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Glenn Beck

Disturbing Details Emerge Behind Chris Benoit Murder-Suicide; Ann Coulter Responds to Elizabeth Edwards` Criticism; Senator Takes Stand Against Immigration Reform Bill

Aired June 27, 2007 - 19:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, the wrestler murder-suicide mystery. What role did steroids play? And why was wrestler Chris Benoit allegedly injecting his 7-year-old with human growth hormones?

Plus, Coulter versus Edwards. Elizabeth Edwards takes to the airwaves, asking Ann Coulter to stop with the personal attacks.

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF JOHN EDWARDS: I`m asking you politely to stop -- to stop personal attacks.

ANN COULTER, AUTHOR: How about you stop reading my web page?

BECK: Is Ann Coulter a bigot? I`ll sit down with Coulter to get her side of the story. You won`t believe it when you hear it.

And more controversy for Tom Cruise. Germany has barred Tom Cruise from filming in their country. Why? His religion.

All this, and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Hello, America. We`ve got a great show for you tonight. Unfortunately, I have to start with murder. And all murders are senseless, but some defy understanding more than others.

When news of this apparent murder-suicide of professional wrestler Chris Benoit and his wife and his child first broke, the reports warned that the details of the case, when they were revealed, the tragedy would seem even more and more bizarre. And boy, were they right.

Here`s the point tonight. Two of these deaths could have been avoided. And here`s how I got there.

I want you to understand, I don`t feel any pity for Chris Benoit. I only wish he would have been satisfied with taking just his -- just his life. I know all too well what it`s like to be a part of a family in crisis, how it feels to lose somebody to suicide.

My mother took her own life when I was 13 years old. I am not without compassion. However, what I`ve heard about this Benoit case, it is upside down. Forget about the suicide. Think to the Virginia Tech shootings.

Can you even imagine the news programs focusing on suicide of the shooter instead of the senseless murders? Try to imagine the living hell that was the Benoit house in Atlanta, in that suburb, the pro-wrestler possibly unhinged by steroid use, a self-inflicted addiction.

He binds the hands and the feet of his wife, and the physical evidence suggests that he plunged his knee in her back as he choked the last breath of life from her in some grotesque wrestling move.

Then it appears he left the body there to rot for a day and a half while he plotted to smother his only son, the boy who idolized his father, had posters of him, his dad, his hero, all over the walls. The same posters that he may have been staring at while his own father suffocated him.

Authorities have also confirmed that the young boy had needle marks on him, signs of apparent injections of either steroids or a human growth hormone. The boy was small for his age, possibly even dwarfed, and that just wouldn`t do for his jacked-up dad, the Canadian Crippler.

But did anybody see this coming? Chris Benoit saw entertainment in violence. His wife requested a restraining order after Benoit threatened her and smashed up the house. She cited cruel treatment in divorce papers that she filed in 2003. Then four days later, she retracts those.

If Chris Benoit was addicted to steroids, if he was taking drugs, if he was wrongly injecting their son with human growth hormone, his wife had to know. Nancy Benoit has to live with the consequences of her decisions. But sadly, little Daniel had to die because of those same decisions.

So tonight here`s what you need to know. When it comes to abuse in relationships, all relationships, get out, save yourselves, but above all, protect your children at all costs. This is not your right. It is your responsibility as a parent.

It seems as though 7-year-old Daniel Benoit was failed, not by just his dad, but by his mother, as well.

Scott Ballard is the district attorney for Fayette County, Georgia.

Scott, what is the latest on this case?

SCOTT BALLARD, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, FAYETTE COUNTY, GEORGIA: Well, the latest is probably about the same as it was yesterday. We`re trying to confirm that there`s not a killer at large. We`re pretty sure that this was a murder-suicide.

But of course, out of an abundance of caution, we want to make sure there`s not a third party involved. But all of the evidence at this point suggests, as we thought it did earlier, that this was a murder-suicide.

BECK: I can`t even imagine what it was like to walk into the son`s room and see the little action figures and everything else that his father -- and knowing that the possibility existed his father killed him.

Nancy filed for divorce. Do you know, was there a history of domestic violence?

BALLARD: I really don`t know. The only thing that I know about a history of domestic violence is what`s alleged in the petition that she filed and then later dismissed.

BECK: And why two weeks for the blood test?

BALLARD: That`s just the estimate that we have. They`ve got cases where people have demanded a speedy trial. Criminals may go free if they`re not taken to trial. I`m sure they`re placing some priority over that, where there`s an actual defendant in the case.

BECK: OK. Scott, thank you very much. I don`t know what happened to the color there, but I appreciate it.

Now let`s take a look at Chris Benoit`s mindset and the possible role that steroids played in his murders and the suicide. We turn to Jack Singer. He`s a clinical and sports psychologist.

Doc, I have heard from so many people today saying, this wasn`t roid rage. Please. Are you telling me steroids can`t make you do this?

DR. JACK SINGER, CLININCAL AND SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, Glenn. Steroids can do this. There`s case after case after case, in cases of relatively mild personalities who explode and do unbelievable things under steroids. And then when they`re put in prison, they resort back to their personalities, because they`re no longer under the influence.

BECK: OK, so -- but what people were calling me on the radio show and saying is, "Glenn, this was over a two- or three-day period. It looked planned out. It wasn`t rage." I mean, it really looked planned.

But that`s rage. Rage isn`t the only symptom of steroids gone wrong, right?

SINGER: No, it isn`t, Glenn. And what happens with steroids, I know why the people are saying that, because it seems like there was a lot of time that took place.

But you see, there are psychotic results sometimes of the overuse of steroids, especially stacking steroids, which is what a lot of athletes do after they stop taking them, because of a test that`s coming up.

And so if you stack them and start combining them with other things like painkillers, you can develop an organic psychosis which can last for days and weeks.

And under that psychosis, they have no contact with reality. They may be paranoid. They may start to believe that people are telling them to kill their loved ones. Who knows what went on?

But this was a psychotic rage. This is not a normal person who decided he was angry at his family.

BECK: Jack, I know I`m going to get a lot of heat from people, because I`m just -- I`m not throwing his wife under the bus by any stretch of the imagination. I just -- it`s so senseless, and I don`t understand why people stay in abusive relationships.

In this particular case, you`re dealing with -- with steroids. He was addicted to painkillers. He had a history of violence. She said she was frightened. And she didn`t get out and at least save the child. What role did she play in this?

SINGER: Well, I don`t blame the victim, Glenn. Fear is such an overwhelming emotion. And normally when someone says that they`re going to put a restraining order out on their spouse or they want a divorce, if they`re dealing with a violent person, that person can really frighten them and say, "If you do this, I`ll kill you and I`ll kill our son."

So based on fear alone, she may have removed those, thinking that maybe that would stop him and when she had time to think, she could find another angle.

BECK: And tell me the injecting the son with steroids. Is this just because dad is big and the kid`s an embarrassment? Do you have any idea? I mean, first of all, is there any doctor that would prescribe that?

SINGER: No. Absolutely not. I can`t even imagine injecting a child to the point where he has needle marks.

What you`re talking about here is probably, and I`m guessing, because obviously I`m not involved with the case, but a narcissistic personality in terms of the father. A lot of wrestlers and a lot of people are narcissists. They like the attention they get for having a beautiful chiseled body and so forth and being popular.

And they can`t handle having a son who has some form of deformity, whether that be physical or what have you. So he decides that the best thing he can do is get his son to look like him, and the best way to do that is with steroids.

BECK: Oh, my gosh. This is going to hack off so many people who are wrestling fans. It`s not a sport. You know, you can -- I`m not a fan of boxing, but at least with boxing, I look at the guys and I say, you know what? OK, so you can no longer speak. Well, that`s because, you know, you were taking punches to the face and the head for years and years.

This is different than even that. This is -- wrestling is really -- you know, you`re hooked on painkillers. You`re jacked up on steroids, because you have to look a certain way. I mean, it is -- and it`s all for entertainment. This is the Roman Coliseum stuff.

SINGER: Right. This is theater. It`s not Olympic wrestling. It`s not college wrestling. This is theater. And part of it is how they look. And if they want to make money, they have to look interesting, and they have to be unusual.

And therefore, they will do whatever it takes to get the chiseled body, to do whatever it takes with their hair, to develop a character, if you will, Glenn, that will be popular among people. Either a dark character or happy character, whichever it may be. But this is all theater.

And look at the results of it. There are many, many people who are members of the professional wrestling society who have either committed suicide or committed all kinds of horrendous crimes under the effect of steroids. It`s been documented.

BECK: I`ve only got a second here. Just real quick, he placed Bibles by each of the victims. Does that tell you anything? Did he regret it? Did he know -- does that tell you anything?

SINGER: No. It tells me that he`s definitely was psychotic, that obviously there was a tremendous amount of confusion.

BECK: OK. Thanks, Doc.

Now coming up, when wives attack, the presidential candidate John Edwards comes out swinging, defending her husband from Ann Coulter`s controversial comments. But were those statements taken out of context? I`ll let Ann address it, next.

Plus, could the gas riots in Iran spark more than fires? There is a revolution under way, and it could be the undoing of President Tom. Good news in tonight`s "Real Story".

And from one hot spot (ph) to another. It seems Paris is adjusting nicely to life on the outside. Good, good, good. You just won`t believe what you can get delivered these days. I`ll explain in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: There are fires raging in Iran, literally. Iranian citizens protesting fuel rationing and torching gas stations in one of the richest oil nations in the world. Well, "The Real Story" isn`t about rationing; it is about revolution. Details in just a minute.

But first, political pundit Ann Coulter. I like her. We`re both conservatives. I think she`s very, very smart. I think she`s funny. I generally agree with her politics.

I heard about a piece, an appearance that she did with presidential candidate John Edwards`s wife, Elizabeth, on NBC`s "Hardball" with Chris Matthews. When I saw this piece, I had some questions I had to ask Ann Coulter myself.

But first, I want you to look at the clip that I saw. This is Elizabeth Edwards on "Hardball" with Ann Coulter, and Elizabeth Edwards is on the phone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COULTER: OK. The wife of a presidential candidate is calling in, asking me to stop speaking? You`re asking me to stop speaking? Stop writing your column. Stop writing your books.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST, MSNBC`S "HARDBALL": Ann, please.

COULTER: OK.

EDWARDS: Which makes fun of the moment of Charlie Dean`s death and suggested that my husband had a bumper sticker on the back of his car. Is said, "Ask me about my dead son."

COULTER: That was three years ago.

EDWARDS: ... dialogue. It debases political dialogue. It drives people away from the process. We can`t have a debate about issues if you`re using this kind of language.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: OK. The clip actually that I was -- that I had asked for was not that clip. It was actually when she said to stop attacking her husband, and calling, you know, John Edwards, or saying that -- what was it they accused of you, Ann, that you wanted him to die as a -- in a terrorist attack or something like that?

COULTER: Yes.

BECK: Which is not true at all, completely baseless?

COULTER: Well, it`s like a Disney fun house. You have to, you know, step back and see what the full sentence was, which I think is actually easier done on TV if you just show both clips.

BECK: Yes.

COULTER: But if you want me to repeat myself...

BECK: No, no, no. I`m going to show it. I wanted to hear what you had to say about it. This is -- because honestly...

COULTER: I don`t need to explain what I said. You just need to see what I said rather than waffle (ph) that.

BECK: Ann, you`re hostile.

COULTER: It`s like being quoted and saying, yes, and having someone say, "You see, you said yes; you are a child molester." And you have to explain, no, the question was, are you a Republican?

BECK: Let me play the clip. This is from ABC`s "GMA". Look how far this was taken out of context.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COULTER: I would not insult gays by comparing them to John Edwards. That would be mean.

But about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I`ve learned my lesson. If I`m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I`ll just wish he`d been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I don`t understand why anyone has a problem with that. You`re making a point, are you not, that one side can say something that outrageous, but then you`re attacked for making the point that he said that? This is the double standard that conservatives go through all the time.

COULTER: Well, it`s worse than a double standard. This is how the mainstream media operates. This is what they mean when they talk about the Fairness Doctrine. And that is, why is anyone outraged by that? Because most people don`t know that`s what I said.

What has -- what the A.P. has reported and is throughout the Web and being replayed on MSNBC, is just the part at the end where I`m imitating Bill Maher`s statement...

BECK: Right.

COULTER: ... saying I wish John Edwards had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot. And if they can do this to me, America, just look at what you are dealing with here.

BECK: Yes. Now, I have said things on the air that have been taken out of context. They have been twisted. I`ve said things that just foot in mouth, just stupid, stupid things.

This question on ABC, and this is the one thing I haven`t understood, and I wanted to talk to you about it personally, this question that you answered on "Good Morning America", and I think answered well, was -- stemmed from a comment that you made about John Edwards at a speech.

And I want to play the clip. Here`s the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COULTER: I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards. But it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word (expletive deleted). So...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: So...

COULTER: I see you`re bleeping that now. Are you also bleeping illegal alien and amnesty and other words we`re not supposed to use?

BECK: Well, one is a -- one is a slur. One is a slur. Do you believe -- you don`t believe that word is a slur?

COULTER: No.

BECK: You don`t?

COULTER: No. No, I think it`s a comedic word, a schoolyard word. Sarah Silverman uses the word. And liberals don`t mind it when she uses it.

BECK: OK.

COULTER: And by the way, I wasn`t saying it on TV. I was saying it at a right-wing political convention with 7,000 college Republicans. I didn`t put it on TV.

BECK: OK, well -- but that doesn`t necessarily -- I don`t want to get into that. Here`s...

COULTER: You don`t think it makes a difference what the venue is? There`s nothing you`d say in front of a group of college Republicans that wouldn`t say on TV? I doubt that.

BECK: No, there really isn`t. I mean, I do comedy tours and I say, because you live in the -- you live in the world of YouTube now, where you know you`re going to -- somebody`s going to take it and spin it out of context, et cetera, et cetera.

But I don`t understand the joke. Can you -- was it...

COULTER: Well, you`re going back six months. This was a week after Isaiah Washington, the actor...

BECK: I understand that.

COULTER: ... was sent to rehab for using the word.

BECK: I got that. But what`s the connection to John Edwards?

COULTER: I had just done five minutes on Obama, five minutes on Hillary. I needed to end my speech, so I threw in, "I can`t say anything about him because I can`t use this word." The word means wimp, wuss, pathetic.

BECK: OK.

COULTER: That`s what it means.

BECK: Got it.

COULTER: And someone who does, you know, the Las Vegas routine before illiterate juries in order to bankrupt doctors with junk science -- admitted by the "New York Times" to be junk science...

BECK: Yes.

COULTER: ... is precisely what that word means, which is why 7,000 college Republicans laughed.

BECK: Ann Coulter, author "Godless: The Church of Liberalism". Thanks for having a great conversation.

Coming up, the immigration bill continues to cling to life as an amendment debate continues in the Senate. I`ll talk to one outraged senator for an update from the inside.

And not in my backyard. Tom Cruise is being denied the right to film a movie in Germany because of Scientology. This may be the only time that you actually hear me defend Tom Cruise. Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, after passing a test vote in the Senate yesterday, the real fun began today, as procedural motions and amendment debates got under way. Yes, it`s actually more exciting than it sounds.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions in right in the thick of all of this.

Senator, I talked to Tony Snow today, and the new, at least new for me, the new angle is, hey, guys, this is the best you`re going to get. I mean, it could only get worse from here. You better take it while it`s on the table.

Are you hearing that?

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Well, that`s the last, I guess, straw that could be grasped at. But this bill is sinking, support for it is sinking. It is becoming more and more obvious that it will not work.

Glenn, over the next ten years, the Congressional Budget Office suspects we would have under current law 10 million more illegal immigrants.

If this bill passes, CVO, just a couple of weeks ago, our own arm of the United States Congress, said it would be 8.7 million more illegal aliens.

I mean, this bill is being sold as a bill that would stop and create - - illegality and create lawfulness. It will double the amount of legal immigration into America. It will not breed respect for law. It should not pass.

We need to go back to a effort to create lawfulness first, and then begin to wrestle with how we`re going to treat compassionately the people who have been in our country a long time and have deep roots here and done well.

BECK: Now Tony Snow also said to me, "This is a security bill, Glenn. I don`t know why you`re upset about it. There`s security in this. There`s the fence in it."

Correct me if I`m wrong. Isn`t there less fence in this bill than the fence that we`ve already financed?

SESSIONS: This bill calls for 370 miles of fencing as part of our -- the trigger. But last year, we passed a bill calling for 700 miles of fencing.

It does not mandate the same amount of Border Patrol agents we`ve already mandated. It does not mandate the number of bed spaces for prisoners that we allocated in 2004.

BECK: Unbelievable.

SESSIONS: So, really, there`s no new enforcement in this legislation.

BECK: Did they try to vote on it last night or early this morning?

SESSIONS: Well, they know they`ve got to go through this clay pigeon process.

BECK: Right.

SESSIONS: Which people are saying is unfair. And I think it is unfair.

Let me say this about that. It`s more than unfair. This is the first time in history the leadership of the Senate, Harry Reid, the majority leader, using his power of recognition, has relegated to himself the ability to have no amendment voted on that he does not personally approve.

That has never been done before in the Senate. It will reduce the power of every individual senator. And it should be voted down based on that alone.

BECK: Is -- is it true, sir, that you didn`t even have -- nobody in the Senate had this full bill, and yet a special interest group website had it before you got it?

SESSION: I`m not sure the special interests had it. I didn`t know that, Glenn. But I`ll tell you, we didn`t -- they offered a 370-page amendment last night. It was so hastily put together, they found many defects in it themselves, and offered a 403-page amendment today.

And senator -- Demint and Vitter were objecting, saying until that amendment was actually put on our desk, we should not go forward and we should slow the debate down. I thought that was a reasonable request.

BECK: Senator, please, keep fighting the good fight. Thanks a lot.

Up next, why the recent gasoline protests in Iran could mean the beginning of the end for President Tom. I`ll explain in "The Real Story", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Well, Paris Hilton did say she was a changed woman, but, really, who knew she was talking about her hair? The heiress`s special post-jail delivery, and how she`s adjusting to life on the outside, coming up in just a minute.

But, first, welcome to the "Real Story." Protesters in Iran have now torched at least 12 gas stations and riots have broken out in major cities all across the country. The media is reporting that it`s happening to a reaction to a gas rationing program declared late Tuesday night, but if you`ve been watching this show, you know why it`s really happening.

The "Real Story" is: Iran has tons of oil, but they can`t refine it into gasoline. And it`s created a huge weakness, a weakness that I`m happy to say we`ve been exploiting. Through official sanctions and back-channel oil deals with countries like Saudi Arabia, we`ve been putting the squeeze on the neck of Iran`s economy, and now it`s finally paying off. Gas prices jumped over 25 percent just last month. Unemployment is rampant. Inflation is raging. And there are hundreds of thousands of cars today lined up at gas stations.

Businesses are being looted, gas pumps are burning, and things are so bad that 57 leading Iranian economists have even had the guts to risk their own lives and publish a letter saying that President Ahmadinejad`s policies are bringing financial chaos.

But the best thing of all of this is the Iranian people, our best chance for change, they`re finally starting to stand up, and not a minute too soon. I don`t know if you saw this in the paper today, but former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton recently said that he thinks we`re running out of time in Iran and military action may be one of the only options left. I hope that`s wrong.

The only way to prevent us going in with military action is to tighten the screws even further. If the U.N. had a shred of credibility left, they`d recognize what`s happening in Iran for what it really is: an opportunity, an opportunity to crush this regime and change the face of the Middle East, all without ever firing one bullet.

It`s an opportunity of a lifetime. It`s an opportunity, quite frankly, that Jimmy Carter missed in the late `70s, and we can`t miss it again.

Ilan Berman is vice president for policy of the American Foreign Policy Council. Ilan, what needs to be done right now? And how do we support the Iranian people today?

ILAN BERMAN, AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY COUNCIL: Well, I think what`s going on today is really remarkable, because I think you hit it exactly right. What you see today is the result of the Achilles heel of the Iranian regime: the intersection of poor economic planning on the ground in Iran and their reliance on refined petroleum from abroad. Iran may be an energy superpower, but they import about 40 percent of the gasoline they consume every year from aboard.

The intersection of those two things means if we really put the squeeze and we start turning off the gasoline pump, as we are beginning to do, and as the regime is fearful that we are going to do to an even greater extent, we could really bring people out onto the streets, we could really cause this regime to stop doing business as usual, on the nuclear front and any other.

BECK: But here`s the scary part. You know, these economists were saying that President Ahmadinejad needs to be removed, et cetera, et cetera. The world has so demonized Ahmadinejad without ever really explaining to the masses that it`s not Ahmadinejad that is the real power there, it is the ayatollah and the mullahs that have the real power. Do you fear at all that they could use Ahmadinejad as a scapegoat and survive this, the real power structure?

BERMAN: Oh, I think so. There`s no question that Ahmadinejad is really useful as a tool for radicalizing the dialogue. If you remember seven years ago, we wouldn`t talk to the then-president, the "reformist," in quotes, cleric Mohammad Khatami, and now we`re desperate to talk to anyone in Tehran that would listen, just as long as they slow down the nuclear problem, they stop meddling in Iraq.

So he`s been really a useful tool, in terms of radicalizing the dialogue. But it might be that his usefulness is at an end. He`s been spending like it`s going out of style. His anti-corruption campaign, which he campaigned on in 2005, has not gotten out of the gate. And a lot of his policies are actually making economic conditions very tangibly worse for ordinary Iranians.

BECK: So these are the people that invested chess. I mean, they`re brilliant, and they`re always several moves ahead. Why announce this at 9:00 at night and say, "This rationing is starting at midnight," you know, in three hours from now, when you have enough gas reserves? What is the next step? What are they doing? What are they positioning for?

BERMAN: Well, what this really is, it`s tough medicine ahead of time. The Iranian regime is trying to inoculate its population, because what they`re really afraid of is they`re afraid of their population rising up and saying, "You haven`t delivered for us politically. You haven`t delivered for us economically, and we want change."

So what they`re trying to do is they`re looking at the energy equation and the fact that the regime is vulnerable from the outside, and they`re expecting that the U.N., and more likely that the U.S. and the coalition working outside of the U.N. will impose something like a gasoline embargo, so they`re imposing rationing as a preemptive step to inoculate the population.

BECK: All right, next time we have you on, we have to talk a little bit about Chavez and what role he`s going to play in this. Thanks, Ilan.

Next, the CIA released the "Family Jewels" yesterday. These are decades-old records that detail the embarrassing episodes from the Cold War days. There was the attempt to enlist mafia members to poison Fidel Castro and make his beard fall out. I`m not kidding. The plans to assassinate the leaders of the Congo and Dominican Republic, the secret holding cell in Maryland where a Russian defector was held for two years, the spying on all kinds of Americans, the testing of hallucinogenics on unwilling participants, and, of course, the physical surveillance of now FOX News anchor Brit Hume, who we all know in the heart of hearts is a dirty Commie and a danger to our society.

CIA Director Michael Hayden released these documents with the hope that it would be a close to an embarrassing chapter and help them regain the public`s trust and confidence. I don`t know about you, but it`s not really working out that way for me. The "Real Story," at least for me, this has made things worse. Even though a lot of these incidents happened in the papers before, this is the first time you can read first-person accounts from the agents themselves all in one place. And it`s pretty disturbing stuff.

I hate to be Mr. Obvious here and ask the commonsense question, but somebody should: Why is the CIA still in business? Their charter unequivocally states that they can only operate overseas, yet they seem to always be spying on Americans here on U.S. soil, all the while being wrong about just about every major event over the last 40 years.

Now, I know the CIA can`t exactly, you know, issue a press release every time they do something right. You know, "Hey, we just stopped a nuke attack on Manhattan." But still, doesn`t it seem to anybody else the bad seems to outweigh the good? I mean, when Tom Cruise can sneak in and steal your NOC list, things are not really -- hang on, I just realized what I`ve been doing here. You know what? It`s the CIA. I`ve changed my mind entirely. I love the CIA! No need to kill me now, guys.

I`m joined now by the former head of the CIA search for OBL and author of "Imperial Hubris," Michael Scheuer. Michael, you were a guy on the inside. Do we need to reform the CIA?

MICHAEL SCHEUER, "IMPERIAL HUBRIS" AUTHOR: Oh, I think if anything, we`ve been over-reformed, sir. So many of those comments and documents that came out the past couple days are really old news. They certainly happened. They were certainly taken care of, but the oversight of the agency now is very, very restrictive and well within the confines of the law.

BECK: OK, so we`re not spying on, you know, Brit Hume, and we`re not spying on American citizens and violating the charter of the CIA?

SCHEUER: Certainly not that I know of, sir. One of the reasons, for example, I had FBI officers within my unit at CIA was to make sure that no agency officer was pursuing a lead inside the United States.

BECK: You were one of the co-authors of the rendition program which really gave birth to things like Guantanamo, didn`t it?

SCHEUER: Not really, sir. Guantanamo was basically a military operation until very late in the game, when we moved the...

BECK: But I mean it`s the same -- rendition is the same kind of concept, isn`t it, where you take people out and you isolate them where they have no rights to anything?

SCHEUER: Well, there`s two different programs, yes, sir. We captured people for the Bush administration, which were held by the United States. For Mr. Clinton, we captured people and then turned them over to Egypt and other countries at his direction.

BECK: OK, Michael, I mean, here`s a guy -- you`re a guy who I trust. You`re a guy who says it like it is. And I`m not a guy who is in the CIA and trying to get out and just live a normal life. I`ve seen Jason Bourne movies.

But can you be honest on this? The CIA was wrong about Berlin. They were wrong about Cuba. They were wrong about the Cold War and, you know, how many nukes Russia had. They were wrong about WMDs. I mean, they have been really wrong on huge, huge issues. I mean, why haven`t we just completely torn this system down and started over?

SCHEUER: Well, you know, everyone makes mistakes, Mr. Beck, and you do what you can do with the information you have at hand, which is often imperfect. I would...

BECK: But this isn`t imperfect. I mean, it`s the Berlin Wall, the Cold War, 9/11, WMD. We`re looking at Iran and saying, you know, do they have nukes? How close are they? How do you trust any of this information?

SCHEUER: Well, you know, I think we have a little difference of opinion here. I think there`s very seldom an intelligence failure. There`s always refusal to act on the information by the policymaker. I think Iraq is a good example of that. I think Al Qaeda is a good example of that. Intelligence is no good to you unless you act on it.

BECK: OK, Michael, thanks a lot. That`s the "Real Story" tonight.

Coming up next, he may be one of the world`s biggest movie stars, but he`s not welcome in one European country. And I`ll tell you why Tom Cruise and his religion are risky business in Germany. Stick around.

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BECK: Here`s why I`m outlawing vegetarians, because I believe vegetarians, that`s the first step into insanity. You go right from vegetarianism, right to the Hybrid, and, you know, both of those, I can handle both of those. But then you`re, all of a sudden, you know, hugging a dolphin and a whale, making best friends with them, saying, you know, to a trout or a salmon, "You`re more important than people." Yes, that`s what`s coming. It`s a very slippery slope that a lot of people are sliding right down.

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BECK: Speaking of slippery slopes, Germany is banning religion again. Panic! That`s what you`re led to believe if you read most of the headlines about the German government giving the smackdown to Tom Cruise recently. But it really isn`t about religion, or at least I don`t think it is. It`s about protecting a national hero.

Cruise is set to play Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer who tried to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944. And the movie studio was hoping to film parts of it in historic government buildings in Germany. But since the German government officially believes that Tom Cruise`s Scientology religion is, quote, a "cult," they decided to deny the studio access to those buildings.

All of the controversy and the Nazi rhetoric, you know, is not going to stop the filming, but it will do something else: It`s going to sell a heck of a lot of tickets, because I`m ready to buy mine right now.

Julia Allison is the new editor-at-large for "Star" magazine. Julia, help me make sense of all of this. They just built a new Scientology -- I don`t even know what they call it -- a temple, or building, or whatever over in Germany, but they don`t want Tom Cruise in the government buildings?

JULIA ALLISON, "STAR" MAGAZINE: No, nor on the military sites, which is the primary problem there. Look, Germany has a big problem with Scientology. It`s gone back more than a dozen years. Actually, back in 1996, they got into a huge fight over how it was going to be classified. Germany classifies Scientology as a business. They say that it`s profit- based and it exploits various people in their country, and they`re not interested in seeing it as a religion. Obviously, Tom Cruise has a huge issue with this.

BECK: OK, so they won`t classify it as a religion?

ALLISON: Right.

BECK: And they also have claimed that Scientologists say that Germany is run by just a pack of Nazis.

ALLISON: Well, I don`t know about that. I mean, I definitely know that Scientology and Germany, they don`t get along well. Even in 2002, Cruise went over to Germany to do a promotional trip, but he spent the majority of the trip lobbying the U.S. ambassador for changes in the German law towards Scientology. I mean, you know, they don`t get any tax breaks over there. And, as you know, you know, Scientology is very dependent upon the donations of the practicing members.

BECK: I`ve got to tell you, these darn Germans -- and I`m of German dissent -- they screw everything up.

ALLISON: As am I.

BECK: They`ve been screwing things up for a hundred years. I read about this story, and I know the story of von Stauffenberg, who, you know, put the briefcase on the wrong side of the table, et cetera, et cetera. And Tom Cruise is perfect for this, even looks like the guy. And it sounds like the perfect Tom Cruise movie that would resuscitate his career, honestly.

ALLISON: Well, he needs it, absolutely. But you know, actually, the son of von Stauffenberg does not want Tom Cruise to play his dad`s role. However, that`s not going to change anything. I mean, honestly, he doesn`t really have a good fight against Tom. He already has the movie. They`re going to shoot it. United Artists have said, no matter what, they will shoot it in Germany. They`re just going to find other places to go.

BECK: OK. And because they can, Tom can shoot other places, just not at these buildings?

ALLISON: Yes, that`s exactly right, well, and also military sites. I mean, you know, it should be interesting to see how this actually turns out. This is the first that, you know, a lot of people have even heard about this movie. So I guess it`s not exactly working out in a bad way for Tom.

BECK: And von Straussberg is a guy who is a national hero. I don`t even know if we have somebody like this. It would be like -- I don`t even know who to compare him to, almost like if we sent somebody out to kill Osama bin Laden, and they failed, but, you know, this is a real hero over there.

ALLISON: He is. And I think it will resurrect Tom`s movie career. I think certainly he needs it. Obviously, his "Mission Impossible 3" did not do well at the box offices. He`s been acting a little crazy.

But you have to remember, ultimately, Tom puts his Scientology first. And so, you know, people are not big fans of that. And if they see -- you know, I think he thinks that, oh, you know, the German government overreacting to Scientology will garner him a lot of sympathy in the U.S. And I`m not sure if he`s correct in that regard.

BECK: Well, I don`t think anybody -- you know, look, I don`t care what your religion is -- I don`t think Americans want to hear about your religion all the time. I mean, you know, if I`m paying money to see you in a movie, would you please just be an actor and just shut the piehole?

ALLISON: Right. Just act.

BECK: Right, I went to "Mission Impossible 3," and I think I really liked it, but I couldn`t stop seeing Tom Cruise jumping up and down on the couch.

ALLISON: Right.

BECK: He became a Scientologist. Now, time has gone past this. If he doesn`t screw it up again, I`d love to go see this movie.

ALLISON: You`re absolutely right, Glenn. I think that, if he comes out and speaks out against the German government yet again in favor of Scientology, specifically about them banning him, it`s going to be a big mistake. He should just be cool.

BECK: Julia, thank you very much.

ALLISON: Thank you.

BECK: Glad to have you on the program.

Now, up next, what`s the best way for Paris to adapt to life after her hard time in jail? Well, I`ll share my thoughts in just a minute. Stick around.

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BECK: This may come as a shock to you, but I have never been to prison. I have seen "Shawshank Redemption" twice, and I think that pretty much makes me an expert on our penal system. And if there is one thing that I know about prison, it`s that, for many convicts, the real trouble begins once they`re out of jail. We call it re-entry.

It can be fraught with problems. A lot of times, people hang themselves. A lot of time, these ex-cons, once they`re let free, they feel like life has already passed them by. And for America`s favorite new ex- con -- America`s sweetheart, really -- I`m sure things are no different.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): For Paris, life on the outside certainly won`t be easy. The world now is a much different place than when she first entered prison or, for that matter, when she entered prison for the second time. Back then, the price of milk was only $3.29 a gallon. Now, it`s -- well, it`s not much higher. But you when you also take into account the rising price of Kahlua, well, let`s just say Paris is in for a bit of a sticker shock.

To help ease the adjustment back to society, for the time being, Paris will be living in this halfway house. It`s here where she`ll begin in her own words to start making a difference. And she`ll start by making a difference for those famous hair extensions we`ve so grown to love over the years.

Experts say Paris may benefit from studying how other famous ex-cons used prison as a second chance, as an opportunity to give something back, like subway vigilante Bernard Goetz, who after prison used his second chance to provide shelter for wayward squirrels, whether the squirrels actually needed Bernie`s help or were wayward in the first place is beside the point. The squirrels made Bernie happy. And if history is any indication, you want to keep Bernie happy at all costs.

Paris, of course, has her own wayward creatures to look after. In fact, perhaps Paris could take what she learned during her years of -- months of -- sorry, weeks of -- 23 days in prison, and help teach the world, or at least these young ladies, that you shouldn`t have to waste your life behind bars when you can do the same thing sitting at a bar.

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BECK: I think that says it all. And, don`t forget, if you want to know what`s on tomorrow`s show or you want some transcripts of the radio show, sign up for my free e-mail daily newsletter at glennbeck.com. From New York, good night, America.

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