| All content taken from The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. Each weeknight by 6 PM EST a preview of that evening's show will be posted and then updated with additional information the following weekday by noon EST.
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Guests: Fox News analysts Gen. Wesley Clark & Col. Ralph Peters
"The Democrats say the Bush administration is disengaged from the Middle East because of the Iraq debacle, therefore the violence between the terror groups and Israel is partly the President's fault. The Republicans maintain that the violence demonstrates how wicked the terrorists are and that they must be fought on the battlefield like we're doing in Iraq. So what's the truth? Negotiations with terrorists usually fail, that's number one. The question is should the USA even try? To do so empowers the terrorists and puts us in a position to offer these killers something. Unfortunately much of the world looks at terrorism as an American problem or an Israeli problem and some misguided people, including a number of Americans, believe the USA and Israel are the cause of terrorism; that the actual terror killers are victims. Israel knows the score. It knows that world opinion will never favor the Jewish people. It understands that leaders like French President Chirac would like to see Israel injured. It knows it has to protect itself or perish. America could learn something from Israel on this score. There are no easy solutions to the war on terror. All Americans should wake up and understand that. The terrorists want worldwide chaos and will not stop their killing to chat. War is hell but that's what we're facing. And we should all face it together."
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The Factor asked FNC analyst General Wesley Clark for solutions to the crisis. Clark's prescription: "Focus on Hezbollah right now. What you have got to do is you have got to link the military action by Israel, which will be effective in actually striking and dismantling Hezbollah, with another diplomatic pressure and assistance to the Lebanese government to force the remains of Hezbollah out of south Lebanon and discredit the organization. That's the way to handle this." The Factor responded: "That sounds like a plan, but if I'm Syria, I'm going to say to my Hezbollah guys, if the Lebanese government gives you any trouble, you can turn on the government. Because there are thousands of Hezbollah in Beirut right now armed to the teeth and don't think the Lebanese government can stand up against those people going in and wiping these people out." Clark agreed. "I agree, Syria is very strong in the region. I agree, the Lebanese government is afraid. So can't we work with that existing government? The last word on this is you have got to take the openings that are offered."
The Factor asked Colonel Ralph Peters, "The general's feeling is if President Bush could convince NATO allies to back the Lebanese government, that the Lebanese government could send, I guess, militia down to southern Lebanon and help the Israelis eject Hezbollah. Is that possible?" Peters adamantly disagreed with General Clark. "The Lebanese armed forces are weak. They are a work in progress. Hezbollah, man for man, is the strongest, highest morale military in the Arab world. If the Lebanese government responded to Israeli air strikes and pressure by ordering the Lebanese armed forces against Hezbollah, some units would mutiny and others would disintegrate. And any Lebanese army units that tried to fight Hezbollah would get hammered." The Factor offered a course for the USA to get involved. "Now as far as the USA is concerned, publicly President Bush should go, look, we have got to have restraint, we do not want civilian deaths. But privately he should be going, just kick the living hell out of them, get as many as you can and then we will try to come to some cease-fire accommodation. That's what I would do." |
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Guest: Sylvie Schultz
Thousands of Americans remain in Lebanon, most of them in Beirut, and obviously that is not a good place to be right now. The Factor asked 45-year-old Sylvie Schultz, from Fort Worth, Texas, just what she was doing in Lebanon? "This was a trip that had been in the planning for several years. And I'm here on vacation with friends and family. Lebanon, as a tourist destination, has everything to offer. Its positioning on the sea, its mountains, its history, its culture, its night life, its restaurants, it's a fabulous place to vacation." The Factor asked, "Have you been in touch with the embassy? What is your plan to get out?" Schultz said, "We have no plan to get out yet. We had registered with the American embassy when this all began. We have not heard from them. We understand there's a lot of people they need to move but it's very frustrating because there is no communication." The Factor offered to help in any way possible. "You have our phone number. If you need anything from us here, you call us right away, if there is any danger or anything like that. If you have not heard anything from the embassy by Wednesday, call us and we will make sure we give you an update from the State Department." |
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Guest: Fox News chief judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano
The Factor discussed legal controversies with Judge Andrew Napolitano: in Georgia, a federal judge says voters don't have to have ID's; in Vegas, a judge says you can use the public streets as a latrine. "Napolitano explained the Georgia Judge's decision: "His opinion says since most people who don't have government issued I.D.s in Georgia are African American, they are the ones who would suffer from this. The bottom line on this is that reasonable efforts to police voter fraud are tossed out, and fraud could be rampant." Of the Vegas ruling, the judge explained, "What the judge did was to toss Las Vegas' public indecency ordinance, because it was too vague. Because he couldn't decide what rude and indecent behavior meant." And the Factor said, "The Vegas mayor, Oscar Goodman says, now you can go to the bathroom on the streets of Las Vegas because a judge said you can." |
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Guests: Fox News analysts Michelle Malkin & Kirsten Powers
The Factor explained a recent study that found marriage was in decline. "According to a study by the National Marriage Project of Rutgers University, marriage has declined nearly 50 percent in America since 1970. More couples, of course, are living together. And the number of households with children is at the lowest level percentage-wise in American history." FNC analyst Michelle Malkin said, "I think in large part feminism's message that women should put off child bearing, that it isn't the most fulfilling that thing women could do, that they should put their careers first, is resulting in some very dire consequences." FNC analyst Kirsten Powers saw things from another angle, "You see a much bigger drop-off of blacks getting married, like in 1960 you had 60 percent of them and now they're in the 30's. You see a less of a drop off among whites. And so there's something else that's going on there, and that's not a particularly secular group of people either, who tend to be very religious. So there are other things." The Factor disagreed: "I disagree with you. I think the older African-American community is religious, but the younger ones have abandoned it across the board." The Factor also blamed the media: "I think that basically the media has a lot to do with this. In the '50s, it celebrated marriage and the Rockwell image of the family...Now, it's where's mine? I want to have the party every night, a perfect guy. And I want to have this, that, and the other thing and the Mercedes Benz. I want to have it all. And I think the media has really caused a lot of this." |
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Guest: Author Brent Jordan
The Factor explained the allegations of strip club crime in America: "There are an estimated 3,800 strip clubs in America right now employing more than half a million Americans. The mayor of Seattle, Greg Nichols, said flat out that organized crime has infiltrated these strip clubs in his city. And here in New York there's been organized crime allegedly shaking down the strip club owners for protection money." Brent Jordan, author of the book "Stripped", responded: "I don't believe it's as common as people think it is. The strip clubs have become very corporate over the last 20 years. They're these huge organizations. There's something called Operation G-Sting happened out here in Las Vegas, where the FBI put an undercover snitch in front of the club for two years. The snitch was wired, and after two years they caught no organized crime. They caught no drug dealing." The Factor was more concerned about the social depravity of the strip club scene. "I think the environment itself, it seems to me, is very difficult. It's a difficult psychological environment. And it seems to me there are a lot of predators who come into this club doing things they shouldn't do." |
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Reaction from our overseas viewers:
Bob Smith, Toronto, Canada: "When Jews kill women and children it's collateral damage. When Palestinians do the same it's terrorism. Hamas was democratically elected but Bush won't talk to them. The USA is a failed state."
Gordon Bawolin, Toronto, Canada: "If not for President Bush we'd be facing a much bigger mess. He has contained the terrorists by aggressive action."
Christoffer Eklund, Stockholm, Sweden: "The Israelis seem crazy and hungry for blood. Why does America support them?"
Mike Burgie, Bollnas, Sweden: "Someone should tell all these people in the Middle East to settle their differences without killing each other."
Cynthia Ingraham, London, England: "Violence begets violence as evidenced by the Nazis, right-wing Israelis, Arab terrorists and the Bush administration."
Here's the view from back home:
Ted Hirschfield, Lehigh Acres, FL: "You're spinning like crazy for the neo-cons, Bill, when it comes to the Middle East. You need time off for reflection."
Greg Horak, Aurora, CO: "Israel has launched a war of aggression. This would be like the USA attacking Mexico because some of their drug gangs killed a Border Patrol agent."
Chazz Loeks, Reno, NV: "If an American extremist fired a rocket at Mexico because he hated immigrants, would that justify Mexico bombing innocent American civilians?" |
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