>> demand it. >> glenn: welcome to the "glenn beck program." there are all kinds of conflicting reports that are out right now about what went down with osama bin laden. we know he is dead. praise be to allah. but there are also new facts coming frat a senior u.s. official today there is a video of the raid. but it's not going to be released. there is a video of the burial at sea, but they haven't decided on that one yet, i don't think. the body of bin laden was taken to a hangar in afghanistan before taken to the uss carl vinson. they recovered computer information that was called a treasure trove and a mother lode according to officials in the d.o.d. more than you expect from someone worried about their security there were no guards at the compound. bin laden was unarmed. okay. we also learned the seals

encountered gunfire when they entered the second home where bin laden was. bin laden was on the third floor. nonadult children were in the room with him. his wife and those children are in pakistani custody today. we know the firefight lasted 20 minutes. but he was unarmed. the pakistani papers are now suggesting that bin laden was shot by his own guards. not by u.s. special forces. the chinese news agencies are reporting that pakistani officials, the world's most wanted terrorist, osama bin laden was killed in a search operation launched by the pakistani forces. i haven't heard yet if the cub scouts were involved. there will always be confusion and there will always be doubt and conflicting stories. but tonight, i want to take you probably out of your comfort zone. it's 5:00.

on the "glenn beck program." i want you to use some critical thinking here. not as a viewer but as the president of the united states. because i think we are starting to miss important questions. each step we take from here on out, each step we take, are we making the world more safe or less safe? c'mon. ♪ ♪ >> glenn: hello, america. we are now one day removed from learning the emotional and pretty happy news that osama bin laden finally had an up close and perm meeting with the united states special forces. aftertary brief encounter, our guys -- after their brief encounter our guys arranged for another meeting for bin

laden to higher or a much lower power, whichever way you see it. i'm happy to say the special forces were kind enough to provide transportation. a couple of double-taps and he was on his merry way. no one is happier than yours truly. but i want to again take you out of your comfort zone. we have to think like the president of the united states and answer questions here. bin laden was one of the worst mass murders to live and he inspired countless act of evil and it will go on for generations. i told you yesterday, that me personally, i'm on at 5:00 and i'm not the president of the united states. inwould have said you know what? can we wrap him in bacon, stuff him in a football and bury him under the 50-yard line at the meadowlands. it'd settle -- remember hans solo put in the carbon freeze? put him in that and make him part of foundation at the freedom tower. however, i'm cool. everybody was celebrating in

the streets. eeunderstand it. i do. i do understand it. many were excited about bin laden's death, which is probably the wrong emotion. but i don't think that is what it was. there were sincere people out there. i think what happened when people were not doing this, this is more reflective. the people that were celebrating. i think it's probably haven't had anything good to feel about america in some time. we keep being told we're bad and evil and worthless and everything else. daddy keeps telling us that. i have don't mean daddy. i have mean like our country's father now. barack obama. we won this one. that is what peel -- that is what people felt.

it doesn't feel like we've been winning anything for a while. but be careful. "a," we just won one game in a championship series. most people will fail to even recognize that there is even a series that we could lose. tonight. think like the president of the united states, not like a regular citizen or a tv viewer. but you are the person, remember when hillary clinton said and answers the phone at 3:00 in the morning. hello? who is it going to be? the phone call comes in at 3:00 in the morning. this is the conversation. split this up. here is special ops. these are the people that are going to say hey, we just found bin laden. then me and you, what we should say and what the president should say. remember, this phone call didn't happen this week. the phone call didn't happen at 3:00 in the morning. but let's say it did. probably went something like this. and remember, does this make us less safe or more safe?

phone call, 3:00 in the morning. you answer it. you're the president. special ops says we have found bin laden. me and you say "did you kill him?" the president should say, "where is he?" answer: pakistan. me and you? whatever. kill him and call me back. i'm sleeping. the president says do the pakistanis know? critical question. notice we're all focused on kill him. the president of the united states he should be better than that, even at 3:00 in the morning. where is he? pakistan. do the pakistanis know? we don't know. we say, whatever. kill him. the president says can you

catch or kill him? answer: yes. you and i say "catch him? what?" the president says can you do it without "a," getting everybody killed? killing innocents? and making sure that there is no video or photos of dead children anywhere? why? why would the president of the united states say that? he doesn't want any of our troops killed. he doesn't want any videos or photos because he knows a photo is worth 1,000 words. now, according to the white house, there are discussions about releasing the foe toses of osama bin laden. dead. they are saying it is awful, gruesome.

saying that his brain is exposed and everything else. a picture is worth 1,000 words. they're saying this will be one of the most widely viewed photos ever. if not the most viewed photo in history. think of the historic photos you have seen. photo you will never get out of your mind, world trade center. or the moon landing. think of all of the photos of j.f.k. or photo of iwo jima. that is saying something. think of all the photos that have been burned in your mind and what they say to you. this is going to be the most viewed photo of all time. well, what will this photo say? the agenda behind releasing the photo is put to death the deather conspiracy. we have truthers and then we have birthers and now we have

deathers. perfect. all conspiracy theorists and they want to release it before conspiracys pick up any steam. you have to be kidding me, right? you could produce the body. they still think we have aliens in roswell. you cannot satisfy people. it doesn't matter what you do. you think a nut job is going to believe a picture put out by the pentagon? no. abc news says the white house is considering releasing the video of the body going in the sea. okay, we take a video of a body whatted in white cloth going overboard. oh, that is going to convince them. right. right. right. donald trump, you want to weigh in on this one? we had the birth certificate. do we need a long form death certificate, too? you want to help me out on this one? barack obama of all people knows that picture in the video is not going to help. he should, as he was giving

the order to kill osama bin laden. that next night he was making fun of donald trump from stage. talking about the conspiracy theory, coming off the birth certificate, so he knows this. yet he is still debating with people about releasing photos. we know a good president would say you are not going to kill innocents and there is not going to be videos or photos right? it doesn't make sense. the debate is supposedly happening behind closed doors and whether or not to release the images. this is odd to me, because you and i learned about bin laden on sunday night. the president has known this is coming since february, specifically. and since august, generally.

they bragged about all the meetings they have had. are we really supposed to believe that the president didn't ask these questions? can you capture or kill him? yes. can you do it without getting killed? pretty sure. without killing innocents? pretty sure. can you make sure there is no video? they say wait a minute, mr. president. we should have some film, some photos because nobody is going to believe him. how are we going to convince people? yes, okay. all right. we'll take a picture of the body. why are we debating this now? they didn't debate this before this the question is releasing the photo. does the action make the united states of america more or less safe? the question about pakistan.

where is he? pakistan. do the pakistanis know? now pakistan is involved. look at the map of where they found bin laden. they found bin laden in the compound. this is 1,000 yards away from bin laden's house. that's it. bin laden's house is surrounded by 18-foot walls and barbed wire. it's not exactly subtle. the town is filled with retired generals. pakistan is not looking good in this scenario. if you knew since august, did you not have that debate inside the administration behind closed doors? and think through what is going to happen with pakistan if we go in and take out bin laden? what to say to them? what to say to your own people and what to say to the whole world. the administration is trying to make us believe they didn't have the conversations.

the administration are criticizing pakistan and demand we reconsider the $3 billion in aid we give to them. think of that. $3 billion in aid. what do we do? we give them the aid because if we don't the moderate will collapse. it would cripple them if we cut it off. others in the administration says pakistan is helpful on this. which is it? you can't especially get the administration who hasn't been hearing this since sunday night like you and me, they have been doing it since august they have people who are all they're paid to do is think of these things and they can't get that one answer right. they weren't prepared for this and they weren't prepared for the pictures? be they were prepared for a muslim cleric ready to go. it's like oh, crap. well were going to dump his body off. does anyone have a muslim cleric handy? they had that ready to go. but not the answer for photos

or pakistan. that doesn't work. it doesn't make sense. now barack obama's poll numbers jumped 9 percentage point overnight. he is doing great. if we gave the order to kill bin laden from a shoe, the shoe would have gone up nine points. everybody is happy that bin laden is sleeping with the fishes. but the question is, is the world more or less stable? let's look at the fact. this is strange. wikileaks, accurate. the release of information from wikileaks has been accurate and it's set middle east on fire. now there are leaked documents that we know, out of guantanamo that says al-qaeda has a rogue nuke.

set to detonate if bin laden is captured or killed. do we know if it's true? we don't. the document side chamberlain -- document site is khalid sheikh mohammed, prisoner at the facility that said hell storm would break out if we killed bin laden. bin laden said they have one. what do we have? wikileaks says and this is from the harry back guy. nukes. the u.s. government has said they have nukes. al-qaeda and osama bin laden have said, they've got nukes. i want to make sure that we're clear on that one. shoot him dead. do they have nukes? did they take out the nipple clamps jack bauer style? nukes, can we get a little

information? things are off here. that brings us to option. poll numbers. that would be a possible with every president. especially president like bush or obama. the poll numbers are down. you had a chance. do it. option number two, something went wrong or we have missing information. this is plausible, i don't think probable. third graders are in the white house. we have seen, we know what they are doing. there is not wild incompetence in the white house. then destabilize the world and the middle east. wait a minute, wait a minute. can we go back over here. can we move here? pick up sticks. relax. it's 5:00.

not like bill o'reilly. they will work together against israel, work against capitalism and work together to overturn stability! overturntable. hmm. -- overturn stability. if you are one of those guys, than doing the things would destabilize and be a good thing. i'm not questioning the joy that we feel. i am not questioning the joy we feel over killing bin laden but i don't believe they didn't know this in advance. this is in the room getting briefed to mission to take down osama bin laden. are you telling me no one in the room said wait, wait, wait, mr. president. first of all, do we know for sure that they do or do not have nukes? second of all, what is going

to happen to pakistan? if pakistan falls apart, the whole thing cascades. the middle eastern country also with a nuke. did anyone speak up? maybe they did. maybe the president said i don't care, kill him no matter what. i don't think so. it doesn't make sense. in today's world how on fire it is, going in without thought to pakistan's reaction would be irresponsible and hard to believe. the press should be asking this. americans should be asking questions. again, clear. glad osama bin laden is gone. i had a marching band here. still happy about it. that was game seven. we played game one. i don't know if it's utter incompetence or what. they had months to prepare for the scenario. the military pulled it off. they prepared. they did it.

the administration doesn't know what to do with the photos or pakistan. you have to think of the long-term ramifications if you're president. is the world becoming more or less safe? does the action make us more or less safe? temporarily it makes us less safe. if it was only about killing obl, then you are okay. terrorists will retaliate, but should it play a role if we kill him or not? no. justice needs to be serve and it was. did anybody think this through? they keep saying they did. i believe they did. we put accusations in america that say they are not a friend of ours. does it make us more or less safe? nukes, no you cans nukes. pakistan in trouble. more or less safe? we kill him, don't capture him. that was the right move.

more safe or less safe? photos, more safe or less safe? what would have happened if we released the jfk death photos a week after his death? we waited 25, 30 years. by releasing the photo, does it make us more or less safe? don't answer as a citizen. answer as a president. if he answers too many times the wrong way, you have to ask yourself why. what are the options? what is really happening? more in a second. w 

>> glenn: i want to share with you growing thoughts here. today is kind of more think outloud program. these are the kinds that always get me in trouble. why is killing osama bin laden, it's important because justice needed to be served. why doesn't it change anything really in the end? unlike a guy who was hitler,

you kill osama bin laden. it doesn't change anything. osama bin laden is not a person. like the muslim brotherhood they're not really people. but this is the way we look at them. we have look at them as people or groups. america is aned where. freedom. when they come after and attack us, what do we do? we immediately put up fences around the idea. put them around as much as we can to lock up this idea. protect it. when they continue to come, another one, we put up more fences. we make it so they can't come through.

we have others. we have marxism. we have globalists. we have statists coming after us as well. we have all of these. just like statist, globalist, marxist, they are not people they're ideas. just like these guys. are not people. it's ideas. it's this one idea, shariah law. you can kill all of the muslim brotherhood. you can kill osama bin laden. but shiria law and the shariah law lasts. here is where we are in trouble. we're not really protecting an

idea anymore. we are protecting stuff. stuff loses to ideas. we have to stop protecting our stuff and start looking for the idea. our stuff decays over time. and our idea, the idea, the american idea is so decayed it doesn't matter anymore. it's not even really discussed. where is the competing idea? shariah wants total control for allah. total control for the collective. total control for the business really. united nations for the corrupt and for the corrupt businesses of the world. where is the competing idea? they all want to control.

we must replace our stuff with an idea. this is why we talked about e-4. enlightenment, education, empowerment, entrepreneurship. enlightenment, find your place with god. find your place. who is he? does he even exist? do i have a place? are we all here or just blobs that happened to pop up? can we all be herded collectively, or does god look at us and judge us as individuals? if he does, you better educate yourself. then empower yourself. find that creative idea. you notice all of this is about destruction and then control. that is not what he is about. he is about creation. america, if we are going to win, we need the competing

idea. it ain't about stuff. back in a second.

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price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. i'm patti ann browne. the white house revises some of the details on the shoot-out that killed osama bin laden. press secretary jay carney says the al-qaeda leader was unarmed when navy seals confronted him at his hide-out, but he tried to resist capture. one of bin laden's wives was shot in the leg, not killed. reporters asked again whether the photographs will be released to prove his death. they are told there are concerns that the gruesome pictures could be inflammatory. the senate unanimously passed a resolution to honor heros who carried out the successful mission. more details op how it went down on foxnews.com. glenn beck returns in a moment but first, bret previews "special report."

>> bret: coming up, will a photo or video be released? we'll press the deputy national security advisor. we're two days from the first republican debate in south carolina. preview tonight. join me in 25 minutes for special report. now back to glenn beck in new york. ♪ ♪ >> glenn: all right. bin laden is no longer a threat. we have been talking about whether the world is more safe or less safe. in a time of crisis, you have to be very careful with every move. clearly the world is better off without ubl. it's great. but now each step that we take we have to be very careful. releasing pictures, is that going to be helpful or stop anyone believing it was -- 14% -- is it 14% or 8%? believe we never went to the

moon. the u.s. population. so, hello. pictures don't help. we have to see what we've done. what we've done in the last couple of years. who are our friends anymore? honestly. i asked my radio audience today. what do we stand for? who are we? what do we believe in as a country? who are our friends? i don't know. i don't know. who are allies. what is going on? i want to show a video from a journalist and a middle east expert. this is what he had to say on iran government press tv. watch. >> america, britain, france, economic difficulties. but it means the americans in particular and the british are prepared to use military power to offset their economic decline. >> glenn: the military

power -- just, i want you to know who this guy is. first, this is a guy who last month resigned from the british socialist workers party after 32 years of membership. i guess being the expert of socialist worker paper qualifies him as a journalist and an expert on the middle east. so here is a socialist communist marxist revolutionary talking about the government as a socialist communist, marxist revolutionary. saying you know what? they're going to go to war. is this what our country is set up for? i don't think so. the iranians believe that. it's the way when people hyperinflate that's the way they get out of it. i want the show you what is happening to our country. our corns is transforming everything. all of our ties are changing. this is who our traditional

allies have been. these are the traditional foes. let's go through them one-by-one, shall we? france. here is the latest on france. president obama called them strong friend and ally, but the honeymoon is over. they have to take the lead in libya. right? if the election were held today, carquinez would lose to -- sarkozy would lose to lapen who says she will break the alliance with nato. with friends like france, who needs are russia? they are in the question mark category. germany congratulated us on ubl. but they are also looking for new friends. russia. construction on an underwater oil pipeline between russia and germany. underway. england, things have been trained. you know, since we sent the bust of churchill back and

gave the queen an ipod of his best speeches but they are basically toast they are still our ally. but anybody who watched the royal wedding of kate and leopold, they were, they were walking down and somebody on tv said that could be the next king. i have thought yes, if there is another king. canada, you probably missed this piece of news. this is good. stephen harper and his conservatives won yesterday. i may just chug, knock back maple leaf syrup and i don't know break out in "o, canada." please, let us across the border. please, please. no offense, canada, be you're not known for your fighting prowess, but you are the strongest one of the group now. pakistan, well, i mean, i they are over here they could fall at any time. friend or foe. which are they?

were they harboring ubl or not? the country could go into a tailspin but let's not forget the killers were from pakistan. now we are spreading from iran through afghanistan. in to pakistan. in to india. who said, who is he? from india to spain. egypt since mubarak stepped down, anti-american sentment has been growing. we're not real popular over there. the muslim brotherhood for shariah law poised to take control go to glennbeck.com to see the latest approval ratings for the muslim brotherhood. and ours. by the way, they came out today. and defended resistance to u.s. presence in iraq and afghanistan. as legitimate. but our president loves it.

israel is repeatedly criticized by the white house. we are at a relationship we haven't had in 35 years. saudi arabia, if you have been following it all, why do you think they're not pumping more oil? they are really, really angry. they don't like the example they are setting in libya by killing leaders. falling apart. here. china is reducing their debts. our debts they're not holding our debt anymore. the economy is on a track to overtake ours by 2016. saudi arabia has been courting china for their own special deal. they're trying to have a little energy alliance since they're disappointed with us. japan? there is nothing left of japan. between the earthquake, tsunami and the 400-plus

aftershocks, japan is crippled. and on the d.l. now, wow! what happens? remember during the time of hope and change, the idea was the president to repair our international relations. i mean, unless he meant relations in a biblical sense, we're not really repairing anything. -- well, we still get along with these guys. kind of. kind of. these guys like us. these guys like us. brazil, really, not so much. nothing like a former marxist guerilla who went to president to over throw the government, who is president now in brazil. i don't look at brazil like we are friends or allies, but brazil looks at us like

clients. we're kind of eliot spitzer to brazil. as long as the check clears, they're in. is iran stronger or weaker? is russia stronger or weaker? cuba, stronger or weaker? north korea, stronger or weaker? the point, ubl and al-qaeda were the old idea to scare people to shariah law, terrorize them, kill them. the new paradigm is the muslim brotherhood. organize, legislate. stand up for democracy. shariah law in place. you can do it. it's a lot easier to community organize than convince people to blow themselves up.

it's the postpowerful weapon on the planet today. you can kill ubl but as i told you, the idea lives on. there is a competing idea. globalism, statism, marxism. it seems as though we're being separate and cut apart from anyone who once believed in that idea. because fab wants to stand with a bunch of people that are only about stuff. that is where we begin tomorrow. the competing idea. back in a minute. @=h

>> glenn: bin laden's death raises a lot of questions. are we more safe or less safe now? my guess is that we are less safe temporarily. if we do the right things,

more safe. michael shauer is the awe for of "osama bin laden." let me explain something about michael before i bring him on. how long have we known each other? >> five or six years. >> glenn: yeah. michael and i disagree on some things here and there. but you will notice i have very few guests on the show. that is, pardon my language, most people speak bull crap. and they don't tell you what they really think. he does. agree or disagree. you want someone to tell you the truth iffy're in a fire fight. we're in a fire fight, michael. first, you watch the show or saw a few minutes of it here, as you were waiting. how much is bull crap here? am i on the right track or going on the, in the wrong direction? >> well, i think certainly we under estimate glenn the display with the united states around the world. especially in muslim world.

we heard them repeat over and over we're not at war with islam. that's fine. but increasing numbers of muslims across the islamic world are at war with us. with our allies. >> glenn: okay. >> it's a very broad war. one that we are going to have to fight for a long time. >> glenn: it doesn't seem to me, you and i know we can't fight the war for a long time. how much is the war costing us? look at our debt. what is happening to us is what osama bin laden said he would do to us in 1999, i believe. he would do to us what he said about the former soviet union. if we don't have a competing idea, one that unites the world. he had an idea that is uniting the middle east. now the muslim brotherhood have a similar one.

it's shariah law. correct or wrong? >> well, there is certainly similarity between osama bin laden and the islamic brotherhood. it's islamic government. that's right. the brotherhood is more sophisticated organization. they have a political organization of its own. but its goal in many ways is much more imperialistic, much more global than osama bin laden. bin laden was a defensive jihaddist if you will, wanting to reclaim territory lost by islam. if you read the brotherhood material rather than what they tell cnn, it's an imperialist organization like saudis who want to install islamic government in every country of the world, which would mean conversion, for jews or christians. or it would mean death. or it would mean special tax. >> glenn: hold on just a second. back in a minute.  

>> glenn: back with the former head of the c.i.a. bin laden unit. i want to ask two questions and we have 90 seconds so the first is yes or no. should at no time debate about the photos of whether we should release the death photos of osama bin laden have been done long ago?

before the trip was made? >> yeah, this is a botched thing. they should have already gone over how to identify the body to the american people. >> glenn: second thing, destabilization of pakistan intentionm or unintentional, how much, what does this mean to the war on terror if you will? >> certainly, we are tearing pakistan apart by what we have asked it to do and what it has done. but perhaps the most dangerous thing was the state department insistence that they go back and democracy be restored. at least musharraf was helping us. since the election the president of pakistan is one of the most corrupt people on earth. the country as a whole is really falling apart. it seems to me at least that our best bet is if the military at some point in the near future takes over. >> glenn: wow! thank you. michael. appreciate it. we'll be back in just a second.

>> glenn: tomorrow's program we begin the search to find that american idea. so we can take these stupid security pences down and start pushing back. and make the marxist and those who want shariah law and the globalists and the statists start to have to put fences around from our idea. that is tomorrow. don't miss it. good night,