“Democracy Now!” Host and Executive Producer Amy Goodman argued that the US should stop drone strikes and close Guantanamo to “challenge ISIS” on Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time.”
During a discussion of U2 lead singer Bono’s suggestion to use comedians to stop ISIS, Goodman stated, “I would say one way to challenge ISIS is to stop the drone strikes, killing innocent people from Yemen to Afghanistan to Pakistan. I would say it’s closing Guantanamo –.”
Host Bill Maher then interjected, “Well, ISIS kills way more innocent people than the drone strikes.”
Goodman responded, “Overall if you talk about drone strikes, if you talk about the expanding war, I think there’s no question that more people are being killed as a result of, for example, the Saudi-backed crisis in Yemen.”
After Maher brought up ISIS’ execution videos, Goodman said they were “horrific.” She continued, “I think of someone like James Foley, right? Famous because he was beheaded. What was he doing in Syria? He bringing out the voices of people, the grassroots. What was he doing at the NATO summit in Chicago? He following the soldiers who were throwing their medals back at the NATO summit saying ‘War is not the answer.’ It is only making things worse.”
Maher responded, “War is the answer when you’re dealing with ISIS.” He further stated that Charlie Chaplin’s mockery of Hitler didn’t actually stop Hitler from killing anyone, and that it’s “very dangerous” to believe that art can stop violence from people who are “bent” on it.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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