From Special Report with Bret Baier | Friday, February 24, 2012
On the administration’s apologies for the burning of Korans by American soldiers at Bagram Air Base:
That was embarrassing….
We have gone from apology here to abject self-debasement and groveling. And groveling to whom? To the mob.
We should have had a single apology from the commander on the ground and that’s it. Not from the secretary of defense. Not from the president — of all people.
Remember when the president had to pick up the phone when there was a crazy pastor in Florida who wanted a Koran burning and he had to be talked out of it? Is the president in charge of offenses against certain religious traditions in the world?
This is a world in which nobody asked the Islamic Conference, the grouping of 56 Islamic countries, to issue an apology when Christians are attacked and churches are burned in Egypt or Pakistan. And had we heard a word from any Islamic leader anywhere about radical Muslims in Nigeria who are not only burning churches but are burning women and children in the churches?
When I hear that [apology], I’ll expect the president to start issuing apologies.
And, in fact, I’m not sure the argument [that] you have to do it [issue a presidential apology] to protect our soldiers is correct. The fact is that after the president apologized — and after we have been on our knees groveling — there was increase in the violence. It isn’t as if it has had any effect whatsoever. It whets the appetite. People love to see America on its knees.
And second, on the idea that the leader, Muslim leaders in the world [do] apologize. There are 56 nations in the Islamic Conference. Has one apologized for the attacks on Copts in Egypt? Has the leader in Egypt himself apologized? No….
The reason we’re apologizing is not because of politeness or showing respect. A single apology would have done that. It’s the fear of violence. People don’t object if Mormons are mocked on Broadway, if Christian crucifixes are put in bottles of urine and displayed in a museum, because violence isn’t a factor.
[Regarding Islam, however] people are afraid. You do a cartoon of Muhammad and you get beheaded or shot. It’s a matter of fear. It’s not respect. One apology is correct. It [the administration’s multiple apologies] shouldn’t have been done — all of this stuff is cravenness.