Yelling ‘Allahu akbar’ defines a terrorist act, O’Reilly implies

By Daniel Tencer
Thursday, November 12th, 2009 -- 5:22 pm
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oreillystylized Yelling Allahu akbar defines a terrorist act, OReilly impliesIn the past week, Bill O'Reilly has joined his fellow Fox News hosts in condemning the "political correctness" that they see as blocking the public from viewing the Fort Hood massacre as an act of Islamic terrorism.

But now it appears O'Reilly may himself be pushing a different kind of political correctness: The notion that, to be labeled a terrorist, you have to scream "Allahu akbar" ("God is great") as you launch your attack.

That's the gist of an exchange on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor last night between O'Reilly and the Washington Post's Sally Quinn.

"You have a hard time saying the words 'Muslim terrorist,'" O'Reilly said to Quinn. "I don't know why."

Quinn protested and said: "You can call the guy who shot up the Holocaust Museum a terrorist."

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"Did he yell Allah[u] akbar?" O'Reilly retorted. "If he yelled Allah[u] akbar and emailed an Al Qaeda in Yemen, I'd call him that, Ms. Quinn."

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man now charged with 13 counts of murder in the Fort Hood shootings, reportedly cried "Allahu akbar" before opening fire on his fellow soldiers. On Wednesday, the FBI announced it believed that Hasan "acted alone in the Fort Hood shootings, and was not involved in terrorist activities when a joint terrorism task force crossed paths with him last year," the San Antonio News-Express reports.

Quinn was referring to the case of James von Brunn, who was arrested and charged in connection with the killing of a security guard at Washington, DC's Holocaust museum in June. Even though von Brunn was said to have connections to white supremacist groups, in that case, as in the Hasan case, authorities charged the alleged shooter with murder, and denied that it was an act of terrorism.

At the time of the Holocaust shooting, progressive commentators criticized O'Reilly and other conservative TV news personalities for having created an atmosphere where acts of right-wing violence can flourish.

"Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment," New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote at the time.

Other media critics took O'Reilly to task for minimizing his show's coverage of the Holocaust Museum shooting, even though he had earlier criticized other networks for not giving enough coverage to other acts of violence that may have been politically motivated.

The following video was broadcast on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, November 11, 2009, and uploaded to the Web by MediaMatters.

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Story comments are below...
  • capcal
    I'm not sure this article is fair. I think what O'reilly implied is that if you yell allauh akbar WHILE killing people after contacting Al Qaeda that makes you a terrorist.

    In that same note....Right wing fundamentalist Christians who blow up abortion clinics and kill doctors are terrorist. O'reilly doesn't complain about that....
  • LeoDelati
    Wow, I just always thought that when my Mom says that to me, she's saying a little prayer before I leave for a roadtrip to take nature photos, hoping I will be safe. I didn't know that she was indoctrinating me to terrorism. To bad its not working because I still LOVE me a half pound of bacon to go with my Newcastle for breakfast while in the mountains...
  • mike
    sorry, but yes.. if you yell "allah akbar" right before you open fire on unarmed friends and coworkers, that's terrorism.
  • Savantster
    .
    so the same act if someone screamed "free snoopy!" first, that's not terrorism?

    Americans.. no wonder we're the laughing stock of the industrialized nations.
    .
  • mdavis1269
    HA... funny analogy, but you have to put this act in context and consider current events and the quantity of the same or similar acts going on this day and age.

    We live in a world where all over the middle east (no denying) Muslims are, in fact, blowing eachother up on buses, shops, trains, cars, etc... all in the name of their god, Allah.

    We call those acts of terrorism, because that is exactly what they are - acts which insert fear into others' lives and make a brutal statement that if you don't follow their teachings, basically - you die.

    The Fort Hood MUSLIM TERRORIST was no different... he probably thought everyone should die for not following his Allah (or, at least all should die for fighting against the people who love his Allah).

    Now, if another person did the same act and yelled "FREE SNOOPY" - they'd be labeled a complete lunatic. An isolated act of lunacy is not Terrorism. Same goes for the DC lunatic that shot up the holocaust museum - you can label him a complete madman psycho lunatic - but it wouldn't be appropriate to call it "terrorism" unless there as lots of it going on every day (as in currently, right now, today, etc.... NOT denying the holocaust, but that is not a current reason for fear. Hitler is dead).

    Terrorism is when you are literally "terrified" of being killed while in the supermarket, at the office, on a bus, etc. because a particular type of lunatic that happens to follow a certain ideology has been on the rampage on a daily basis.

    Until "Free Snoopy" killers come in mass numbers, they are just random acts of lunacy, but not "terrorists" - Capice?
  • Savantster
    your lack of logic makes me dizzy..

    "he probably thought everyone should die for not following his Allah (or, at least all should die for fighting against the people who love his Allah)."

    shows you aren't basing anything on fact, just your assumptions. As noted, INTENT is all that matters, and we don't know his intent yet. but feel free to presume away.
  • Disenfranchised
    ALLAHU AKBAR!!!!!!!! ALLAHU AKBAR!!!!!ALLAHU AKBAR!!!!!

    :) I love freedom of speech (while we still have it)((uh mostly I mean))
  • morepatience
    Now you have to attack somebody though ;)
  • jack
    bottom line, is this guy is a terrorist and the media is still not stating that fact. You lefty loons make me laugh, you try and justify this guy's actions just so you can prove the "other" side wrong. You libs are unbelievable.
  • Savantster
    .
    what's unbelievable is you don't call _everyone_ that snaps and kills lots of people terrorists.. you only do it if they are non-xtian. Your lack of consistency and honesty is what's most unbelievable.
    .
  • Ted. S
    It does when you're shooting at people, dumbasses
  • yoshimum
    Why do people on the Left have the propensity to speak more positively about people who would slit their throats than they do about their own country, which affords them more freedom and opportunity than anywhere else, do they hope they will be killed last?

    If it walks like a duck.................
  • Savantster
    .
    There is no direct answer to your question because you are asking a question about something that does not exist. Your perception is severely skewed which has you accept as real something that doesn't exist.

    Those on the "Left" simply state that we all have rights to live, and no one has a right to terrorize.. you don't hear that, you don't want to acknowledge that when xtians kill for their god in an attempt to sway public policy that they are ALSO terrorists.

    And I know your perceptions are skewed when you think America "affords them more freedom and opportunity than anywhere else".. perhaps it's because you don't understand real freedom or real opportunity. Several other countries are ahead of America on general economic/class mobility and aren't on the brink of being a full on fascist state.
    .
  • yoshimum
    My perceptions are skewed? LOL
    Being the wife of a military guy for more than 25+ years of service and having lived in various countries around the world, please don't tell me I don't understand "real freedom and opportunity" I dare say I have a better comprehension of the meaning than do you.
    This country is on the brink of becoming a third world nation rather than a fascist state, Obama is well on the path to bringing that to fruition.

    And when was the last time a Christian slaughtered in the name of 'their god'?
  • sahaider
    Lots of schizophrenics, people with bipolar disorder show up with religious notion of whatever religion they follow. If you have any humane senses, and a little bit of knowledge, you will see that a Christian with Bipolar disorder or schizophrenia will draw up Bible and Muslims will draw up Quraan. It is not religious war in anyone's case it is purely their disturbed mind.
  • morepatience
    I think Naveed Haq's case in Seattle's Jewish Federation Center shooting in '06 brought up those points (although I think he was ultimately found to be competent or whatever it's called).

    I kind of wonder if there was no 'war on terror' and such (no Cole attack, embassy bombings, 9/11 either), if the decision would have been different.
  • overdoneputaforkinit
    Tend to agree. Terrorists have an agenda they make known either before or after. Terrorists are defined as using deadly force to intimidate people into accepting their political or religious demands. Did Hasan leave a note why he killed these people? Yelling "God is Great" means what, exactly?
  • sahaider
    One may visit any psych institute ina Muslim country, lot of patients there would be shouting Allah-o Akbar! do they mean to be terrorists? NO!
    A PERSON WHO HAS NO REGARD FOR INNOCENT LIFE, BE IT EVEN PLANTS OR LOWER ANIMALS, HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM!
  • dennycrane
    The "word" you are looking for is "falafel". As in the millions that the intern got when you "terrorized" her on the phone. You are the terrorist, bill.
  • Adam503
    So according to Bill O'Reilly and Fox-News...

    ...Hakeem Olajuwon was a terrorist throughout his career with the Houston Rockets.
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