Bill O'Reilly: Can President Obama Really Protect Us?
By: BillOReilly.com StaffMay 10, 2011
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By Bill O'Reilly

Lots of stuff went on over the weekend but we are going to look ahead and analyze the question: Can President Obama protect Americans from harm?

There is no question Mr. Obama did the right thing, the gutsy thing in the bin Laden raid. But going forward, there are troubling questions.

The first one is the Army Field Manual. That is now the only tool American intelligence agents have when they interrogate captured terrorists. That means the terrorists do not have to answer any questions at all and nothing will happen to them if they don't.

So if the CIA captures a person they believe knows about a nuke attack on the USA, they can't do anything to make that person talk. Does that make sense to you?

Chris Wallace put the interrogation question to the president's national security adviser, Tom Donilon. At first, Mr. Donilon would not answer, but Mr. Wallace pushed him:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, HOST, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": I'm not asking you why it was OK…

TOM DONILON, PRESIDENT OBAMA'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Yes.

WALLACE: …to shoot Usama bin Laden. I fully understand the threat and I'm not second guessing the SEALs.

DONILON: Right.

WALLACE: What I am second guessing is if that's OK, why can't you do waterboarding? Why can't you do enhanced interrogation of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was just as bad an operator as Usama bin Laden?

DONILON: Yes, because -- well, our judgment is that it's not consistent with our -- with our values, it's not consistent and not necessary in terms of getting the kinds of intelligence that we need.

WALLACE: But shooting bin Laden in the head is consistent with our values?

DONILON: It -- we are at war with Usama bin Laden.

WALLACE: We're at war with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

DONILON: It was -- it was a military operation, right? It was absolutely appropriate for the SEALs to take the action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

To me, that does not make much sense. President Obama is killing terrorists without due process, but he won't use rough interrogations to get information that could save lives.

Even more troubling is Pakistan, which over the weekend tried to out the CIA station chief in that nation. But the AP says Pakistan got the name wrong. That, of course, is a slap in the face to all Americans.

The president knows he has a huge problem with Pakistan:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan, but we don't know who or what that support network was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

We will probably find out, but then what? Also, Pakistan is protecting the head of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, who is believed to be hiding in Quetta.

There is no question that Pakistan is playing a double game. The problem is the USA needs Pakistan. It allows supplies to go into Afghanistan to aid our troops. It also has been helpful on occasion in tracking down certain terrorists. But overall, Pakistan is not a friend to the USA, even though we give that country $3 billion a year in aid.

The question Mr. Obama has to answer is this: American troops are being killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Those villains are being protected by the Pakistani government. That means that Pakistan is aiding and abetting the deaths of American soldiers and Marines. To me, that is unacceptable.

The bin Laden deal has exposed Pakistan, and the United States needs to solve this situation now.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

You knew "Saturday Night Live" was going to weigh in on bin Laden. Here is his last will and testament.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED ARMISEN, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": As to my place of burial, I leave the decision to my executors, provided that whatever it is, they do not bury me at sea. As my family well knows, I have a deathly fear of being eaten by fish, so I'm very serious about this. Do not bury me at sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Is that bit patriotic or pinheaded? We think we know where this is going, but please vote on billoreilly.com anyway.

On Friday we brought you Conan O'Brien on bin Laden the movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Vice President Joe Biden, this is nice, he's going to be played by Bob Barker. We're all very excited about that. Gen. David Petraeus will be played by "30 Rock's" Jack McBrayer. CIA Director Leon Panetta will be played by Alf. Hillary Clinton will be played by Chuckie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Well, it was very close: 51 percent of you say that bit was patriotic, 49 percent pinheaded.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date: 
Mon, 05/09/2011
Transcript Show Name: 
O'Reilly Factor