Bill O’Reilly Calls Putin a “Killer,” Russia Demands Apology

It is not unpatriotic to acknowledge the fact that elements of the US government have done some very unsavory things in foreign countries. It has targeted leaders for overthrow, if not worse. For an example, study what the CIA did in regard to the democratically-elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, in its 1953 “Operation Ajax.” That should not be a source of national pride.

Anyone who believes that our intelligence services and operatives have never had someone “rubbed out” had best not bet their life’s savings on that belief. This is not an attempt to beat up on our nation or its people — it’s just a simple statement of fact. Power can get out of hand if allowed to even in the best of countries.

This turns into an issue when viewed in the context of both President Trump’s statement that he “respects” President Putin of Russia, and the widespread belief expressed by the media that Mr. Putin is a thug and a “killer,” as Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly has stated.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly described Putin as “a killer” in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O’Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed.

“We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would prefer to get an apology from such a respected TV company,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

Of course, O’Reilly was doing his job as a journalist in putting President Trump on the spot to see how he would respond. If all he did was throw “softball” questions, it wouldn’t make for a very interesting interview. But the issue of what relationship might develop between the leaders of the two nuclear-armed nations is of intense interest in the media.

Trump’s views on Putin are closely scrutinized in the United States, where U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Moscow of having sponsored computer hacking to help Trump win office, and critics say he is too complimentary about the Russian leader.

The first part about Moscow’s involvement in the US election remains unproven, and the statement that “critics” say he is “too complimentary” of Putin is meaningless. What critics of Mr. Trump? And what else do you expect them to say? There’s some sloppy journalism by as prestigious an institution as Reuters. But back to the main point.

Having stirred things up, a subsequent interview of President Trump pursued a similar line of inquiry.

Trump, when commenting on the allegations against Putin in the same interview, questioned how “innocent” the United States itself was, saying it had made a lot of its own mistakes. That irritated some congressional Republicans who said there was no comparison between how Russian and U.S. politicians behaved.

Asked in an interview on Sunday to clarify those comments, Trump told Westwood One Sports Radio: “Well, I don’t have to clarify it. The question was do you respect him — he’s a head of a major country.”

Of course, politicians are going to claim superiority and purity of their motives — that’s how many of them get elected. Just keep in mind that many, if not most, politicians are on a perpetual campaign for the next election. Hence, their comments should be judged with that in sight.

While there is no comparison between the behavior of America and the atrocities committed by Stalin of the Soviet Union, Mr. Putin is not Mr. Stalin. And recall that President Roosevelt referred to that genocidal maniac as, “Uncle Joe” when he was an ally during WW II. One wonder what the press would say if that situation were moved forward to today.

If the covert actions of the US Government were all laid bare for the world to see, it is very likely that most Americans would be shocked, or perhaps horrified. There would clearly be much for which to atone.

That statement is not meant to be offensive or in anyway to create shame. What it should to is to cause Americans, to the degree possible given the subject, to reevaluate our role in the world and the power that should be given to intelligence agencies to intervene in the affairs of other nations.

Uncontrolled or unchecked power could lead someone to make a decision to order a covert action that gets us into a lot more trouble than just a nasty war of words over insulting Mr. Putin.

Source: Yahoo