http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2007/cyb20070522.asp#6 O'Donnell:'655,000 Iraqi Civilians Dead. Who Are the Terrorists?'
On last Thursday's The View, Rosie equated the United States with terrorism, strongly implying U.S. soldiers have committed terrorist acts: "I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?" An appalled Elisabeth Hasselbeck demanded: "Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans?" O'Donnell stood her ground: "I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?" Then on Monday's show, O'Donnell responded to the fallout from her moral equivalency rant as she claimed some cable news outlets "twisted" her words, and then got personal with token non-liberal Hasselbeck, calling her critics the "crappy shows" that "Elisabeth watches." [This item is based on two NewsBusters blog postings by Justin McCarthy, online at: newsbusters.org <http://newsbusters.org/node/12823> And: http://newsbusters.org/node/12904 ] On the May 17 show, O'Donnell, in interrogating the non-liberal co-hosts, implied that the United States are the real terrorists: O'DONNELL: I haven't -- I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists? HASSELBECK: Who are the terrorists? O'DONNELL: 655,000 Iraqis -- I'm saying you have to look, we invaded- HASSELBECK: Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans? O'DONNELL: I'm saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us? HASSELBECK: Are we killing their citizens or are their people also killing their citizens? O'DONNELL: We're invading a sovereign nation, occupying a country against the U.N. After implying that they are terrorists, O'Donnell claimed to speak for the American people: "Because people no longer, the vast majority of Americans no longer are falling for the trick of the bad terrorist are out there to get us." Elisabeth Hasselbeck then turned the tables on O'Donnell and asked several times if the comedian "believes in terrorism." She did not answer the question until she finally said there is "government sponsored terrorism" including in the USA: HASSELBECK: Do you not believe in terrorism? O'DONNELL: I believe, Elisabeth, that 6,000 dead Americans from 9/11 and from this war is a lot less than 655,000 dead Iraqis. HASSELBECK: But do you believe in terrorism? O'DONNELL: I believe every human life is equal. HASSELBECK: Do you believe there is terrorism? O'DONNELL: I believe in state sponsored terrorism. I believe there is government sponsored terrorism by every nation in the world, including ours. The segment began as Joy Behar announced she "almost would vote for a Republican." That Republican is Texas Congressman and presidential hopeful Ron Paul. Her reasoning was that Ron Paul suggested in lat Tuesday's presidential debate that the United States invited the September 11 attacks. Behar felt Congressman Paul was "right on the money." For good measure, Behar also ranted against Giuliani for daring to speak out against the "blame America first" rhetoric: BEHAR: We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us. [Applause] That's, all he's saying, all he's saying is instead of just being a knee jerk like Rudy Giuliani, and you know Rudy Giuliani is not the only one who can respond to 9/11, excuse me. HASSELBECK: But he's the one who did. BEHAR: He happened to be there. So were we. We were all there also. The point is that there are other people in the country, including Ron Paul, who have another way of looking at Middle Eastern policy and we should be listening to those people too. On the May 21 show, O'Donnell answered to the charge that she called U.S. troops terrorists. Elisabeth followed up with a very pointed question. O'Donnell: "Okay, I'll say it a million times. I just think it's interesting that the network you support takes such joy in twisting my words and distorting them. I do not think our American troops are terrorists. I want our American troops home, able-bodied. [applause] I don't want them to invade countries that have done nothing to the, us. I don't want them to die at the hands of a Republican administration that doesn't care enough about them to give them health care when they return. I love our troops and will work for our troops and no matter what you say [bleeped out] I, and that's the truth. Change it around as you like." [Applause] Hasselbeck: "But when you pose that question, what is the answer to the question? Who are the terrorists?" O'Donnell soon turned on Hasselbeck: "But I didn't say it. You know who said it? Those crappy cable shows said it. The ones Elisabeth watches. Those shows." Hasselbeck harshly reacted to those comments and it prompted Rosie to personally attack her more: "I watch all cable news, number one. I watch all of the, because that's part of my job and as an American citizen I try to broaden as many concepts as possible by watching all those news programs, okay. I do, obviously, like, like certain shows. I'll throw them out if you want me to. Like Hannity and Colmes, they're one of my favorites, because they hold debates [applause] They hold debates on that show and I think that is, that is like what we do here only, you know, we have four women. And I think it's special here. But to say that, you know, someone can't hold two thoughts at the same time just because I believe in terrorism when there are Democrats out there running for office who don't want to believe in terrorism and they want to treat it like the boogeyman. How are they going to protect us from something-" O'Donnell: "I think that you're treating it like the boogeyman. I think they've used it to polarize people." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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