Kill And Keep Killing
Bob Simon Supports Terrorism
October 15, 2001
Nothing begets insanity like the misguided hubris of a talking head. And, nobody begets irresponsible hubris like CBS Correspondent Bob Simon.
Bob Simon, for those that may not recall, is the 60 Minutes II correspondent who is the creator of such irrepressible observations as:
Few tears will be shed over the demise of the East German army, but what about East Germany’s eighty symphony orchestras, bound to lose some subsidies, or the whole East German system, which covered everyone in a security blanket from day care to health care, from housing to education? Some people are beginning to express, if ever so slightly, nostalgia for that Berlin Wall.” CBS reporter Bob Simon on the Evening News.
During a little tête-à-tête with Larry King on October 4, Simon proffered his solution to terrorism:
In fact, I think Israel gives us the best model of the way we have to start thinking…behaving. In 1973, Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympic, the Munich massacre. Golda Meir, who was prime minister then, unleashed the Mossad and said kill them all. And they did.
A few weeks later a guy fell down in Paris, a guy fell down in Rome a guy fell down in Cyprus, another guy fell down in Beirut.
Just to make Simon’s position perfectly clear, Larry King inquired, “We got even, is what you are saying?”
To which Simon confirmed, “They killed them. It wasn't a question of getting even. It was a question of eliminating that Palestinian organization, which they did. There were no headlines when a particular guy was killed in Paris: Well, it didn't take long before journalists discovered that he had very strong Palestinian ties. But it was never identified as a Mossad murder.”
Continuing with his responsible journalistic mindset, Simon further clarifies, “I think this is the only strategy to follow. I think if you catch Osama bin Laden and his cronies, I don't think anything changes... but when a man falls down in Hamburg in a few weeks. And that's a murder that's unexplained. Then when a guy standing online to get on a plane in Paris disappears. This is how you do it. It's the only way to do it…. We're looking not for collateral damage…Now I think we have to look at precision killing.”
In a world that is a powder keg ready to explode it is unconscionably irresponsible for a CBS journalist to sanction murder, i.e. terrorism. When the governments of the United States and the rest of the western world are working overtime to convince Islamic nations that the “new war” is a war against terrorism and not a war against the Islamic peoples of the world, Simon’s comments are tantamount to inciting a riot.
Simon’s thinking is grossly flawed more areas than just his indiscrete mouth.
To use Israel as a future model for the conduct of the United States and its people is dangerous, if not treasonous.
As a member of the media, Simon is surely a frontline supporter of the First Amendment. If America starts to use Israel as its model, censorship becomes de rigueur. If America starts to use Israel as its model, racial profiling becomes official State policy. If America starts to use Israel as its model, you might as well burn the Bill Of Rights except for the Second Amendment since the possession of fully automatic assault rifles in private homes is official Israeli gospel.
And, thinking about Israel as a model for the United States to follow, there is no better time to begin than with the impending holiday shopping season approaching. What could be better news for an already lagging U.S. economy than metal detectors and body searches at the Mall Of America?
Perhaps America could adopt another fine Israeli policy of not allowing non-Americans to buy houses and live in American neighborhoods?
Even if you did not give a hoot about the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights, there is one extremely limiting factor in any attempt by the United States to mimic Israeli behavior...Money!
Living in the equivalent of a police state is very expensive and economically crippling…just ask the former Soviet Union.
Israel’s economy is heavily subsidized by American dollars. Some estimates state that 40% of the U.S. foreign aid budget is shipped to Israel.
If the United States adopts Israeli policy as its own, which country in the world will be generous enough to subsidize America?
America is on the verge of national insanity and CBS’s Bob Simon has proved it.
To go on internationally broadcast television as the correspondent of a world respected network and sanction murder, as official American State policy, is borderline treason. What Mr. Simon advocates violates every law of the American landscape. Why is he not persecuted for his illegal beliefs in the same manner as a Branch Dividian à la Waco?
And, not only did Bob Simon sanction murder but targeted “that Palestinian organization”. With the cleverness of the 60 Minutes editors, imagine the wonderful collation building power of Simon’s reckless mouth that the Islamic world press could garner by repeatedly re-broadcasting Simon’s words as the representative product of American opinion. Thank you CNN!
Simply stated, “No Thank You Bob Simon”.
The United States is a leader…not a follower. This country leads by example…the American example.
If Simon feels an overwhelming urge to blather at the mouth in the future, he should try to employ the same discretion that he constantly expects from America’s leaders.
There is only one way to deal with the present threat of terrorism and that is by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the rest of America’s laws.
It is the American way.
RightPage