question in play: Where should Saddam be tried -- in the USA, Iraq, or The Hague?  Where should Saddam be tried -- USA, Iraq, The Hague?  We'll give you the results tomorrow, so please vote now.