Fox News host Bill O’Reilly left little doubt Monday night where he stood on proposed U.S. intervention in a fast-imploding Iraq, urging President Barack Obama to “begin bombing” Sunni Islamists over-running the country or be guilty of an “enormous dereliction of duty.”
O’Reilly opened “The Factor” with a monologue on the rapid advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an ultra-violent Islamic insurgency that overwhelmed Iraqi military positions throughout the country’s north last week, and now controls a well-equipped terrorist army.
The U.S. and regional powers have scrambled to respond to the lighting advance, with rumors flying that America may provide air support for ground troops from Iran, it’s arch rival.
O’Reilly agreed with Obama’s statement on Friday that Iraq is riven by internal political strife — something the U.S. cannot solve. “That being said, I fully expect President Obama to begin bombing the al-Qaida army very soon,” he declared. “If he does not do that, it would be an enormous dereliction of duty.”
“He is the commander-in-chief,” O’Reilly continued. “Al-Qaida wants to kill us. So he must send a message to them, and to the largely cowardly world: We will not allow savages to decimate the world! That is the message that must be sent.”
“Let me ask all you bleeding hearts this question,” he said. “What’s wrong with destroying an al-Qaida army? Anywhere on Earth? What’s wrong with that? These people want to destroy civilization. They want to impose Sharia law.”
The terrorists fighting in Iraq are, in fact, too extreme even for al-Qaida, with the group’s global leader disowning ISIS earlier this year for the organization’s extreme violence.