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4:28 pm - 11/24/2009


O'Reilly Interviews Lawyer For 9/11 Defendant: 'You're A Weasel, You Know People Hate You'



On Monday night, Bill O'Reilly grilled Scott Fenstermaker, a lawyer for accused 9/11 terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali in a habeas corpus case challenging Ali's detention, about his role in the case during a heated interview on "The O'Reilly Factor".

O'Reilly began by asking if his client's defense is to hurl anti-American propaganda in the courtroom. Fenstermaker said no, explaining that Ali and his co-defendants would make a "justification" defense for their role in 9/11. The interview quickly got personal as O'Reilly pressed Fenstermaker on his own views: "Is there any justification on this earth to murder thousands of innocent people?" "Are you sitting here as a human being telling me the people on 9/11 weren't murdered?"
Fenstermaker insisted that that was for the jury to decide, and he is not a juror. This answer did not sit well with the host.
O'Reilly: Don't you think people watching you, and millions are right now, counselor, and I don't mean this with any disrespect, think that you're a weasel?


Fenstermaker: They might. That's fine.

O'Reilly: Cause I do. And you seem like a nice guy, but I'm saying this guy sitting in front of me doesn't think these people were murdered on 9/11 when we saw what happened; if he won't say they were murdered or not, he's a weasel.
O'Reilly repeatedly tried to draw out the defense strategy from the attorney but Fenstermaker kept dodging or rephrasing the host's questions in a more innocuous way, much to the annoyance of O'Reilly.
O'Reilly: You know people hate you. Do you care?


Fenstermaker: No, I'm honored that they hate me.



WATCH:</p>





Source

ETA fixed the video
Leave a Comment
ateenwriter 25th-Nov-2009 01:07 am (UTC)
This is pretty much my thoughts on him for life
erunamiryene 25th-Nov-2009 12:21 am (UTC)
Holy shit, someone who actually grasps the idea behind "rule of law".

Too bad O'Reilly couldn't be arsed to do the same thing.

Seriously, I have a lot of respect for Fenstermaker; I somehow doubt that taking this case was an easy decision for him.
randomneses 25th-Nov-2009 12:24 am (UTC)
I hope that guy doesn't get too many threats.
box_in_the_box 25th-Nov-2009 12:53 am (UTC)
I hope he starts wearing a bulletproof vest at all times, because your hope is way too damn optimistic.

In the original Dirty Harry movie, a very talented actor named Andrew Robinson (whom you might remember as Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) played the villain of the piece, a psychotic mass-murderer.

In spite of the fact that Robinson is a very nice man IRL, who was playing a purely fictional character, he received DEATH THREATS FOR YEARS as a result.
varookamcsalt 25th-Nov-2009 12:25 am (UTC)
I gotta respect a guy who refuses to judge. also, getting under O'really's skin is a okay with me.
thetidebreaks 25th-Nov-2009 12:26 am (UTC)
Giving those people trials is about the most American thing this country can do. What is Bill suggesting? We take them to a secret base and shoot them in the head without giving them the right to be heard by their peers? Hm, sounds like a familiar concept, doesn't it...
inazuma_1 25th-Nov-2009 12:34 am (UTC)
So, O'Rly is trying to punk a guy who is doing his job and taking a case assigned to him regardless of the fact his clients are suspected terrorists?

No wonder Billo the Fat Clown can't get a job on a "real" news network.
saigonostalker 25th-Nov-2009 12:34 am (UTC)
Jesus, Bill, I didn't think you were this much of a douchebag.

What is it exactly that Republicans don't get about our Justice system being run by, you know, laws instead of whatever the hell your own personal whims happen to be?
jaded110 25th-Nov-2009 12:56 am (UTC)
They think their personal whims SHOULD be the law.
mercystars 25th-Nov-2009 12:40 am (UTC)
O'Reilly: You know I'm basically just going to sit here and call you names and mock you and do practically anything I can short of laying my hands on you in a desperate attempt to get a pissy reaction out of you, right?

Lawyer guy: Yeah, pretty much. *smug*
karikinetic 25th-Nov-2009 12:54 am (UTC)
Good for him. He deserves to be proud. He handled that ridiculous excuse for "journalism" with aplomb.
runawaynun 25th-Nov-2009 01:02 am (UTC)
Why would this guy go on a Fox News show, though? I mean, it was going to be like this and probably most of the audience was going "Yeah, Bill!"

But major fail on rule of law understanding by Bill O.
arekuru 25th-Nov-2009 09:03 pm (UTC)
I'm optimistically hoping they paid him plenty of money.
happythree 25th-Nov-2009 01:33 am (UTC)
I think your video link is messed up?...
mylaptopisevil 25th-Nov-2009 01:47 am (UTC)
I HATE IT WHEN WE GIVE PEOPLE FAIR TRIALS, THUS WHEN THEY ARE GUILTY WE KNOW THEY ARE GUILTY AND WORTHY OF OUR IRE.

I WANT MY IRE NOW!

NOWWWWWWWW
shellazure 25th-Nov-2009 01:55 am (UTC)
I'm pretty sure Fox News is trying to get certain people assassinated, and not just this guy.
antiotter 25th-Nov-2009 04:29 am (UTC)


Trying? Tried and succeeded.
rufinia 25th-Nov-2009 02:27 am (UTC)
And this is why I want to be a defense attorney when I grow up.

BECAUSE IT'LL DRIVE PAPA BEAR CRAZY
bord_du_rasoir 25th-Nov-2009 02:28 am (UTC)
How dare he participate in due process and a fair trial.

How dare we base imprisonment and conviction on trivial things like burden of proof, evidence, reasonable doubt & the like.

What does he think this is— America?
anwuya 25th-Nov-2009 02:33 am (UTC)
Bill: "Do you think there's any justification to kill thousands of civilians?"
Um. If the Republican party calls it a war, then you think it's okay, Papa Bear. Or if they're brown people. That's when you think it's okay. Stop asking questions when you know what your own answer is.

Wikipedia is telling me that the total deaths were 2,976 victims and 19 hijackers. Our Chinese teacher asked us that in class and none of us had an answer. Bill would be so ashamed of me.

Scott: "The way that these men have been treated is contrary to the values of the United States."
Okay, he made me feel so peaceful when he said that, I admit. <3 His entire demeanor is so peaceful, but just WATCHING the interview from my own room, my heart is racing.

I hate the Fox News tactic of naming some ridiculous scenario and using it to spread hate and fear.
noheadlines 25th-Nov-2009 02:49 am (UTC)
Paging Mr Olbermann ...
rex_dart 25th-Nov-2009 04:31 am (UTC)
Last year my Central European history prof managed to grab someone who was visiting him on business to talk to our class for a day; he was a defense lawyer for a Serbian war criminal on trial at the Hague, and after hearing what he had to say I was left with such respect for someone who can do their job and do it to the best of their ability even when it's something most people would find repugnant because it's the right thing to do. Defense lawyers are awesome.
kitty0_o 25th-Nov-2009 05:39 am (UTC)
vitaminvi 25th-Nov-2009 05:49 am (UTC)
It's not like Bill does his job as a journalist. Why would he expect someone else to do theirs?
excusemesenator 25th-Nov-2009 11:27 am (UTC)
We should upend our judicial system because the accused would probably spout propaganda? Do you really think that people listening will think "Oh, shit, he's got a point. I renounce my Catholicism. JIHAD!!!" or what? It blows my mind how all these conservative bed-wetters treat captured Al-Qaeda operatives like fucking comic book supervillians with mind control rays.

If America allows itself to turn due process of law on its ear because we're afraid one of the most hated people in the world will share his views, then the terrorists really will have won. Don't they get this?
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