U.S. Kills Top al Qaeda Operative

Laura Ingraham
The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News Network)
12-11-2009
INGRAHAM: And in the "Impact" segment tonight, a U.S. drone strike in western Pakistan has killed a top al Qaeda operative.

Authorities now believe it was Saleh al-Somali, in charge of planning terror attacks outside of Iraq and Afghanistan. How big is this guy?

With us now, Dr. Michael Scheuer, the former chief of the CIA's Usama bin Laden unit.

Michael, it's always great to see you. How big is this?

MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CHIEF, CIA'S USAMA BIN LADEN UNIT: It's important. Any dead al Qaeda person is a good al Qaeda person. But I think we have to keep -- keep a hold on ourselves here. It's an important tactical victory. It is largely irrelevant to the strategic situation we face.

INGRAHAM: Now, you have the view that all -- while all those things might be good, unless we get bin Laden, this thing is not going to...

SCHEUER: I think General McChrystal the other day in Congress brought us back on to the focus. The Taliban is not a threat to the continental United States or the way we live our lives here. Usama bin Laden is.

And we've tried various things. He's gone from being the source of evil to being irrelevant to being Usama who...

INGRAHAM: But is he alive?

SCHEUER: Of course he's alive. We would know if he was dead.

It would be like trying to keep a secret about the president being dead.

INGRAHAM: Now, when you heard about this Pakistani American story, with these young men from Northern Virginia, and right -- a couple of miles from where we are right now, a mosque in Northern Virginia, end up going over to Pakistan and want to get into the jihad. Were willing recruits into jihad to carry out attacks against western targets and American targets.

The president was asked about this in Oslo, and he's got the Nobel Peace Prize. It's kind of a halting -- well, don't want to prejudge him. People can read all sorts of things on the Internet and get radicalized. Do you hear a clear message coming from this administration on what this American, now -born Islamic threat is?

SCHEUER: No. The administration doesn't want to talk about it, but I'm not sure either party wants to talk about it. We've kind of fooled ourselves over the last five or 10 years. The incitement and instigation efforts of al Qaeda and its allies around the world have affected young male Muslims in every part of the world, whether it's Europe, Southeast Asia, South America.

INGRAHAM: Somalia.

SCHEUER: Somalia. Algeria. Britain. We're crazy to think it's not going to happen here. And we're escalating one war at the moment.

That's going to radicalize more people. It's a threat for the future which -- which we don't want to talk about.

INGRAHAM: I should say that the Muslim community in Northern Virginia helped alert authorities to this problem. They've been working.

The mosque has been working with authorities to try to, you know, make sense of the story, and they're obviously concerned. Look what happens.

Someone in their -- you know, their mosque, not good for them.

SCHEUER: No, it's not. But parents and mosques across the world face the same problem. There are -- there are mosques that help the Pakistani government. There are mosques that help the British government.

But nonetheless, the impact of the incitement is still very significant.

And for us to think it can't happen in the United States because we're a melting pot...

INGRAHAM: It is happening. This idea that everyone's assimilating and that it's all -- all is good, because we're all here, no.

In fact, we see the Somalia-Americans in Minnesota -- Somalian-Americans going back to Africa, carrying out jihadist activities. And now this Pakistani story, it's actually stunning. It shouldn't be, but it's still stunning to me.

SCHEUER: It is, and we tend to forget that John Walker Lindh was probably one of the first to go over there.

INGRAHAM: Yes, the American Taliban.

SCHEUER: Yes. It's a problem for America and...

INGRAHAM: Is it a question of when we get hit again, not if, Michael? I mean, I know that's a very morose thing to say around the holidays. But...

SCHEUER: It's not a morose thing; it's just realism. We have not killed the enemy who attacked us. When General McChrystal said the threat to the United States is Usama bin Laden and al Qaeda, he spoke the truth. We don't kill them, they will certainly kill us.

INGRAHAM: But you kill Usama bin Laden, there are others who could perhaps replace him?

SCHEUER: No. Someone will replace him, but you killed a lot of them. You know, that's what the president didn't get.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Scheuer, we always appreciate you. Don't mean to cut you off.

Still to come, Tiger Woods in crisis. With even more damning info emerging, is the golfer at the end of his career, is it at stake?

That's all coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Content and Programming Copyright 2009 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2009 Voxant, Inc. (www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material.


This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.
U.S. Kills Top al Qaeda OperativeLaura Ingraham
The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News Network)
12-11-2009
INGRAHAM: And in the "Impact" segment tonight, a U.S. drone strike in western Pakistan has killed a top al Qaeda operative.

Authorities now believe it was Saleh al-Somali, in charge of planning terror attacks outside of Iraq and Afghanistan. How big is this guy?

With us now, Dr. Michael Scheuer, the former chief of the CIA's Usama bin Laden unit.

Michael, it's always great to see you. How big is this?

MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CHIEF, CIA'S USAMA BIN LADEN UNIT: It's important. Any dead al Qaeda person is a good al Qaeda person. But I think we have to keep -- keep a hold on ourselves here. It's an important tactical victory. It is largely irrelevant to the strategic situation we face.

INGRAHAM: Now, you have the view that all -- while all those things might be good, unless we get bin Laden, this thing is not going to...

SCHEUER: I think General McChrystal the other day in Congress brought us back on to the focus. The Taliban is not a threat to the continental United States or the way we live our lives here. Usama bin Laden is.

And we've tried various things. He's gone from being the source of evil to being irrelevant to being Usama who...

INGRAHAM: But is he alive?

SCHEUER: Of course he's alive. We would know if he was dead.

It would be like trying to keep a secret about the president being dead.

INGRAHAM: Now, when you heard about this Pakistani American story, with these young men from Northern Virginia, and right -- a couple of miles from where we are right now, a mosque in Northern Virginia, end up going over to Pakistan and want to get into the jihad. Were willing recruits into jihad to carry out attacks against western targets and American targets.

The president was asked about this in Oslo, and he's got the Nobel Peace Prize. It's kind of a halting -- well, don't want to prejudge him. People can read all sorts of things on the Internet and get radicalized. Do you hear a clear message coming from this administration on what this American, now -born Islamic threat is?

SCHEUER: No. The administration doesn't want to talk about it, but I'm not sure either party wants to talk about it. We've kind of fooled ourselves over the last five or 10 years. The incitement and instigation efforts of al Qaeda and its allies around the world have affected young male Muslims in every part of the world, whether it's Europe, Southeast Asia, South America.

INGRAHAM: Somalia.

SCHEUER: Somalia. Algeria. Britain. We're crazy to think it's not going to happen here. And we're escalating one war at the moment.

That's going to radicalize more people. It's a threat for the future which -- which we don't want to talk about.

INGRAHAM: I should say that the Muslim community in Northern Virginia helped alert authorities to this problem. They've been working.

The mosque has been working with authorities to try to, you know, make sense of the story, and they're obviously concerned. Look what happens.

Someone in their -- you know, their mosque, not good for them.

SCHEUER: No, it's not. But parents and mosques across the world face the same problem. There are -- there are mosques that help the Pakistani government. There are mosques that help the British government.

But nonetheless, the impact of the incitement is still very significant.

And for us to think it can't happen in the United States because we're a melting pot...

INGRAHAM: It is happening. This idea that everyone's assimilating and that it's all -- all is good, because we're all here, no.

In fact, we see the Somalia-Americans in Minnesota -- Somalian-Americans going back to Africa, carrying out jihadist activities. And now this Pakistani story, it's actually stunning. It shouldn't be, but it's still stunning to me.

SCHEUER: It is, and we tend to forget that John Walker Lindh was probably one of the first to go over there.

INGRAHAM: Yes, the American Taliban.

SCHEUER: Yes. It's a problem for America and...

INGRAHAM: Is it a question of when we get hit again, not if, Michael? I mean, I know that's a very morose thing to say around the holidays. But...

SCHEUER: It's not a morose thing; it's just realism. We have not killed the enemy who attacked us. When General McChrystal said the threat to the United States is Usama bin Laden and al Qaeda, he spoke the truth. We don't kill them, they will certainly kill us.

INGRAHAM: But you kill Usama bin Laden, there are others who could perhaps replace him?

SCHEUER: No. Someone will replace him, but you killed a lot of them. You know, that's what the president didn't get.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Scheuer, we always appreciate you. Don't mean to cut you off.

Still to come, Tiger Woods in crisis. With even more damning info emerging, is the golfer at the end of his career, is it at stake?

That's all coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Content and Programming Copyright 2009 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2009 Voxant, Inc. (www.voxant.com), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon Fox News Network, LLC'S and Voxant, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material.


This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.