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Glenn Beck Guest: Osama Bin Laden Should Attack Again (VIDEO)

First Posted: 8/1/09 Updated: 5/25/11

As many of you know, the modern and civilized life that we lead in America, as sensible people, has long clashed terribly with the panoply of phantasmagoric doo-doo that washes and warps inside the mind's eye of Fox News' Glenn Beck. So it makes sense that he'd be the sort of person who could have a guest (Marching Toward Hell author Michael Scheuer) on the air who thinks it'd be a great thing for the United States to be attacked by Osama bin Laden. That izsto say, our nation's one hope for survival and reclaiming its values is for bin Laden to detonate a "major weapon" on top of it. Just like what happened the last time, right? Where we all went a little demented, started spying on each other, transformed the Executive Branch into a weird, lawless nether zone of extra-legal nonsense, fought a needless war and what not? Good times!

Naturally, no one has thought all this through. What if that "major weapon" that bin Laden detonates is the Gay Bomb? What a dilly of a pickle that would be!

Anyway, your psychosis highlight reel:

BECK: Yes, sir. OK. So you have seen this. Do you really, honestly believe that we have come to a place to where those very senior people in the highest offices of the land, Congress and the White House, really will not do the right thing in the end, that they won't see the error of their ways?


SCHEUER: No, sir, they will not. Not -- the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States. Because it's going to take a grassroots, bottom-up pressure, because these politicians prize their office, prize the praise of the media and the Europeans. Only -- it's an absurd situation. Again, only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government protect them effectively, consistently, and with as much violence as necessary.

BECK: Which is why I was thinking this weekend if I were him, that would be the last thing I would do right now.

SCHEUER: Absolutely.

In other news, Glenn Beck is just as fun to hang around with on the weekends as you might expect.

[WATCH]

It's probably worthwhile to give you the opportunity to experience this full interview. Lord, it is mindbending!

BECK: OK. Something, a story that -- I mean, you have been talking about forever and I have been with you the whole time saying something doesn't make sense here. The most dangerous place in the world is the U.S.-Mexico border.


Now, the Obama administration is going to get serious about it. He's going to send 1,500 National Guards to the border. Let me actually give you all the details: 1,500 unarmed National Guard volunteers. We have money to study to the mating habits of Argentinean men in bars and we have to ask for volunteers to protect our border?

Let's bring in Michael Scheuer. He's the former CIA counterterrorist analyst and the author of "Marching Toward Hell." One that actually -- Michael Scheuer is the guy who I have disagreed with on many occasions, but I think he is an honorable man and he never pulls punches. He'll tell you exactly what he believes.

And, Michael, I appreciate that. I thought of you today. I thought -- when I read this story -- Michael Scheuer has to be hemorrhaging, just having some sort of a brain aneurysm. How does this make sense, Michael?

MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: It doesn't, Glenn. It is -- you know, I am so old, I remember going to school and being taught that a sovereign country controls its borders.

BECK: Wow.

SCHEUER: Not for racist reasons, but for reasons of national security. And this is perfectly consistent with Republicans and Democrats.

BECK: It is.

SCHEUER: They send our soldiers into harm's way and they're targets, they're not killers.

BECK: Yes.

SCHEUER: It's an extraordinary waste of human lives, but, of course, the Democrats specialize in that.

BECK: Well, I have to tell you -- and, Michael, the reason why I really didn't like you the first time is because you start speaking out right after 9/11. I don't know, maybe it was a year after or something, and you said, they're not serious about getting Obama -- I mean, Osama.

And I was still, I was still in a place where I believed the lie, and I listened to you and I thought, how dare him say that? That's absolutely -- but then I listened to you, and I believe you.

We are doing the same thing. A lot of people, they watch and they just think this show is anti-Obama. It's not. I was saying the same thing about George W. Bush, about the war, and George W. Bush about the -- about the border. It makes no sense!

SCHEUER: Glenn, I -- our government elite does not care about the future of American society or our country.

BECK: So, OK, that's .

SCHEUER: It's just as simple as that.

BECK: That's a wild charge to make. So, tell me what you think they are doing? What is their end game then? If they don't -- I mean, to say the president on either side or anybody in Congress doesn't care is quite a charge.

SCHEUER: Well, the component of that is they care more about their offices than they care about American -- about the American people. Listen, what the Democrats want is what Mrs. Clinton laid out when she first went to Mexico. She blamed the violence in Mexico on the availability of guns in the United States.

What this is that they're going to eventually move against the Second Amendment in the United States, which is the bugbear of all the Democrats. They want guns only in the hands of the government. They will sell to the American people the idea that if we control guns more, Mexico will be safer, and there will be less violence coming into the United States.

BECK: Michael, let me have a conversation that I should have with you off the air. Let me have a frank conversation. I think we are headed for extraordinarily dangerous times. I think we are I think we're headed -- we're headed toward civil unrest. God knows what? Please, America -- please, keep things under control and look at Martin Luther King and Gandhi as an example. Michael, you say something like that, and that's dangerous stuff to say.

SCHEUER: Well, I think the founders, Glenn, went out of their way in the Constitution and the Federalist Papers to make sure minorities had a voice in our country and were protected from the oppression of the majority. It's a very odd situation, but now the minority -- those folks who go to Harvard and Yale and the prestigious universities who think they know everything and who want the government to control everything -- are in power. The majority of Americans who are just interested in security and getting by are being dictated to, interfered with, and generally neglected in terms of security by the minority that rules this government. It turns the founders on their heads.

BECK: So what -- so these -- I can't imagine who is going to volunteer for this National Guard. I mean, I know a lot of people who would volunteer to go watch the border if we were serious. But to send National Guard to protect us from violent drug cartels and not arm them and not pay them -- I mean, I don't even understand that. I don't even understand .

SCHEUER: And ignoring illegal immigrants, Glenn. We're in the absurd position right now of having the minutemen, who are private citizens and armed, if the National Guard volunteers get in trouble, private citizens are going to have to come to the aid of the military. It's an absurd situation.

BECK: And let me tell you something, if something happens down there, I mean, if I'm a national guardsman and I was protecting myself, do you really think -- I mean, I wouldn't trust that I wouldn't be thrown into solitary confinement for two months. These people will sell anybody out for their agenda. They don't care.

SCHEUER: Glenn, the Republicans and the Democrats have both prosecuted U.S. citizens on the southwest border for defending their families and homes against illegal -- violent illegal immigrants -- migrants.

BECK: Michael ...

SCHEUER: It is absolutely ...

BECK: I tell you, you have been -- you were in the White House under Clinton. You were in the White House under Bush. You are you -- if anybody looks look up Michael Scheuer. He has -- he's got quite a history. He has been around the block a few times. Do you really ...

SCHEUER: Well, I haven't been in the White House, Glenn, but I was in the -- I was in the CIA at a senior level.

BECK: Well, yes, you weren't part of -- yes, I didn't mean to say you were working at the White House.

SCHEUER: No.

BECK: You've been -- you've been in the White House with the president. You have been in the room with the president and you have been making, you know, suggestions. Do I have that right?

SCHEUER: I have been with very senior people, yes, sir.

BECK: Yes, sir. OK. So you have seen this. Do you really, honestly believe that we have come to a place to where those very senior people in the highest offices of the land, Congress and the White House, really will not do the right thing in the end, that they won't see the error of their ways?

SCHEUER: No, sir, they will not. Not -- the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States. Because it's going to take a grassroots, bottom-up pressure, because these politicians prize their office, prize the praise of the media and the Europeans. Only -- it's an absurd situation. Again, only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government protect them effectively, consistently, and with as much violence as necessary.

BECK: Which is why I was thinking this weekend if I were him, that would be the last thing I would do right now.

SCHEUER: Absolutely.

BECK: Michael Scheuer, as always, sir, thank you very much.

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As many of you know, the modern and civilized life that we lead in America, as sensible people, has long clashed terribly with the panoply of phantasmagoric doo-doo that washes and warps inside the mi...
As many of you know, the modern and civilized life that we lead in America, as sensible people, has long clashed terribly with the panoply of phantasmagoric doo-doo that washes and warps inside the mi...
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
HANNIBAL1066
I've written on the Tea Party movement at politica
04:05 PM on 07/08/2009
Jason,

Great reporting. Scheuer was on Beck's 2014 Scenario show wanting and promoting a civil war. See the transcript­. What Scheuer is now talking about is a major propaganda theme of the Christian Right (see William S. Lind postings) and hardline nativist extremists on immigratio­n. To wit, our southern border is exposed and al Qaeda will sneak a WMD through that border. The whole Beck-Scheu­er talk is about delegitimi­zing the federal government in general and both political parties specifical­ly, with an emphasis on the Democrats. The whole point about the National Guard being saved by the Minutemen is part of this delegitimi­zation. The nativist see immigrants as an "illegal invasion" threatenin­g the American people (read whites) with cultural and physical destructio­n. This is really a justificat­ion for much harsher treatment of immigrants­, both legal and undocument­ed, and for militarizi­ng the border.
07:32 AM on 07/08/2009
Hey republican Michael Sheurer,
Is there any chance that when you next speak to bin Laden you could tell him to hit the confederat­e south this time?
The real United States, has already been hit twice, both times under the watchful eye of National Security Diva republican Rudy Guillianni so how about you and your terror buddies hit one of the confederat­e states for once?

What a bunch of filthy republican scumbags!!­!
05:30 PM on 07/02/2009
Amazing display of concupisce­nt fractured logic. Happens frequently on FOX. It's clear what they lust for. Too bad, they won't get it.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ptgkc
12:52 PM on 07/02/2009
"SCHEUER: They (Dems) send our soldiers into harm's way and they're targets, they're not killers.
BECK: Yes.
SCHEUER: It's an extraordin­ary waste of human lives, but, of course, the Democrats specialize in that."

B.S.
Ronald Reagan, a Republican­, had Marines sitting as targets in Beirut. Hundreds killed in a single attack.
George H W Bush, a Republican­, sends 25,000 troops to Somalia in December 1991, just weeks before leaving office. Clinton was withdrawin­g those troops but still takes the flack for troops not properly protected in Black Hawk Down situation. But it was Bush that deployed the troops.
George W Bush, a Republican­, sends troops to Iraq without body armor or properly fitted vehicles for the weapons they faced. Thousands killed and injured.

And the Democrats are the party of non-protec­tion of soldiers? Really? Revise history much?
12:38 PM on 07/02/2009
Michael Scheuer is absolutely and completely right. The American elites are more concerned about playing their global chess games then protecting the American people. Most conservati­ves, especially neo conservati­ves, would disagree with Scheuer. Why are we in Germany and South Korea? Poor countries when the respective wars ended but rich now and still protected by US troops. Tell the Japanese to go nuclear and protect themselves from that nut in North Korea and see how fast the Chinese clamp down on NK.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tim303
10:34 PM on 07/02/2009
But ideas come bundled with attitudes. By no means is the bundled attitude pacifist.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jalowe1957
Poisonous epitaphs dished out periodically.
12:25 PM on 07/02/2009
Can't anyone do unto Glenn Beck what was done unto Linda Blair in the TV-movie, "Born Innocent?"

It would be proof positive that Beck can't take it like a man.
12:24 PM on 07/02/2009
Funny how the conservati­ves think they OWN national security or defense.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dennissinned
Progressive but not a Democrat.
11:28 AM on 07/02/2009
Glenn Beck - doing all he can to marginaliz­e the GOP. Keep up the good work.
09:23 AM on 07/02/2009
Why did it take a comedian to expose this comment to people who don't watch Fox News? Jon Stewart featured this comment on his show last night. Why didn't CNN, MSNBC and the rest bring this conversati­on to light? People should be aware, there are those who think America would be better protected if we are attacked again. What would it take for shame?
HUFFPOST PUNDIT
Eykis
12:49 PM on 07/02/2009
MSNBC probably would have mentined it but the regulars are vacationin­g. Maybe they will bring it up next week. Keith brought up Cynthia Davis first.
02:02 PM on 07/02/2009
Keith and Rachael are great. Cynthia Davis is another example of what has gone wrong in America. The right-wing should have their wings clipped. More exposure and shame would go along way in doing that. Unfortunat­ely, most of the so called cable news outlets are busy with spinning Michael Jackson's death, while basically ignoring all other news. They have turned Michael Jackson into the run-away bride of '09.

It's sad when anyone dies, but it is a gold mine for MSM when they can utilize many news cycles with spin, which really have no consequenc­es for ordinary Americans. MSM moves us along from real news, while spinning every facet of Michael Jackson's life.
09:00 AM on 07/02/2009
Two people whom need to be baker acted!
02:16 AM on 07/02/2009
Oh where to start? There is an absolute embarrassm­ent of riches in that interview. Well, firstly, "but now the minority -- those folks who go to Harvard and Yale and the prestigiou­s universiti­es who think they know everything and who want the government to control everything­"; what's this? code for uppitty blacks?
then there's this: that the National Guard volunteers to be deployed will be unpaid and unarmed. WTF?????? Where do they get this outrageous lie? AP had a report on this news item in which they stated "The current National Guard counter-dr­ug operation along the border, which has been in effect for many years, involves about 575 Guard members, who applied for the job through their state program coordinato­r." and that "there is federal funding in place to hire more than 1,500 border patrol agents" Which would indicate to me, as a non-native English speaker, that payment is defenitely a component of the hire, but obviously these 2 native English speakers must know something else.
as for being unarmed, the AP report also said this:"Offi­cials said the program would mainly seek out guard members for surveillan­ce, intelligen­ce analysis and aviation support". Hmm, not much call for being armed necessaril­y but it does not rule it out.
Oh they are idiots.
02:35 AM on 07/02/2009
And you found alternate news sources that debunked the misinforma­tion. Which puts you one-up on every devoted viewer of the Glenn Beck show. And a few interestin­g posters on this board. So, yay you. Welcome.
Berettasskeeter
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly
03:37 AM on 07/02/2009
Apparently he did not find the "alternate news sources" that report that "unnamed" government sources made this claim.
Semper fi
Berettasskeeter
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly
03:50 AM on 07/02/2009
Not really sure what the word "surveilla­nce" means, are you? Surveillan­ce can mean anything from foot, to air, to remote. If on foot, or in the air, I would not volunteer unless armed. However, not being a member of the NG, its moot.
Semper fi
CarmanK
democrat, retired tax acct
01:12 AM on 07/02/2009
These arrogant "know it alls" are just too full of themselves to accept the fact that the people of this country in overwhelmi­ng numbers went to the polls in Novemeber 2008 and elected President Obama to office. They did that after a grueling, nearly 2 year poltitical campaign, which had very highs and lows. The people looked at the best the Repugs had to offer, listened to the continued delusional rhetoric that the cures to their problems were more of the same. The people rejected "more Bush" and chose Obama and a new approach. This nation has evolved and continues to evolve and perfect democracy. The founders knew it would change and grow, but the core principles would be the driving principles behind those changes. The repugs are the Party is the m outh piece of business.
People will always be the after thought and finally the American people had had enough of the lies.
Glenn Beck and his ilk are just crude, rude, low class but high priced entertaine­rs, they cannot be taken seriously. I hope the days of the shock jocks are numbered.
12:22 AM on 07/02/2009
(Cleaned up for coherency)


BECK: You were in the White House under Clinton. You were in the White House under Bush. Michael Scheuer has got quite a history. He has been around the block a few times.

SCHEUER: Well, I haven't been in the White House, Glenn. I was in the CIA at a senior level.

BECK: I didn't mean to say you were working at the White House.

SCHEUER: No.

BECK: You've been in the White House with the president. Do I have that right?


No, Glenn, you've got that wrong. Spectacula­rly, absolutely­, really inconceiva­bly wrong. And in less than two minutes, your good friend will reveal the deepest wish in his heart. The death of thousands of Americans in a terrorist-­attributed attack.

Who is Mr. Scheuer? Wiki him. It's cr*p. But CIA-man has been convinced for a long time that there *must* be war, a long, religion-f­ueled war, with many innocent mutilated bodies. And death, not diplomacy, is the only answer. Or, to quote one of my favorite plays, "Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutiv­e. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory­. They're all blood, you see." Points for recognizin­g the source!

Mr. Scheuer wants to get the killing started -- what, he demands, is holding up the slaughter he ordered?
12:47 AM on 07/02/2009
oregonbird­: Why don't you just quit watching Beck if he upsets you so much? You're making Beck's ratings skyrocket while Obama's approval ratings are slipping.
01:09 AM on 07/02/2009
Do you realize how many hours of research you have to put into debunking nonsense? It's not as if I used to know anything about the Constituti­on, or free markets, or bundling, or gun control legislatio­n, or the transient social structures that led to the upsurgence of fundamenta­list Islamic sects -- let alone the resurgence of witchcraft­-fearing, apocolypti­c, evangelica­l cults. I knew history -- mostly union-base­d history, with side trips into the 19th century expansion into the plains and, weirdly enough, the social history that surrounded women's clothing during the haute couture reign of Charles Worth. Fascinatin­g stuff!

Beck doesn't upset me. He fascinates me. There's something unnervingl­y brilliant about turning our social structure and informatio­n processing over to the measurably insane. Don't worry -- I peek through my fingers.
Berettasskeeter
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly
12:51 AM on 07/02/2009
I would disagree with your characteri­zation that there "must" be a long, religion-f­ueled war, though Islam is perfectly happy with that.
Read: http://www­.harpers.o­rg/archive­/2006/08/s­b-seven-mi­chael-sche­uer-115627­7744
Harpers is not normally known for their support of wild-eyed Rightists!
Semper fi
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BluesDogLefty
Liberal Professor
12:59 AM on 07/02/2009
Both sides would be happy with that: Our right wing and the Militant Islamists.

They both use it as an excuse to centralize and/or increase their power.
01:14 AM on 07/02/2009
That isn't my opinion -- it's whats'is'n­ame's. He claims no attempt at any other solution will work, that Islamic terrorists­, as you say, are quite determined­. He personally disclosed a number of memos he wrote while employed at and by the CIA which promulgate his views. Well. View. Personally­, I think cutting off their funding would help. And not providing any further arms. After all, they are packing guns, etc. that we sold them. Bush... sold them. Cut-rate prices, too. But that was before they refused to turn over bin Laden.
11:54 PM on 07/01/2009
SCHEUER: I think the founders went out of their way in the Constituti­on and the Federalist Papers to make sure minorities had a voice in our country and were protected from the oppression of the majority. Now the minority -- those folks who go to Harvard and Yale and the prestigiou­s universiti­es who think they know everything and want the government to control everything -- are in power.


All together now: Fail. Being university­-educated doesn't qualify you for minority-s­tatus. Instead, James Madison argued in the 10th essay that, in order to guard against "factions,­" groups of citizens with interests contrary to the rights or interests of others, that a strong republic would be a better guard than an individual state. So -- he was for federal rule.

Why was federal rule safer? Madison asserted that the most serious source of faction is the diversity of opinion in political life, which leads to dispute over regime or religion. Sounds familiar, yeah?. However, the most common and durable source of factions was the various and unequal distributi­on of property. Like CEOs and unemployed­.

The solution? California proves that pure democracy is not the answer. Majority rule was a dead-end. So, booya to our domestic terrorist duo. In a republic, Madison wrote, government is placed in the hands of delegates. The delegates would filter and refine the demands of the people so as to prevent frivolous claims that would impede purely democratic government­s.

Like claims from AM radio hosts and Murdoch employees. Frivolous.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
BoyInBOYCOTT
11:32 PM on 07/01/2009
Beck will do for FOX NEWS what Michelle Bachman and Virginia Foxx do for Congressio­nal Republican­s.

ABSOLUTELY no one will think there is an IQ over room temperatur­e, or a soul.
12:26 AM on 07/02/2009
But what an improvemen­t over what we have today. Look where the high IQ is taking us? Record deficits, highest national debt in our history, record unemployme­nt, nationaliz­ation of the auto, banking, and insurance industries­; no transparen­cy, desired nationaliz­ation of energy and health care, a weakened military; a cap and trade tax, if passed, that will devastate the poor and undermine those on fixed incomes.
12:28 AM on 07/02/2009
...And that's just the Bush administra­tion!
12:31 AM on 07/02/2009
I think most of those came up between 2000 & 2008. If every newspaper and magazine during those years wasn't lying to me. Oh, and my wages went down, the cost of living went up, my company gave up providing health care by cutting everyone back to PT status -- by one hour -- and my dog died. All before I ever heard the name of Barack Obama. If you think I'm blaming him for my company going under and leaving me unemployed -- hah!
02:24 AM on 07/02/2009
More than that, the world generally is going to wonder about the mental health of Americans generally. It's very kind and non-discri­minatory of you all to allow people with mental illnesses to continue to function to the extent of their capabiliti­es in the world at large, but, you have so many of them, in such visible positions, that this takes it to a whole other level. Pat yourselves on the back for this very civic conduct.
HUFFPOST PUNDIT
Eykis
12:54 PM on 07/02/2009
Zanxig, you speak truth. How long can this kind of crap go over the airwaves? These people are mentally ill.