Bill O'Reilly Smears American WWII Heroes & Fox News Covers It Up
Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News Pundit who declares his No-Spin Zone to advocate his style of combative debate, was speaking about the Massacre in Haditha, Iraq, where several US Marines killed innocent children (6 mo.) and elderly people (72 yrs.). His guest was Four Star General Wesley Clark, who commanded US and NATO troops in the Kosovo War and is a former Presidential Candidate for the Democrat Party.
O'Reilly was expressing his belief that the media was making too much out of the ordeal. When Gen. Clark disagrees, he sites previous examples of US troops killing innocent civilians at Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. Using his combative style, he berated the decorated General to admit that this had happened before, which the General refused to do. Rather, he indicated that he was unaware of any comperable example to the current massacre in modern history.
Well, O'Reilly was very wrong. In fact, the Malmedy Massacre was commited by Jochen Peiper and the most elite Nazi SS troops. On December 17, 1944, the german advance met a convoy of US troops and opened fire. After the brief conflict, over 100 US POWs were assembled. After an escape attempt and a confrontation, the SS mowed down the POWs, killing 73 soldiers en masse. Some of the soldiers died with their hands still in the air.
At this point, it's should be easy to recognize why so many people, like myself, do not like Fox News. They are very sloppy with facts, often distorting them to fit their own agenda. This is an example of just such an eggregious error. But, if you are a fan of Mr. O'Reilly, you may find it easy to forgive him by allowing that he was just wrong while denying he was being malicious.
Mr. O'Reilly, however, was being both malicious and mendacious. Last November, when the first rumbling about this event began to air, Mr. O'Reilly made the same statement to the same guest, Gen. Wesley Clark. Many subsequent emails were submitted to him admonishing such an egreggious error. And yet, just a few weeks later, Mr. O'Reilly made the same seditious remark to his guest. It is only fair to conclude that Bill O'Reilly, knowing full well that his remarks were false, slandered the heroic memory of 73 US soldiers who paid the ultimate price in the battle against fascism in Europe. By suggesting that these soldiers actually killed, not Nazi soldiers, but innocent civilians in 1944 in an effort to rebuke the media for their coverage of the current massacre in Haditha, where real US Marines killed real innocent civilians, and by doing so with the full knowledge that you were lying, again, Bill O'Reilly has committed treason.
In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation or state. It's a very serious thing to accuse someone of treason, and I don't do it lightly. But, you see, I feel I have to stand up for our soldiers. While 73 heroes died that day, another 30 managed to escape and survive. Some of those heroes are alive today. In fact, you probably know one of them. Charles Durning was 17 years old when he hit Omaha Beach at Normandy. Of his entire platoon, he was the only one to survive the assault, and managed two purple hearts in the process. He was sent back into the field after recovering from his injuries and, one cold December morning, found his convoy being attacked by the infamous Jochen Peiper. Jochen Peiper was a Lt. Col. in the SS. He was known for his brutal tactics during battles on the Eastern Front. Hitler had announced that he would instruct his officers to ignore previous war conventions on the treatment of POWs, and Jochen Peiper lead the elite troop of fighter that bore Hitler's own name: 1st SS Panzer Division, Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler.
Jochen Peiper was in a hurry. Advancing through the zero temperature weather, his troops were 12 hours behind schedule and were supposed to take out a nearby American Command Post. What happened next was the subject of furious debate for a decade after the war. It was an issue that eventually involved the US Supreme Court and the Internation Court at the Hague. Such was the controversy that Peiper's death sentence handed down to him by a US Military Tribunal at Dachau was commuted and Peiper was released in 1956. All that controversy might seem like injustice, but that's not the case. The incident itself might never have been addressed if it weren't for the presence of a journalist from Time that lead to media attention and, later, the trial and controversy. If that journalist hadn't been present, it's possible that noone would have served time for these crimes. It's also possible that the story which survives as a tribute to the American heroes would have faded into the fog of war if it weren't for that un-embeded journalist.
Charles Duning was asked to help remove the bodies of his friends after they were found a month later. Since he was there, he could help identify the bodies. It wouldn't be long before Charles was wounded again, and this time it was bad enough to buy him a ticket home. He spent the next decade recovering from the trauma of war. "The body heals first," he said in a rare recent interview, "but the mind takes a longer time to heal." Eventually, Charles recovered and became a professional boxer. Later, he managed his way into the entertainment industry. In 1963, he landed a spot on a TV episode of the show, "Eastside/Westside." By 1972, he had landed the role of Lt. William Snyder in "The Sting". His credits mount from there: Dog Day Afternoon, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Tootsie, O Brother Where Art Thou, Rescue Me, Family Guy. Charles Duning, the man who thought Tootsie was a woman, faced the barrel of a Nazi machine gun in December 1944. He was one of the few survivors of the Malmedy Massacre.
The day after Bill O'Reilly's second offense slandering the soldier's of the 117 Infantry Regiment, he mentioned an email he had received correcting his error. He made no apology, just read the email. A few hours after that, Fox News went into their website and changed the transcripts of the shows to remove the offending remarks. Why? So when people like me point out things like this to good people like you, they want to be able to lie again and hope that you will believe them instead of me.
So, who do you believe? I believe I'm going to go watch Tootsie again. And the next time you're tempted to watch Bill O'Reilly and Fox News, I suggest you join me in admiring the life of a true American Hero, instead of listen to rich talking-heads who are determined to mislead you and don't mind slandering our military to do it.
That's what matters today.
O'Reilly was expressing his belief that the media was making too much out of the ordeal. When Gen. Clark disagrees, he sites previous examples of US troops killing innocent civilians at Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. Using his combative style, he berated the decorated General to admit that this had happened before, which the General refused to do. Rather, he indicated that he was unaware of any comperable example to the current massacre in modern history.
Well, O'Reilly was very wrong. In fact, the Malmedy Massacre was commited by Jochen Peiper and the most elite Nazi SS troops. On December 17, 1944, the german advance met a convoy of US troops and opened fire. After the brief conflict, over 100 US POWs were assembled. After an escape attempt and a confrontation, the SS mowed down the POWs, killing 73 soldiers en masse. Some of the soldiers died with their hands still in the air.
At this point, it's should be easy to recognize why so many people, like myself, do not like Fox News. They are very sloppy with facts, often distorting them to fit their own agenda. This is an example of just such an eggregious error. But, if you are a fan of Mr. O'Reilly, you may find it easy to forgive him by allowing that he was just wrong while denying he was being malicious.
Mr. O'Reilly, however, was being both malicious and mendacious. Last November, when the first rumbling about this event began to air, Mr. O'Reilly made the same statement to the same guest, Gen. Wesley Clark. Many subsequent emails were submitted to him admonishing such an egreggious error. And yet, just a few weeks later, Mr. O'Reilly made the same seditious remark to his guest. It is only fair to conclude that Bill O'Reilly, knowing full well that his remarks were false, slandered the heroic memory of 73 US soldiers who paid the ultimate price in the battle against fascism in Europe. By suggesting that these soldiers actually killed, not Nazi soldiers, but innocent civilians in 1944 in an effort to rebuke the media for their coverage of the current massacre in Haditha, where real US Marines killed real innocent civilians, and by doing so with the full knowledge that you were lying, again, Bill O'Reilly has committed treason.
In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation or state. It's a very serious thing to accuse someone of treason, and I don't do it lightly. But, you see, I feel I have to stand up for our soldiers. While 73 heroes died that day, another 30 managed to escape and survive. Some of those heroes are alive today. In fact, you probably know one of them. Charles Durning was 17 years old when he hit Omaha Beach at Normandy. Of his entire platoon, he was the only one to survive the assault, and managed two purple hearts in the process. He was sent back into the field after recovering from his injuries and, one cold December morning, found his convoy being attacked by the infamous Jochen Peiper. Jochen Peiper was a Lt. Col. in the SS. He was known for his brutal tactics during battles on the Eastern Front. Hitler had announced that he would instruct his officers to ignore previous war conventions on the treatment of POWs, and Jochen Peiper lead the elite troop of fighter that bore Hitler's own name: 1st SS Panzer Division, Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler.
Jochen Peiper was in a hurry. Advancing through the zero temperature weather, his troops were 12 hours behind schedule and were supposed to take out a nearby American Command Post. What happened next was the subject of furious debate for a decade after the war. It was an issue that eventually involved the US Supreme Court and the Internation Court at the Hague. Such was the controversy that Peiper's death sentence handed down to him by a US Military Tribunal at Dachau was commuted and Peiper was released in 1956. All that controversy might seem like injustice, but that's not the case. The incident itself might never have been addressed if it weren't for the presence of a journalist from Time that lead to media attention and, later, the trial and controversy. If that journalist hadn't been present, it's possible that noone would have served time for these crimes. It's also possible that the story which survives as a tribute to the American heroes would have faded into the fog of war if it weren't for that un-embeded journalist.
Charles Duning was asked to help remove the bodies of his friends after they were found a month later. Since he was there, he could help identify the bodies. It wouldn't be long before Charles was wounded again, and this time it was bad enough to buy him a ticket home. He spent the next decade recovering from the trauma of war. "The body heals first," he said in a rare recent interview, "but the mind takes a longer time to heal." Eventually, Charles recovered and became a professional boxer. Later, he managed his way into the entertainment industry. In 1963, he landed a spot on a TV episode of the show, "Eastside/Westside." By 1972, he had landed the role of Lt. William Snyder in "The Sting". His credits mount from there: Dog Day Afternoon, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Tootsie, O Brother Where Art Thou, Rescue Me, Family Guy. Charles Duning, the man who thought Tootsie was a woman, faced the barrel of a Nazi machine gun in December 1944. He was one of the few survivors of the Malmedy Massacre.The day after Bill O'Reilly's second offense slandering the soldier's of the 117 Infantry Regiment, he mentioned an email he had received correcting his error. He made no apology, just read the email. A few hours after that, Fox News went into their website and changed the transcripts of the shows to remove the offending remarks. Why? So when people like me point out things like this to good people like you, they want to be able to lie again and hope that you will believe them instead of me.
So, who do you believe? I believe I'm going to go watch Tootsie again. And the next time you're tempted to watch Bill O'Reilly and Fox News, I suggest you join me in admiring the life of a true American Hero, instead of listen to rich talking-heads who are determined to mislead you and don't mind slandering our military to do it.
That's what matters today.
posted by Jeffrey at 6/02/2006 08:37:00 PM
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