This Peters fellow and O'Reilly should both be flogged...


Pentagon furious over call for execution of captured soldier

Posted By David Edwards and Stephen Webster On July 23, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
Congressman calls on Fox to fire O’Reilly, Peters for aiding America’s
enemies

According to NBC’s top Pentagon correspondent, the Department of
Defense is furious with Fox News analyst Ralph Peters, who said on
July 19 that the Taliban should [1] murder 23-year-old Private First
Class Bowe Bergdahl, captured after he strayed from his post, to save
the Army “legal hassles and legal bills.”

Peters, [2] a well-known Neoconservative and frequent Fox News guest,
attempted to clarify his shocking statement on Tuesday night’s
O’Reilly Factor, telling right-wing host Bill O’Reilly he believes
that Bergdahl had “deserted” his unit and deserved no sympathy. He did
not apologize. O’Reilly added that Bergdahl must be “crazy.”

However, Wednesday night MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow fired back,
interviewing Jim Miklaszewski, NBC’s top Pentagon correspondent, who
said the Department of Defense is furious with Peters and Fox News,
adding there is no evidence that Bergdahl is a deserter.

Peters’ and O’Reilly’s insidious comments drew a sharp reaction from a
bipartisan group of 22 veteran members of Congress, who all [3] signed
a letter demanding Fox News CEO Roger Ailes apologize to Bergdahl’s
family for allowing a guest on his network to provide “aid and
comfort” to America’s enemies.

“Mr. Peters’ indefensible comments call into question, without any
supporting evidence whatsoever, PFC Bergdahl’s patriotism and
commitment to his country, and suggest in a non-subtle way that he
deserved to be captured,” they wrote. “The truth is that Mr. Peters’
words give more aid and comfort to the enemy…and put PFC Bergdahl at
additional risk of harm.”

Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY), a former Navy commander who joined the
22 members of Congress in signing the letter, went a step further and
called on Fox News to [4] fire both O’Reilly and Peters.

“Their comments aid and abet our enemies during a time of war and the
burden is on Fox News to prove that they reject this by taking the
tangible action of issuing an apology and firing both of them,” he
wrote.

Jim Miklaszewski, NBC’s Pentagon correspondent, told Maddow on
Wednesday night that Bergdahl “came off patrol on June 30th, dropped
off his weapon, his body armor, grabbed up a bottle of water, a
compass and a knife and took off out on his own. It was sometime after
that, apparently, that some local militants grabbed him and turned him
over to the Taliban.”

“Should he have left the post alone?” Miklaszewski asked. “Of course
not. But that doesn’t make him a deserter.”

He continued: “Military officials I talked to are quite outraged at
Peters’ comments, not just the idea perhaps that he suggested that the
Taliban should execute Bergdahl, but because it’s totally
irresponsible. Here you have a kid, 23-years-old, in custody. He’s got
to be terrified. And now, these Peters comments could actually be used
by his captors to get even deeper inside Bergdahl’s mind and further
erode any confidence that he may have that he will ever come out
alive.”

“I suspect my fellow Americans might really bail out of the FOX
viewership over this one,” opined former war reporter and photographer
Tim King, who edits [5] Oregon-based Web site Salem-News.

“If this insolent wicked little man named Peters at FOX manages to
turn people against this American who volunteered to serve in the
military, fully aware that almost anyone in the Army can be deployed
overseas, he should be arrested and tossed in prison,” King continued.
“When does FOX News cross the line? This is a new age, a new time, and
there is no way in Hell that Peters or FOX can cry ‘free speech’ now.”