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FOX News: Could Aug. 22 Be the End of the World Thanks to Iran?
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," August 8, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Should the United States and Israel be on high alert? Two weeks from today, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has implied that he will give his final answer to the U.S. about his country's nuclear program by August 22nd.
Now, August 22nd also has great significance on the Islamic calendar. It's a day when Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad road a winged horse, first to Jerusalem and then to Heaven and back.
So is it possible that Iran will flex its nuclear muscles on that date? Joining us now is FOX News military analyst Colonel David Hunt.
And, Colonel Hunt, do you place any significance on that date? Do we believe that Iran will take action based on the date, August 22nd?
COL. DAVID HUNT, FOX NEWS MILITARY ANALYST: I think Iran, Alan, has taken action for years. They've taken it with Hezbollah against Israel, they've taken it against us everyday. They've killed Americans in Iraq. So, yes, I take everything that wing nut says very seriously, whether it's the 22nd — but we've been at this World War III for a long, long time. It's time that the rest of us woke up. So high alert, I'm afraid, is going to be here for a while, and this war we're in with terrorists, like the nation — like Iran, is here to stay.
COLMES: I keep hearing this inflamed rhetoric, like World War III. When you say that, it implies as though the United States somehow has to be involved in a ground or air war when you say World War III. Are you suggesting that the United States is just weeks or months away from being a participant in a world war?
HUNT: I think we have been. I'm not talking about attacking all the nations of the world, Al. I am saying this: The War on Terror is a world war. It involves nations all other the world, like Syria, and Iran. It involves the Russian mafia, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah. It's a different type of war. It doesn't mean we have to invade all these countries. We've got a lot more killing of bad guys to do and a lot more recognition of what this about, holy war, in countries sponsoring terrorism.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Hey, Colonel, welcome back to the program. It's amazing to me how many people don't understand the nature of Islamic fascism and how widespread this movement is and how they want to destroy Israel, Europe and the United States.
The Iranians we now discovered today — from the capture of one of the people responsible for the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers, Iranian trained — we now know Iran is supplying the weaponry to Hezbollah. So this really — they're using Hezbollah as a proxy for them to wage their own war, isn't that true?
HUNT: Yes, and they're also running Hamas. They're the ones — there's $100 million a year going into Hezbollah out of Iran. Iran, as we know, are killing American soldiers in Iraq, and they're controlling a militia. They're controlling Muqtada al-Sadr there. So they have very bad guys, and they're doing it by proxy. You're right, Hezbollah is just one of their main armies, and they're well trained and well financed.
HANNITY: How naive is this notion — The New York Times editorial today — that the idea that we can talk to Syria, talk to these terrorist regimes. Can you talk to Ahmadinejad? Can you talk to an Assad? Can you talk to Usama bin Laden? Can you get anywhere? Is that an...
HUNT: I think we can talk to them when we line them up and kill them. The only reason to talk to some of these guys is to just do that. However, we're not going to wipe out, as we talked offline, the entire country, but we have to directly talk to these guys to find out what they want. If they're not going to cooperate, yes, they have to go.
HANNITY: Regime change.
HUNT: Absolutely, 100 percent.
HANNITY: All right, thanks. Good to see you, Colonel.
COLMES: All right, Colonel, we thank you very much, Colonel.