Posted on 05/30/2006 7:39:49 PM PDT by blau993
Sorry about the vanity. It is my first and hopefully my last, but this has me pretty well boiling.
I did a real double take this evening during Bill O'Reilly's conversation with General Wesley Clark. Talking about past incidents of wartime atrocities, O'Reilly twice mentioned Malmedy. The first time I merely thought it was out of place in what otherwise seemed to be a listing of atrocities committed against American troops. However, when Clark pushed him a little, O'Reilly spouted on about Malmedy being a massacre of SS Troops by Americans. It was, of course, precisely the opposite, but the learned Mr. O'Reilly seemed not to know that, nor did General Clark correct him. How dumb are we getting? Doesn't O'Reilly claim to have once taught history?
Otherwise, I like his intensive & relentless follow up questioning...
Where does Clark "try" to correct OR? Not in the transcript you posted.
Well, if Clark put the American artillerymen murdered at Malmedy in the category of a combatant who suddenly throws down his rifle and throws up his hands, he is as big a boob as O'Reilly. Those artillerymen, IIRC, were riding in trucks when they were captured. There was no "heat of battle" involved at all. Pieffer simply didn't want to be burdened by prisoners, so he shot them.
I think we're the only ones. ;') Could it be I'm not as humorous as I think I am? I guess anything's possible...
Scrubbed? Who starts this nonsense? From FNC website:
O'REILLY: And in Normandy, as you know, U.S. forces captured S.S. forces, who had their hands in the air. And they were unarmed. And they shot them down. You know that. That's on the record. Been documented.
And Iwo Jima, the same thing occurred. The Japanese attempted to surrender, and they were burned in their caves.
Signed on today just to post your nonsense? Go away troll.
No one else has brought this point up, which I feel is the main issue in this entire topic, that being BOR's response to a viewer email.
Here is what BOR said on the air:
"In Malmedy, as you know, U.S. forces captured S.S. forces who had their hands in the air and were unarmed and they shot them dead, you know that. That's on the record. And documented."
Here is what the viewer email read:
"Bill, you mentioned Malmedy as the site of an American massacre during World War II. It was the other way around, the SS shot down U.S. prisoners".
Here is the very brief (and bizarre) response to the email:
"In the heat of the debate with General Clark, my statement wasn't clear enough... after Malmedy, some German captives were executed by American troops".
That was his only comment on the subject.
I don't fault BOR for the initial mistake, we all make them, however, his evasive, non-accountability response is inexcusable. Then, when you see he went out of his way to change the transcripts on the website, it becomes even more disappointing.
I would have a lot more respect for him if he simply said, "You are correct, I had my facts wrong with regard to Malmedy, I apologize for the error".
I hadn't heard that. Pretty scuzzy, but about what I would expect from Mr. Pompousity.
What is certainly true about Spiers is that he was an expert at harvesting loot from Germany.
Regards, Ivan
Here's an article (not footnoted, unfortunately) with speaks of a
number of POSSIBLE shootings of prisoners by US soldiers during WWII.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_199663.html
O'Reilly got too hot in that exchange; he should have cooled his jets
and taken his time or just commented later (and more dispassionately).
Whether or not other US troops may or may not have shot unarmed Germans at other points in WWII doesn't change the fact that Bill O'Reilly was 100% wrong with regard to his accusations about what our soldiers did at Malmedy.
Then he did the ultimate spin (in the 'No Spin Zone') in response to a viewer email, then he created a new and improved version of the exchange on his website, actually changing the wording of what was said.
Bottom line, he flat out accused those US soliders (who were victims at Malmedy) of being war criminals then tried to cover up his own mistake.
His covering up and running from his mis-statements is the story here.
I'm no BR fan, but here's a portion of the transcript for O'Reilly's rant, still on the FNC website. Nothing's been changed. Where's the "cover up?"
O'REILLY: And in Malmedy, as you know, U.S. forces captured S.S. forces, who had their hands in the air. And they were unarmed. And they shot them down. You know that. That's on the record. Been documented.
And Iwo Jima, the same thing occurred. The Japanese attempted to surrender, and they were burned in their caves.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197635,00.html
Could you please provide a link to the transcripts?
It's posted on #38 where you read the post you're responding to.
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