Bush Speech. Fox News Suggests Assassinating Asad

Bush says no retreat from Iraq, slams Syria and Iran
Posted: 06-10-2005 , 17:49 GMT

US President Bush said Thursday that "Islamic radicals" are seeking to "enslave whole nations and intimidate the world," and called that a prime reason not to cut and run in Iraq.

"There's always a temptation in the middle of a long struggle to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder," he said.

In a speech before the National Endowment for Democracy, Bush said Islamist groups have made Iraq their major front in a war against civilized society. "The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia," Bush stated.

Bush likened the ideology of Muslim militants to communism. And he said they are being "aided by elements of the Arab news media that incites hatred and anti-Semitism." "Against such an enemy, there's only one effective response: We never back down, never give in and never accept anything less than complete victory," Bush declared.

"We are facing a radical ideology with immeasurable objectives to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world," Bush said. Bush sressed the "terrorists" are aided by corrupt charities that direct money to terrorist activities and nations, such as Syria and Iran, calling them "allies of convenience" that back terrorists.

"The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in the war against humanity. And we must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war on terror," he said.

"Our commitment is clear - we will not relent until the organized international terror networks are exposed and broken and their leaders held to account for their acts of murder," Bush said.

"With every random bombing, and with every funeral of a child, it becomes more clear that the extremists are not patriots, or resistance fighters," Bush said. "They are murderers at war with the Iraqi people themselves."

Bush vowed not to retreat from Iraq or from the broader war on terrorism. "We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory," he said.

Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Calls For Assassination of Syrian President

For the second time in two months a prominent conservative television host has called for the assassination of a foreign leader. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said the U.S. should consider assassinating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he fails to help the United States with the war in Iraq. That was Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. In August, teleevangelist Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Venezulean President Hugo Chavez during a broadcast of his show the 700 Club.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/05/1326209

(2) CLIPS: O'Reilly endorsed assassinating Syrian leader if he "doesn't help us out"

http://mediamatters.org/items/rss/200510040005

On the October 3 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly called for the assassination of Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad, if Assad does not help promote stability in the Middle East by maintaining Iraq's borders. O'Reilly claimed that "we could take his life, and we should take his life if he doesn't help us out." O'Reilly was responding to Fox News contributor Gen. Wesley Clark's suggestion that the United States use diplomacy to bolster regional support for the Iraq war among uncooperative neighbors.

From the October 3 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: And joining us now from Little Rock, Arkansas, is Fox News military analyst General Wesley Clark, who has been thinking about Iraq policy. OK, General, go. What would you do if you were in charge?

CLARK: Bill, it's always taken a three-legged stool to succeed in Iraq. Leg one is the military, leg two is the politics inside Iraq, and leg three is the diplomacy in the region and especially with Iraq's neighbors.

Now, for the first year we were in Iraq, we only had leg one, the military. Then we added the political. The political is bringing a constitution to be voted on later this month that's going to really anger 20 percent of the population. And when it passes, which it probably will, we'll have deeper animosities inside Iraq.

So the mission is in trouble. You're right; it's a big mess. The reason is the Bush administration has never really grasped the diplomatic problem in the region. If we want to fix Iraq, we've got to work the diplomacy of the region. Now, how do we do it? We meet individually, we send emissaries in, we talk to Iraq's neighbors. Turkey, Jordan -- no problem. Kuwait -- no problem. Syria and Iran -- that's really tough. This administration doesn't want to talk to either one of them directly. And yet, they're part of the problem in Iraq. When we invaded Iraq, we let Syria and Iran know they were next.

We're putting the squeeze on Syria right now. We'd like to run -- the administration would like to run -- Bashar Assad out of town and get rid of this government in Syria. So he's got no incentive right now to try to help us work in Iraq. And as far as Iran is concerned, we've got a looming nuclear crisis with Iran, and we're not talking to them. So our military people, our mission in Iraq is being held hostage by the neighbors. We're going to have to talk to the neighbors if we want to make this mission work.

O'REILLY: All right. Well, Syria, I think you can probably make a deal -- is you spare Bashar's life if he cooperates with us. I agree with you.

[...]

O'REILLY: All right. So let's sum up. So you want to -- you want to --

CLARK: Take that common interest, and build out of it a regional dialogue, and let the United States then train the Iraqi forces, step back as the guarantor of regional security in the region, and then let each of these countries guarantee Iraq's border, and let their --

O'REILLY: All right. It's an optimistic viewpoint that they would do that.

CLARK: It's a possible viewpoint, Bill.

O'REILLY: North Korea proves that, although we don't know if North Korea is going to do what they say they're going to do. So it's a dangerous world. But look, I'm not opposed to having conversations with Syria and Iran to try to help us out over there, but I don't -- Syria, I think you could do it, because as you said, you know, it's Bashar's life. I mean, we could take his life, and we should take his life if he doesn't help us out. Iran -- different nut.


Mofaz: U.S. pressure on Syria could topple Assad regime

By Haaretz Service, 05/10/2005

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Tuesday that U.S pressure on Damascus may bring about a dramatic change in Syrian government.

In an interview to Israel Radio, Mofaz said that Syria's involvement in the assassination of former Lebanon president, Rafik Hariri, and its support of Iraqi insurgents operating from within its territory, will bring about U.S actions that may overthrow Bashar Assad's regime.

"I won't be surprised if Syria gets a red-card [by the U.S.]," Mofaz said, using a metaphor taken from soccer terminology. "[The U.S.] will take actions against Syria, beginning with economic sanctions and moving on to others, that will make it clear to the Syrians that their policies do not comply with U.N decisions, the U.S.'s new world order or the prohibition of sovereign state's to support terrorism."