Return to Transcripts main page

Glenn Beck

What Should We Do About North Korea?; Former Secretary of State Weighs in on North Korea

Aired October 09, 2006 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GLENN BECK, HOST: All right. Coming up, Kim Jong-Il is testing nukes. Yay! Will the next one be pointed at us?
Plus, former Secretary of State James Baker is going to weigh in on North Korea, Iran and Iraq. It`s all coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight`s episode is brought to you by Kim Jong-Il`s Nuclear Powered Hand Sanitizing Liquid. Watch your germs, your hands and your entire neighborhood melt away with Kim Jong-Il`s Nuclear Powered Hand Sanitizing Liquid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, welcome to nuclear Monday. Let me start with this poster. This is actually a poster from North Korea. Underneath, in case you don`t speak Korean, it says "merciless punishment to the U.S." Isn`t that nice? Look at the Capitol there.

We have been telling you for a while now that these guys are a serious, serious threat. Now Kim Jong-Il has a nuclear weapon, or so he claims. More on in "The Real Story" tonight.

The very, very short and very, very crazy president of North Korea has claimed that his country has detonated its first nuclear weapon in an underground test last night. It is awesome, isn`t it?

Here is the point tonight: the perfect storm is on our shore. America needs to wake up and confront it. We need at least to recognize it. It could mean the end of the west if we don`t. Here`s how we got there.

President Bush has responded to the North Korean nuclear test. Earlier today this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The transfer of nuclear weapons or material to North Korea to state or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States, and we would hold North Korea fully accountable the consequences of such action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. Key words here are non-state entity. And here`s why.

Kim Jong-Il, as I see it, is Mussolini to Ahmadinejad`s Hitler. Mussolini was a nut job who wanted to control Italy. Hitler wanted to take over the whole world. I believe this is the same situation replaying itself today. Kim Jong-Il is nuts, but so far he hasn`t given us indication that he wants to take over the entire world, as President Tom has.

However, if the world continues to isolate Kim Jong-Il through the U.N. -- right -- or through any kind of sanctions, then this is the type of guy who would say, "You know what? Here, Iran, al Qaeda, whoa, did I just lose that nuclear weapon in your cave?" He won`t use a nuke, but he would let somebody else use it, and then all bets are off.

What really concerns me about President Bush`s speech and his response today was this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The proclaimed actions taken by North Korea are unacceptable and deserve an immediate response by the United Nations Security Council.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, a lot of things have deserved an immediate response from the United Nations. When are we ever going to learn that the United Nations is not just completely useless as an entity. I believe they are aiding to our disruption.

Who cares what the U.N. will do? You cannot count on Russia or China. Russia is helping to develop this technology, and China wants nothing to do with Korean refugees that will come over the border as they starve.

Both of these countries, no matter what anybody says, please remember both of these countries are our enemies. They will debate and they will debate, and they will continue to issue empty threats and pointless sanctions, the same exact way they`re handling Iran.

What you`re seeing unfold in North Korea right now is not just history. It is also the future. It is exactly what will happen with Iran. And if we don`t stand up and handle this, along with a coalition of the willing, then, you know what? At some point you can kiss Los Angeles, New York, or some big juicy capital in Europe goodbye.

I told you a month ago about the perfect storm: the events that could come together and ultimately lead to the end of the west. The center of that perfect storm is Iran and its allies. Because of North Korea`s actions, the perfect storm is much clearer tonight.

So here`s what I know today. I know that North Korea was named the axis of evil for a reason. And they are living up to their name today. Kim Jong-Il has starved his people. He has imprisoned thousands of others. He has gone out and kidnapped movie stars for his own personal pleasure. I`m not making that up. The list goes on and on. He is out of his mind nuts. Now he has a nuke.

The good news? I don`t think he wants to bring about the end of the world. The bad news? He just might enable someone else to do it.

I also know that Iran is watching all of this very, very closely. If Russia and China deal with North Korea the same way they`re dealing with Iran, well, President Tom will be emboldened. He will rub his hands together with fricking glee.

Not only are we witnessing a rerun of World War II but a glimpse into our future, as well, because Iran will follow the same course of action and develop a nuclear weapon of their own. If that happens, or if North Korea`s nuke finds its way into America, the world will truly Change forever.

But before I get to what I don`t know tonight, I want to show you something. Let`s say a nuke found its way into our country somehow. I mean, not with our crazy strict border control. How could that happen?

This is a map of California, the Los Angeles area. Here`s Hollywood. Here is Beverly Hills. Let me just put the nuke right smack in the center. This is what would happen if a nuke was detonated in the L.A. area. This red zone, everyone is dead.

The next center here, this, everyone dies from radiation poisoning, and the last? Completely uninhabitable -- uninhabitable. This is before the winds even kick in.

So here`s what I don`t know tonight. I don`t know how far away we are from something like this being used against us.

Gordon Chang is the author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World".

Gordon, how long would we have before he could point it at Los Angeles?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN": Well, he could always take one of his nukes and put it on a cargo ship and sail it right in today, but I think it will take him about five to seven years to shrink his warheads, make them into missiles, and then have a missile that will be able to hit L.A.

BECK: Wouldn`t it be worse if he would put it in a cargo ship?

CHANG: Well, you know, that way we really wouldn`t know where it came from, or couldn`t, so it would be hard to trace it back. Of course, a missile, you know exactly where it came from. Cargo ship could come from anywhere, and the forensics on this could take a long time.

BECK: And even if he didn`t detonate it, if he had it in a cargo ship and we found it, that would -- I mean, the reason why they say we`re not checking all of the cargo is because it would just destroy the economy. Is that -- is that an accurate claim?

CHANG: I think so because, you know, if we found a disassembled nuke in some package in a cargo container, we would have to open up all 50,000 cargo containers that came in every day. You know, there`s 31,000 trucks, 6,500 rail cars, 1,200 buses, and 334,000 pedestrians enter our country every day.

BECK: Is this the kind of guy that uses and launches a missile, or is he more apt to sell it to some nut job that will use it?

CHANG: I think he`s more apt to sell it. In April 2003 in Beijing, North Korean diplomat told one of ours that his country rived the right to sell nuclear weapons. And unfortunately, North Korea has a history of carrying through on its threats.

But I think that you`re right, that it`s probably more of a sale. On the other hand, if Kim Jong-Il felt the end was near, he would be capable of doing anything.

BECK: He has ties to Iran, if I`m not mistaken. Maybe you can flesh this out. I don`t think these guys are necessarily allies, but I do believe they`re all opportunists that see -- see an opportunity.

For instance, the last time we had a missile launch was on our 4th of July weekend. And we were all trying to figure out, why would they do this at the same time Hezbollah went in and the war with Israel started just a couple of days later? And they were using each other, I think, for misdirection. Would you agree with that?

CHANG: Yes. On those missile tests, there were 10 Iranians in North Korea on July 4 when those missiles went off. They were there to see Kim Jong-Il`s missile capability.

We know that Kim has sold processed uranium to Iran, and we know the Iranians have been taking lessons, literally taking lessons from the North Koreans about how to cheat on their nuclear inspections from the U.N.

So these guys have been cooperating for some time. And of course, there`s China in the background, because China enabled Pakistan who sold nuclear technology both to North Korea and to Iran.

BECK: So what could anybody do now?

CHANG: Well, you know, the United States has a lot of leverage. The Chinese want a lot from us. Leaders in Beijing know that the stability of the modern Chinese state depends upon prosperity. And that prosperity depends in large measure on access to America markets, capital and technology.

That gives us leverage, and we haven`t been using our leverage on China. We sort of outsourced or foreign policy with regard to North Korea, to Beijing, but we don`t put pressure on China to do the right thing. So of course, they`re acting irresponsible.

BECK: Wouldn`t they put pressure back on us? They own our debt?

CHANG: But you know, they don`t really have that much of a leverage on the debt, because even if they sold all of it, the markets would come back to normal in a couple of quarters. Because they sell our debt, they`ve got to buy euros and yen. Those go up, and the Japanese and Europeans have got to bought treasuries to bring their currencies back down again. So there`s no real leverage there.

BECK: Gordon, thank you very much.

Now how is all of this going to play out in the next few weeks? I don`t know. I don`t know. It`s really anybody`s guess. What I do know is the world is quickly becoming a very scary place. But the good news is it`s just in time for Halloween.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This Halloween season, prepare for the fright of your life. It`s the Glenn Beck House of Horrors, starring Kim Jong-Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, and a host of other very, very scary people. You`ll be so scared you`ll thank your lucky stars it`s only a movie.

Wait a second. It isn`t a movie? Oh, well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is GLENN BECK.

BECK: This is the most selfish (ph) show on television.

Coming up, former Secretary of State James Baker puts North Korea nuclear heading grabbing in perspective. His thoughts on the world at war.

And you know, at least we can feel safe about flying in our own country, right? No, not so much. Airport security still a mess. That`s tonight`s "Real Story".

Also the tradition of Halloween haunted houses turned on its ear. Evangelical hell house. It will scare the Jesus into you, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Exactly what is happening right now in North Korea is going to happen in Iran. Anybody who`s freaked out by this, what a surprise. You knew this was coming. This is exactly -- Iran was emboldened by the U.N. doing nothing with North Korea.

They thought, if they`re not going to do with the Security Council with North Korea, like they`re going to take on an Islamic state? I don`t think so. Europe is too scared.

Europe is in such denial they`re never going to do anything. Of course not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: The alleged North Korean nuclear test now has doubled the list of countries facing the sanctions from the U.N. Security Council. Boy, they`re afraid.

Iran, of course, missed their deadline back October 31 to comply with the Security Council resolution and the U.N. immediately -- well, actually, they haven`t done anything, but you know, it`s the U.N.

So now you have two countries, one Muslim, one not Muslim, one in the Middle East, one in Asia. One threatening to start a nuclear program, one who`s already proven they have one.

How do you handle the two scenarios that are so similar on their face but so different in substance? You know, we always talk about resolutions and sanctions and multilateral talks. Do any of those things actually work with people like Saddam Hussein or leaders of these countries that only speak the language of military action?

James Baker is a former secretary of state, author of the new book called "Work Hard, Study, and Keep Out of Politics". Wow, what great advice.

How are you, sir?

JAMES BAKER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Fine, thank you.

BECK: What a pleasure to meet you. First of all, thank you for all of the service that you have given our country over the years.

BAKER: Thank you very much. That`s very kind.

BECK: Here we have the news of the day with North Korea. Is there any way to trust these -- everybody`s talking about dialogue.

BAKER: No. No trust.

BECK: So what do you do?

BAKER: No trust. Well, I really think this time, primarily because of what China has said -- China -- China was not happy with this test.

BECK: Right.

BAKER: China does not want a nuclear armed Korean Peninsula, because if something happens there, the refugee problem is going to be China`s problem.

BECK: Right.

BAKER: So if you notice their statement this morning, it was very, very robust. I now think that there may be some opportunity to do something meaningful in the Security Council. I think we need to understand that the military options in North Korea are very, very minimal. It`s a very tough problem.

BECK: Yes. Well, you know, we`re not really in military action mode, are we, even with Iran. That`s insane to try that now, isn`t it?

BAKER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BECK: So how do you -- let`s go to Iran for a second. How would you deal with Iran, because you can`t -- I mean, even flying a plane and dropping a bomb on them is near suicide.

BAKER: Yes, and North Korea is almost even tougher, because we have 38,000 Americans on the 38th Parallel in Korea.

BECK: Right.

BAKER: They are -- they have a million men under arms only 30 miles away from Seoul. Very difficult problem. But again, let me say I think we may now have an opportunity in the Security Council that we haven`t had before because China is very unhappy.

BECK: We went into Iraq for the weapons of mass destruction, but another really big reason was to pop the head of the snake, which is Iran, didn`t we?

BAKER: No -- into Iraq to pop the head of the snake?

BECK: Of Iran.

BAKER: No. No, that`s not in my view why we went into Iraq.

BECK: Really?

BAKER: No. Iraq...

BECK: I`m saying we went in for weapons of mass destruction. That was nice. But we also went in to pop the head of the snake, to put democracy on both sides and to crush that thing and hoping that the Iranian people would rise up.

BAKER: Well -- well, it would have been very -- it would have been very good if that had resulted immediately after our going in.

BECK: Right. Sure.

BAKER: It`s still not too -- you know, we shouldn`t say it`s all over. It isn`t.

BECK: Yes.

BAKER: It isn`t. There can still be significant success, and a democratic Iraq or even an Iraq that is not a Jeffersonian democracy in the Euphrates...

BECK: Right.

BAKER: ... but has some representative form of government can be a very good bulwark against Iran.

BECK: In your book -- because you were there when we went into the first Gulf War.

BAKER: That`s right.

BECK: And you talk a little bit about this. Isn`t what we`re seeing now, exactly one of the reasons why the first George Bush didn`t go in, because that thing is so fragile that -- I mean, we`re hearing talks now about breaking it up into three -- three parts.

BAKER: It`s one of the reasons, but it was not the only reason back then. There were -- you know, back then we were operating under a Security Council resolution. First time the security council ever come in and voted the use of force against a member state.

It didn`t -- it didn`t authorize us to go to Baghdad. Regime change was not our policy at the time. That became the policy of the United States under the Clinton administration.

Twelve years had passed. Saddam had thumbed his nose at a lot of resolutions, and we`d had 9/11. Plus, our intelligence, wrongly, as it turned out, was telling us there were weapons of mass destruction.

So there was a different situation when -- when 43 went in this time.

BECK: Is there anything more useless than the U.N.? I think they`re actually working -- I think actually work against us.

BAKER: There are a lot of problems with the U.N., Glenn. Serious problems.

BECK: You`re a statesman.

BAKER: No, no, no, no. I`m giving you an honest answer.

BECK: You`re going to answer this one honestly.

BAKER: I`ll give you an honest answer.

BECK: All right. And I`ll translate from bull crap to English.

BAKER: No bull crap here. No bull crap here.

BECK: All right.

BAKER: Let me tell you, the U.N. can be very useful in U.S. foreign policy. It was really useful to us in 1991.

BECK: Right.

BAKER: When we -- when we went to war to kick Iraq out of Kuwait, we had the entire international community behind us. So it wasn`t just a cowboy action by the United States alone.

BECK: Right, right.

BAKER: So it was very helpful there. There are some social and educational organizations affiliated with the U.N. that are very productive and very helpful. But it is a huge bureaucracy that is badly in need of reform.

BECK: Yes. James Baker, I wish I could spend much more time with you, sir. Again, thank you for everything.

BAKER: You bet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Every day you can hear my radio program on stations all across the country, including 600 WREC in Memphis, and you can find the radio show, if you can`t find an affiliate near you, at my web site at GlennBeck.com.

Now Dave Glover is on our affiliate in St. Louis, KFTK 97.1 FM in talk.

Hello, Dave.

DAVE GLOVER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, Glenn.

BECK: What do you think of Kim Jong-Il? That guy is nuts, isn`t he?

GLOVER: It really doesn`t matter whether he`s legitimately insane or it`s just an act. It`s the right way to go. When -- when I was a divorce attorney, we had a saying: crazy always wins. And I think -- I think he`s legitimately crazy, but if I were a dictator, I would wear nothing but a pith helmet a French tickler and I would corner the market on Don Knotts memorabilia.

BECK: Just a second. Which I think he`s done all of those things. You know, the thing -- you bring up an interesting point.

I said when George Bush -- they say, you know, he`s a cowboy, and he`s got kind of a -- he`s got kind of that nervous twitch to him. And I like our enemies thinking, that guy might just push a button.

GLOVER: We need a little more Kim Jong-Il in the White House. We really do.

BECK: We do. I don`t want -- I don`t want Kim Jong-Il, because I`d like someone that we all are in on it. You know, he`s not nuts. But this guy really is crazy.

GLOVER: Can I give you some fun facts?

BECK: Sure.

GLOVER: Kim Jong-Il, he`s 5`2" but spends as much as $5,000 per pair of platform shoes to take him to 5`5", which makes him a giant. He has as many as 20,000 Hollywood movies. His favorite is the James bond series.

Every day he eats lobster with silver chopsticks. He`s been known to drink as many as 20 glasses of wine during a political summit, more if he`s just relaxing. And thinks that Daffy Duck is the greatest comedic actor of all time.

BECK: I don`t know if you -- because I read at one point one of the guys who was in the media over there, he was a -- he was a newspaper guy, he actually escaped from North Korea with his family, which was very harrowing. But he escaped.

He didn`t even know, as a newspaper guy, that he was being lied to as much as he was, until I think it was -- I think it might have been the anniversary of Kim Jong-Il`s father`s death. And the story was that all of the birds had landed and were bowing down at the gravesite. He was told to go cover it. There was nothing going on. And he had to write the story.

GLOVER: Man, crazy always wins. What he`s proving is that what he`s doing is working. We need to stop that.

BECK: So you could actually take this another step, crazy always wins, to John Mark Karr.

GLOVER: Yes, you could.

BECK: In a story that just is -- how long before this guy actually goes out and does something to some poor little kid?

GLOVER: I really hope that at least the consolation to him not going to jail is at least we`d be through with him. But over the weekend the authorities were called to a grade school where ABC, "Good Morning America", producers had taken him in a limousine to see the old school he used to teach at.

Well, he evidently leapt out of the limo and ran up to the windows and started gawking in the windows.

BECK: Yes.

GLOVER: And this -- I love this quote -- gave the ABC producers "moment of pause" like that`s what creeps you out on John Mark Karr.

BECK: I read that and I thought the same thing. You needed that moment? I mean, you didn`t have the whole, "I`m over in Thailand living above a strip club, trying to be a teacher"?

GLOVER: Yes.

BECK: That would have done it for me.

GLOVER: I mean, that limo is going five miles an hour and he jumped out. We have no use for this guy.

BECK: Yes, bizarre. Yes, thanks a lot, Dave. Appreciate it. Talk to you again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right, welcome to "The Real Story."

Today, everyone has been covering North Korea, basically taking a nut job leader, Kim Jong Il, at his word that he tested a nuclear device. But the real story is that we should be at least considering the possibility that this was nothing more than a powerful, yet traditional, bomb.

Regardless, this is still a very bad situation. A leader trying to deceive the world with a fake test would only be slightly better than if he actually did detonate a nuke. But the bigger question would be: What is the point of faking it?

Well, here`s a theory: misdirection. I want you to think back to July Fourth when North Korea did that big dog-and-pony show by firing off some missiles, you remember? Afterwards, everybody was talking about it and everybody was saying, "Why did they do it on Independence Day?" Some people, "Oh, the space shuttle was launching. Does it have something to do with that?"

Well, think back. Do you remember what happened a week after that test? Hezbollah went to war with Israel. All of us were focused on North Korea. The Middle East showed us once again that they`re the real threat.

Oh, and in case you forgot, the Iranians were not only there for the missile launch in North Korea, but they also allegedly gave Hezbollah the green light to start the war.

We cannot ignore North Korea. They are certainly a threat. But while we keep one eye on North Korea, let`s remember to keep the other eye trained on the people who have explicitly told us over and over again that they want us dead.

And in case you`ve forgotten just how serious they are, here is the next installment of our continuing "Missed by the Media" series of video that has been shown on television in the Middle East. Today`s clip is from the ayatollah in Iraq who is condoning the use of weapons -- watch what he says -- condoning the use of weapons to conquer the world.

Now, the translation is going to appear near the bottom of your screen. Please pay very close attention to the words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the objective and subjective circumstances materialize, and there are soldiers, weapons and money, even if this means using biological, chemical, and bacterial weapons, we will conquer the world, so that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah, and will be triumphant over the domes of Moscow, Washington and Paris.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: How much more do we need? You know, I could show these clips over and over and over again, but nobody wants to pay attention. Nobody in the media will play these clips. The media -- I believe, just a theory -- that they have such a lack of understanding of religion that they have no concept of just how seriously it influences people. They put, you know, Christians into the same boat as these guys.

You just saw a clip on television. Now, if you don`t have an understanding of religion and what it can do, well, then what you would go and do is blame the government, look at our own government and say, "How did you cause all of this? Why isn`t the government protecting us on this issue or that issue?"

Last week, the TSA once again changed the rules for what you can bring on a plane. Now, I guess we`re completely safe as long as you bring less than three ounces of hair gel and put it in a single quart clear plastic Ziploc bag. Unfortunately, the real story is that, by focusing on the minutiae of the airport security, things like the size of your plastic bag, our attention is being forced away from the bigger picture and the real threat from Islamic extremists like you just saw.

Like I told you a minute ago, I believe that North Korea, that story today, is forcing us to do exactly the same thing. Let`s look to Kim Jong Il and not look at what`s happening in the Middle East.

The extremists in the Middle East want to kill me. They want to kill you. They want to end our entire way of life. It really is that simple. Until we kill them -- all of them -- we will never really be safe, no matter what you do with your hair gel at the airport.

I believe that there is a line in the sand, there is a line in time that we are approaching very quickly. It`s a line that, if we cross it, things will change forever. Israel deals with life on the other side of that line. It is a life filled with concrete barriers, and security fences, and checkpoints, and the constant fear that every time you put your child on a bus it may be the last time you see your child.

The good news is we haven`t reached the point of no return yet. Yet. We can still stop ourselves from going down the same road as Israel has gone, and even Europe is there. But the only way to do that is to eliminate the fear, and the blame, and the political correctness. Unfortunately, we all know how hard that`s going to be to change that mindset, especially an election year.

In the meantime, I`m all right with doing whatever it takes to make us safer. But unfortunately, it seems like the things that we invest our time and money in are only there to make us feel safer.

Anybody see "60 Minutes" last night? Five years ago, the greatest act of terrorism the world has ever known proved that our airport security was a joke. Is it possible that things are worse now than they were on September 10, 2001?

Joe and Susan Trento, they`re the authors of a new book, "Unsafe at Any Altitude," they say, unbelievably, yes.

Joe and Susan, how are you?

JOE TRENTO, AUTHOR, "UNSAFE AT ANY ALTITUDE": Hey, Glenn.

SUSAN TRENTO, AUTHOR, "UNSAFE AT ANY ALTITUDE": Hi, Glenn.

BECK: Most shocking thing you guys found doing the research for this book?

S. TRENTO: Well, the one thing we found out was that airport screening had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, that the 9/11 Commission found that the airport screeners had done nothing wrong. So the TSA was just a big diversion away -- our attention away from what we really needed to be focusing on.

BECK: So, now, I spoke to you on the radio show today, and you told me that even the list at the airport, you know, the no-fly list, completely bogus?

J. TRENTO: Yes, it`s a joke. It`s poor intelligence. It`s names of people that have been dead. And many, many terrorists are not even on the list. And the intelligence community doesn`t trust the airlines, so even though this is the list that`s supposed to keep terrorists off the airplanes, the intelligence community won`t give them the names.

BECK: OK. So let me ask you how many terrorists -- because I heard that, and I don`t know if this is true. You may have the answer. A stewardess told me just a couple of weeks ago when I was flying -- she said, "Glenn, the air marshals aren`t on every flight. They`re not just assigned random flights. They are actually," she believes, "actually on flights where there`s a tip or a terrorist."

Are terrorists currently flying a lot in America?

J. TRENTO: Well, terrorists are not flying so much in America, but they are flying overseas. And one of the problems is the CIA is allowing certain terrorists to fly in the hopes it will lead them to Al Qaeda cells.

There was an incident in which a terrorist actually was allowed to fly into New Zealand. We lost track of him in New Zealand. And a few months later, this guy who`d gone to flight school with some of the 9/11 hijackers -- in fact, he went to flight school with the guy who flew the plane into the Pentagon -- actually showed up in flight school in New Zealand. And this was just last January.

BECK: Holy cow. So why, Susan, wouldn`t we then take this information and nationalize it or federalize it? Instead of saying, "Here`s the list of people that are -- that shouldn`t fly," if the feds don`t trust the airlines, why don`t they say to the airlines, "Give us the list of people that are flying," and let the TSA check them before they get on board?

S. TRENTO: It`s the same reason on 9/11 -- it was the intelligence agencies, the FBI, the miscommunications. One agency doesn`t trust the other agency. They don`t trust the airlines; they won`t share information. And that`s what we really need to focus on, and we need to fix that problem, rather than us taking off our shoes and our jackets and being put through airline security that what a TSA official called just good eye candy.

BECK: I often wonder if Logan has been fixed after 9/11. You know, we found out that people were working there. And I find out today from you that 600,000 employees across the nation go to work, go right past the security checkpoints, and are never checked. True?

J. TRENTO: Absolutely true. And what`s worse is they don`t have the resources to check them. With all of this money spent, billions and billions of dollars spent, they don`t have the resources.

And what`s worse is we got rid of all the private screening companies. It cost us $700 million to run those companies. It`s now about $5 billion to do the same thing. And guess what? The private screeners did a better job. In fact...

BECK: Not a surprise.

J. TRENTO: ... TSA did so badly in their testing they were doing half as well as the private screeners.

BECK: In less than 30 seconds, is there one airport that is the most dangerous in America?

J. TRENTO: I wouldn`t be going into Atlanta if I could avoid it.

BECK: Joe and Susan, thank you.

That is "The Real Story" tonight.

Time now to go "Straight to the Hill." It`s Erica Hill, the anchor of "PRIME NEWS" on Headline News.

Hello, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, Glenn.

BECK: So this is a man`s dream come true. It really is.

HILL: You know, kids around the country are rejoicing. They`re just going, "Please, ban the brussel sprouts."

BECK: I know. Now, no salad -- honey, I can`t have a salad.

HILL: I can`t have a salad -- I mean, first the spinach, now the lettuce. It`s like no greens are safe these days.

BECK: So tell us the whole story here.

HILL: Foxy brand of lettuce, this is the brand of lettuce that`s being recalled over -- you guessed it -- concerns of e. Coli contamination. Specifically, the company`s talking about green leaf lettuce sold under that Foxy brand between the 3rd and 6th of October in Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. So those are the states, if you live there and you just bought lettuce, you really need to listen. So far, the good news here, no reports of illness have been linked to the lettuce.

BECK: On tomorrow`s real story, we are investigating the thought -- and I`m not saying this is terrorist activity -- but the thought that this is one of the places where we are the most vulnerable: poisoning of our food. Do not miss "The Real Story" tomorrow.

Erica, thanks. See you tomorrow.

HILL: See you then. Thanks, Glenn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: What do you think about building a fallout shelter?

CALLER: Well, I was just down in the basement.

BECK: Yes?

CALLER: Scoping out the space for it. I have...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: You`ve already got the shovels?

CALLER: Oh, yes.

BECK: No, I`m being serious. What do you think your family would say if you and I -- we`d be pariahs, wouldn`t we?

CALLER: Yes, you know, we`d just be paranoid.

BECK: So you`re scoping out the space. What part of the basement do you think we should dig up tonight?

CALLER: I don`t know. You know...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: Right where we -- maybe where we keep the Christmas tree?

CALLER: Maybe. Yes, that would be a good spot.

BECK: All right, good.

CALLER: Kind of in the corner tucked away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: You know, it seems like every day we wake up to some other news that we don`t want to deal with, whether it be North Korea or a tragic school shooting. Countless reasons why this might be happening. It could be our culture. It could be the overall moral decay of our society. Nobody seems to have any answers.

One man, Pastor Keenan Roberts, thinks he may have found one: "Hell Houses." It`s sort of an interactive morality play designed to scare kids straight before they turn to evil. They`ve been popping up all over the country for Halloween. We checked out a performance in Brooklyn. One clip that we`d like to show you is strangely similar to a story right out of Missouri today where a student brought in an AK-47 into school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, Jeremy. What do all those heavy metal songs tell you to do? Come on, Jeremy, finish the problem. It`s so easy!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeremy, please, put the gun...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time to eliminate the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Pastor, is the point here that heavy metal songs are making people kill people? Is that what it is?

PASTOR KEENAN ROBERTS, NEW DESTINY CHRISTIAN CENTER: Well, the point, Glenn, really, overall, is that ultimately what we`re trying to reach young people with is a message that sin is going to really jack your life up. All of "Hell House" says, sin -- it either says sin destroys or Jesus saves. And that`s what we`re wanting to reach young people with.

BECK: OK. And I appreciate it. You know what I feel like? I feel like one of those "Yes, but" Muslims that I always talk about when it comes to terrorism. Yes, I disagree with what they`ve done, but I understand what they`re doing. It`s the same thing here.

As a Christian, I think like, "OK, yes, I think that`s a good thing, but I don`t know if I agree with what you`re doing here." Let me take another piece from the "Hell House" that we witnessed. This is about AIDS. Go ahead and roll this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss your groom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turning rebels like you into...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) The party`s over!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are they taking you, Steven? Steven?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I`ve never seen anything like this. I mean, you`ve got the devil performing this ceremony -- I mean, political incorrect doesn`t even begin to describe this.

KEENAN: Thank you. We appreciate that. We do.

BECK: OK. Let me show you the third clip. This one -- and I want to warn you, we had to blur part of this. We`re only going to show 13 seconds of it. It is -- I watched it in stunned disbelief. If you have children in the room, I`m going to give you about five seconds to say, "Turn your backs, children." Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to have to sedate the next one who comes in here like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there will be...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Well, congratulations to Conway Cliff, our producer, who has homogenized that. You should see the way this really is. It is truly a frightening scene.

Pastor, don`t you think we need less violence, not more?

KEENAN: Well, you know, the issue really isn`t violence, Glenn. The issue is the fact that abortion, in reality, is tremendously frightening.

BECK: Yes, but who`s coming to this? I mean, look, I agree with your principles. I`m not a fan of abortion. I`m a conservative. I`m a Christian. But good God, man, who is coming to this?

KEENAN: Well, it`s mainly a 20-something and a teens audience by design.

BECK: It is junior high.

KEENAN: By design, junior high, high school, 20-somethings are coming to it. And we absolutely want to impact them with the reality that abortion is killing a human life, simply.

BECK: Honestly, Pastor, no disrespect to you, but I think this is the kind of stuff that gives Christians a bad name. I really do. Don`t you think -- I mean, look, fear...

KEENAN: No, I couldn`t disagree with you more, and I`ll tell you why, Glenn. The point of what we are trying to accomplish is we want to create access into people`s lives. Consider the decisions that you`re making.

And we understand this, that you absolutely -- in fact, a ministry mentor of mine many years ago, what he said to me was this: You can`t have an impact without a collision. And we are intentionally colliding with a lot of the nonsense that young people are fed, the things that they are told, misinformation that they are given. And what you`ve shown in terms of the abortion scene, we want them to know abortion is murder, and murder is sin.

BECK: Appreciate it. Pastor, thank you very much. Fear is not real, unfortunately. We`ll leave it at that. Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: All right. As you know, there is nothing better than someone on TV reading e-mail. It`s just an automatic home run for ratings. It really is.

Actually, we`re going to try to spice this segment up together with your help. And we`ll tell you about it tomorrow. First, though, Aaron in Indiana says, "Dear Glenn, I think that Dr. Evil`s brother is running the show in North Korea. Take a look at a picture of Kim Jong Il and compare it side-by-side to Dr. Evil from `Austin Powers.` They both wear that crazy polyblend grey suit. What`s up with that?"

Aaron, very interesting observation. I`ve never put that one together. Mike Myers and Kim Jong Il certainly don`t look alike, but we did find a picture of the clothes, and here it is. Freaky, huh? It`s like they`ve both bought it from the same factory. And I don`t know. It might be a members-only jumpsuit.

I know that when people ask Americans what the most important issue is on their mind today, they say things like Iraq, terrorism, the economy, et cetera, et cetera. But I would think looking at that picture, in North Korea, it would be things like brutal poverty, the extreme munchies, and fashion-related embarrassment by our president. I`m not a designer, but I am a thinker.

Sandy writes in, "Does anyone read my questions or am I writing this to improve my typing skills?" Actually, there`s nobody reading these things. "Will I be notified if the question is used?" Nope, not a chance. "Do you just sit there and think, `What a bunch of suckers. They think we really want to know what they think`?"

Yep, definitely. I mean, that`s not always in those exact words, but -- "Should I keep investing time in asking questions or should I feed my family instead?" Actually, I`d feed my family, but, of course, you won`t know I said that because I never notified you that we`d be using your question.

Dwayne writes in, "Glenn, every time you close your show with that `sick, twisted freak` reference it kind of makes me feel like Captain Highpants or ex-Representative Mark Foley. Do you have to say that? Please, stop freaking me out."

Yes, you know, sometimes I forget that a lot of our TV viewers are new and they just think I`m insulting them at the end of every show. The term "sick freak" is actually a term of endearment -- don`t ask me how we got there -- on my radio program.

So I`m not calling you a guy who admits to killing children, only to later be set free and freak everybody out, or, you know, a congressman chatting up with pages on how hot they look in lacrosse uniforms. And that, my friend, is my promise to you.

You can e-mail me at GlennBeck@CNN.com. And we will see you tomorrow on the radio program, you sick freak.

END