Who Are The Patriots Again?

Folks, when you openly admit to advocating that you want Americans to die in a terrorist attack in order to change U.S. policy, that makes you a terrorist.

Yesterday, Glenn Beck guest and former CIA official Michael Scheuer openly hoped for a terrorist attack on the United States, saying, "the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States...It's an absurd situation again, only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government protect them effectively, consistently, and with as much violence as necessary." Beck nodded solemnly.

This is the same Michael Scheuer who, a few months ago, played patriotism police arguing that anyone who didn't support the United States using torture to interrogate terrorist suspects was anti-American...now he's begging for a terrorist attack on the United States. This is a pretty awesome example of how the right conflates their political interests with the interests of the country as a whole. If there's no terrorist attack, then Americans are safe. But Scheuer can't be right if there's no terrorist attack. And Scheuer being right is actually more important than Americans staying alive.

So yes, here's a guy taken seriously as a terrorism expert that is basically saying "Well, in order to prove I'm correct, we need a major terror attack where Americans are killed."

Why is this man considered "an expert" again, and why is FOX allowing him to advocate terrorism on their network on Glennsanity's show? Could you imagine the shitstorm that would erupt if somebody came on Rachel Maddow or Countdown and said "The only way to save America is for Osama Bin Laden to hit us again and kill Americans"?

But this is par for the course for the wingers, openly wishing for Americans to be killed for "the greater good".

[UPDATE 1:19 PM] Here's the clip from Media Matters.

Why does Michael Scheuer hate America so much?

[UPDATE 6:01 PM] Pandagon's Amanda Marcotte makes an excellent point.

But after watching this video a few times, I realize that what Glenn Beck and Michael Scheuer mean when they say that Osama bin Laden is their last hope as a savior, is that they mean as the savior of the Republican Party. Which I find interesting, because I’ve argued for a long time that neocons and Al Qaeda may be sworn enemies, but functionally they have a codependent relationship and really rely on each other for their own justification for existing. In that sense, they’re working together for each other. But I never thought I’d actually hear a wingnut basically come out and admit this. But there you go---they get it. Osama bin Laden is both an enemy and an ally, and they’re practically begging him to attack us so that they’re relevant.

Again, my fear here is that this sort of open longing for terrorism will help push someone, domestic or foreign, to take them up on it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the real problem here.