Juan Williams Refers to the 'Murder' of bin Laden
While discussing what role President Bush and enhanced interrogations played in the death of Osama bin Laden, Fox News Sunday panelist Juan Williams referred to the terrorist's death as "murder."
Responding to conservative Paul Gigot, Williams dismissed, "But to somehow say it's because we were engaged in enhanced interrogation, and that led- and it's a very uncertain path that it leads directly to the murder of Osama bin Laden- it seems to me petty, and it seems to me an attempt to diminish President Obama's accomplishments."
[See video below. MP3 audio here.]
No one on the May 8 panel objected or complained about Williams' phraseology, but Webster's dictionary defines murder as "the crime of unlawfully killing a human being." So, perhaps that's a term that Williams would like to take back.
Williams, who was considered not liberal enough for NPR, continued to downplay enhanced interrogations, chiding, "So what if we got some information by means of torturing people?" He added, "It's not in our value to pull out people's teeth and eyeballs. And secondly, you know what? We can get that information in other ways."
A transcript of the exchange, which aired on May 08, follows:
PAUL GIGOT: I mean, the fascinating big picture here is the degree to which the Obama policies have inherited and even expanded and built on what Bush did. The architecture here of the war on terror, whether it be permanent detentions, or almost permanent detentions, Guantanamo, secret rules for state secrets --
CHRIS WALLACE: Drones.
GIGOT: -drones- I mean, those things, across the board --
WALLACE: Surge in Afghanistan.
GIGOT: -- he has taken those and he has basically inherited them. And much like Eisenhower took Truman's Cold War architecture, built on it, and said this is now a permanent part of American policy, I think Obama has done that with the Bush anti-terror architecture.
JUAN WILLIAMS: Listen, this is so -- to me, this is so petty, that somehow now Republicans are trying to say we must be sure to credit President Bush. President Bush deserves credit for what he did. He kept the country safe after 9/11; we did not have a subsequent attack. But to somehow say it's because we were engaged in enhanced interrogation, and that led -- and it's a very uncertain path that it leads directly to the murder of Osama bin Laden- it seems to me petty, and it seems to me an attempt to diminish President Obama's accomplishments. Let me finish the point. You know what? So what if we got some information by means of torturing people? As President Obama - and we heard this morning from Tom Donilon -- it's not in our value to pull out people's teeth and eyeballs. And secondly, you know what? We can get that information in other ways.
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Comments
Yes Juan, we can get that information in other ways.
Submitted by WhoIsJohnGalt on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:07pm.
Just like we can get abundant energy in other ways rather than burning "fossil" fuels. Like what? Well, when pressed for details and exact answers, they get all fuzzy and their certainty dilutes into a slurry of assumptions and general "...there are experts who can do those things".
Fact is, if the experts who are running the intelligence operations believed or knew that they could obtain the information in other ways, THEY'D BE DOING IT!!!!
Enhanced interrogation is not the barbaric methods of torture that third-world countries and inquisition practitioners engaged in. It's a science that works if used correctly as part of a larger picture. It's a tool, not an end-all.
The other ways that Juan is
Submitted by Ruths husband Ben on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:23pm.
The other ways that Juan is referring to are not nearly as satisfying as waterboarding. Yes, waterboarding is not pulling out terrorist's "teeth and eyeballs" and such, but it has to be fun, nonetheless. I would wait in line to pour water on a terrorist.
Pulling out teeth and eyeballs
Submitted by Blonde on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:39pm.
We heard this yesterday and howled!
Why the other panelists didn't stop him in his tracks after that little bit of idiocy is beyond me. I suppose they were just letting him be stupid.
The "Murder of Bin Laden". I wonder how that's playing on the Arab Street, Juan?
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
O'Reilly scolded Juan...
Submitted by almostacowboy on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 4:50pm.
earlier in the week, sarcastically chiding him (paraphrasing), "Juan, Juan, Juan. I've tried to educate you for years, but you still fall back into the liberal hystrionics....eye-gouging, pulling fingernails. Tch, tch."
Liberals seem either unable (or unwilling) to distinguish the varying degrees of "enhanced interrogation". It seems that, to them, sleep deprivation is the same as cutting off Daniel Pearl's head.
Holy blathering eggplant
Submitted by Clemenza on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:12pm.
Holy blathering eggplant Batman . . . . . . . . .
Hahahahahahahaha!!
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:17pm.
Wow! I like Juan, merely because he is not a rabid partisan and actually believes what he says, but, man, oh man, he just called Obama a murderer!! Yow!!
Interesting Freudian Slip From The Left..?
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:21pm.
Well, I certainly don't think of UBL's killing as "murder" but don't you find it interesting that all the same castrated lefties that are cheering are the same clowns who so "whole-heartedly" supported the elimination of "harsh interrogation techniques..."?
Where is the lack of equivalence in their minds.
Why can't I reconcile these two points that are pure KoolAid to the Left...?
vs.
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
Juan....
Submitted by Mark81150 on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:24pm.
To other liberals Juan may be a conservative, but this stuff clearly shows his views are pretty liberal. The defense of Juan by the right, was a principled stand, it's hard not to like the man, and watching the left try and destroy him, triggered the natural urge conservatives have to stand up to a bully.
But while he's vastly more fair minded than the rest of the left, he still falls back on liberal orthydoxy sometimes. In particular, he has a purely emotional kneejerk defense of anything Obama. Demanding the left, the president share credit with those who built the path is not "petty", it's basic fairness and decency.
Juan has the apparent view, that anything that prevents Obama from taking 100% credit for something is just mean.
Well, if he'd pull his thumb out of his racial pride for ten seconds......
He'd see just how absurd that is. Just reverse the Names and years served, and imagine Juan's ire if Mr. Bush took all the credit.. If he'd given a speech so loaded with I's and me's, it looked like a Seasame Street musical skit, he'd be outraged we'd slighted the man who'd done 90% of the preliminary work.
Juan's too wrapped up in the pride thing to be fair here.
The left is still in denial...
Submitted by c5then on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 1:56pm.
They are still looking at this whole issue as if it is a police/judicial issue as a homicide or agravated assault.
It's not. We are in a war. Al Qaeda declared it on us. Killing the commanding general of the opposing force is a perfectly legitamate target. No one would have objected to (or be objecting to) the killing of Rommel or Yamamotto or Himmler or Goering, etc. in WWII. This is absolutely no different.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
Not just war
Submitted by jon_torlin on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 2:20pm.
But a holy war(jihad for those of you in rio linda means holy war).
Which brings religion into it, which means the Chairman was lying his sorry ass off about it not being about Islam.(ok, so he lies all the time, just being redundant, I know)
I don't want to be PC about their religion of peace(through tyranny). They are what they are, which make them targets so step right in front of our M60s, our bombs, any weapons we have at our disposal so that we can hasten their way to 72 virgin somethings.
Al Qaida, Hezzbollah(which apparently have a base off the Texas border in Mexico), Hamas, any of their counterparts and offshoots, all are ripe for targeting. Whoever said "kill them all, let God sort them out" has it right.
-Jon
Other methods
Submitted by Model850 on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 2:13pm.
What, is Juan channeling Joy Behar and thinking we could just offer them $6M book deals for the info?
And come on Juan. It's not "petty" to want Bush's role acknowledged. As a "leftie" you should understand that those on the right just want liberals to pay Bush his "fair share" of credit.
Wuthering heights...............................................
Submitted by Tomorama on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 2:29pm.
WE ARE NOT DIMINISHING WHAT OBAMBI DID, just telling the truth that HE, Bite Me and Hilarity are now enjoying the victory while MANY of the tools they ALL DECRIED WORKED and were DONE BY BUSH.
Bush is getting bleep for credit and it is funny how these cowards have for two plus years blamed Bush for everything wrong in the world, HERE, he actually had something to do with it and CUE THE CRICKETS.
Bush, Patriot act, rendition, GITMO, EIT's?????
Who is this Bush that you speak of, Kate Bush?
it's murder alright
Submitted by wizardjr on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 2:29pm.
once again Juan murders intellect by opening his mouth.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Caught In Bin Laden Hideout Video
Submitted by im41 on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 2:50pm.
GIF
http://conservativeblogscentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/mahmoud-ahmadinejad...
Memo to Juan
Submitted by Bill Brasky on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 2:54pm.
The most accurate term for what we did to bin Laden is "exterminate".
Pest control.
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 3:52pm.
Pest control.
Is Juan?
Submitted by almostacowboy on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 4:39pm.
There are those on the left who want all animate and inanimate forms (mother Earth, rocks, animals, insects, and plant matter) to have legal standing. Is Juan one, too? (sorry, I couldn't help myself).
Juan Williams: open mouth,
Submitted by Beukeboom on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 3:58pm.
Juan Williams: open mouth, insert foot, repeat.
Sure, it's murder.
Submitted by johnsonl on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 4:12pm.
He was treated exactly like an enemy. Unless he surrenders, he gets killed. What liberals don't get is that wars require killing.
The term Murder
Submitted by Owasco on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 5:27pm.
Perhaps Noel Sheppard would like to take the term "murder" back. He used it in a Newsbuster article on May 3--last week.
So, are you like the Noel Sheppard fuzz, or something?
Submitted by Dave. on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 6:07pm.
NB may be a conservative site, but that doesn't mean the contributers here all see eye-to-eye on everything.
Has it occurred to you that just maybe, Noel and Scott might have a slightly different take on things?
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Noel no takem back words, Owasco.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 6:48pm.
Noel fierce warrior, no like liberal peaceful potters of Owasco tribe.
Owasco men like women. Whine a lot.
Owasco say
Submitted by Dan Diego on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 7:55pm.
sheep lie.
Outstanding SoL!!
Submitted by BEGRUNT on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 8:21pm.
Still LMAO over that one......You speakem truth!!
"A nation can suffer it's fool's, but cannot survive the traitor"
Cicero
SoL thank Begrunt.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 8:45pm.
SoL say "Hey, me try."
SoL also say Noel not same as Scott. Different.
"We can get that information in other ways."
Submitted by Dan Diego on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 7:54pm.
With programs like "Human Caused Disaster Walker" where we let known terrorists walk and trace them back to their leaders, ignoring the carnage along the way. Of course if we catch a leader, we'll let him walk to find his leader. Then we'll let him walk...
While I do believe Juan
Submitted by amyshulk on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 8:49pm.
While I do believe Juan believes what he says, he vacillates. When he guest-hosts for BOR, he sounds like Pres. Obama did for parts of the campaign. When he's the lib on the Sunday panel, or a guest on BOR, he lets his inner liberal out to play.
I find it funny, since I've had his number for quite awhile now, that it appears the panel has decided to just let him run with his egregious declarations/conflations and show us what the left really thinks.
Ronald Reagan
"an attempt to diminish President Obama's accomplishments"
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 9:08pm.
As contrasted with cashing in on plans and mechanisms bush instituted that he is taking all credit for? That attempt? Really, now.
Juan
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 9:21pm.
I used to have doubt that Juan is a college graduate. After listening to him lately I have doubts that he graduated from high school.
Sad Jaun, very very sad
Submitted by Boudin on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 9:30pm.
it's not in our value to pull out people's teeth and eyeballs. And secondly, you know what? We can get that information in other ways.
You know damd well w dont do anything like this. What a pathetic ideologue
Well Juan, if you and your
Submitted by dscott on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 12:33am.
Well Juan, if you and your liberal buddies wouldn't object to water boarding, Osama Bin Laden wouldn't have needed to die.
We need to get honest here, would the Seal team have taken a greater risk in attempting to capture Bin Laden knowing his fate was to be water boarded continually for years on end until we squeezed every drop of info out of him OR because they knew he would be in a cushy cell at Gitmo gaining weight with zero punishment to fit his crimes that it wasn't worth the risk of their lives to take him alive?????? You see the risk/reward equation they calculated?
So there you have it Juan, in your squeamishness to disallow a rough interrogation of a terrorist, you liberals/Juan condemned him to death. So who's the murderer now?
Murder?
Submitted by IdahoJim on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 1:33pm.
Really, Juan?
I guess that makes Obama "Murderer in Chief".
or
Could this be considered a Freudian slip? If so, I'm not surprised coming from Juan.
IdahoJim
http://idahoandy.net