Savage on the Mumbai attacks: "Should the tribal areas in Pakistan be wiped out and the rats killed in there once and for all?"

Summary: Discussing the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, Michael Savage said: "Should the tribal areas of Pakistan be wiped out and the rats killed in there once and for all? Should we nuke the tribal areas in Pakistan's wild-man region and wipe out the terrorists once and for all?" Savage later added: "What the heck do we have nuclear weapons for? What are tactical nuclear weapons for but to wipe out an enemy? The enemy lives there -- kill them and their families, and show them that the terror they inflict on the West will come home to roost and will be inflicted on them."

During the November 26 broadcast of The Savage Nation, host Michael Savage discussed the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, that had started earlier that day and said, "[T]he question to you is, what should the U.S. government do right now? Should the U.S. military be deployed? Should the tribal areas of Pakistan be wiped out and the rats killed in there once and for all? Should we nuke the tribal areas in Pakistan's wild-man region and wipe out the terrorists once and for all?" Later, responding to a caller's assertion that "[W]e need to exterminate them like rats," Savage said, "Yeah, we know where they're coming from. ... [T]hey're in the tribal areas of western Pakistan. What the heck do we have nuclear weapons for? What are tactical nuclear weapons for but to wipe out an enemy? The enemy lives there -- kill them and their families, and show them that the terror they inflict on the West will come home to roost and will be inflicted on them." Savage later added, "[T]here's no question that entire region needs to be annihilated and stripped off the earth."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Savage has previously advocated attacking other countries. On the October 29, 2007, edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Savage played the song "Everybody's Dixie" by recording artist Bobby Horton, and said: "Yee-haw! This is the America -- this is the America that those Islamic-fascist, robe-wearing, throwback bums have never seen!" Savage repeatedly said, "Let's bring it on! Bomb Iran, bring our boys home now!," and then demanded, "Get every hunter in America armed to the teeth!" He continued: "Throwback bastards! I'm so sick of them! I'm so sick of the brainwashing about Islam and Muslims and the Koran! Shove it! Shove it all! I'm sick of it!"

Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, claims that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches at least 8.25 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it one of the most listened-to talk radio shows in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.

From the November 26 broadcast of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: They have set a landmark hotel, the Taj [Mahal] hotel, on fire. Screams can be heard in the background. Enormous clouds of black smoke are rising from the century-old edifice on Mumbai's waterfront. The fact of the matter is, India is at war, only you don't know it. And the question to you is, what should the U.S. government do right now? Should the U.S. military be deployed? Should the tribal areas of Pakistan be wiped out and the rats killed in there once and for all? Should we nuke the tribal areas in Pakistan's wild-man region and wipe out the terrorists once and for all? Is this a result of Bush's weakness? Is this a result of Bush's catering to Islamic fanatics? Is this a result of the FBI saying you cannot use the word "Islamic" in relationship to terrorism? Is this a result of Obama's weakness? Is this a result of the financial meltdown? Is this connected in some way to the threat against the New York subway system that we heard about earlier today? Is this retaliation for the pirate attack? Is this some way related to anything other than more of the same, which is Islamic madness against the world? Mad Islamic fanatics taking it out on Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, anybody but the fanatics. Is this a result of anything other than insanity? I will open up the lines to you on The Savage Nation.

[...]

CALLER: We in the Western world and the United States -- I don't see how we're gonna win this, because we do not have the guts, we don't have the stomach to do the things it takes to be violent enough, to fight fire with fire and give these -- I mean, basically, we need to exterminate them like rats, and we're so worried about --

SAVAGE: Yeah, we know where they're coming from, we know they're coming out of the -- the training, at least, is probably coming out of the area where Osama bin Laden is hiding. If we can believe our intelligence agencies -- of course, we have no real knowledge as to whether they're really intelligent intelligence agencies -- they're in the tribal areas of western Pakistan. What the heck do we have nuclear weapons for? What are tactical nuclear weapons for but to wipe out an enemy? The enemy lives there -- kill them and their families, and show them that the terror they inflict on the West will come home to roost and will be inflicted on them. Why must we sit here waiting for the New York subways to go up in flames?

CALLER: Yes, sir, but what are we gonna do? Instead of what you just said, what we're gonna do is we're gonna cut our nuclear arsenal.

[...]

SAVAGE: The only way to defend ourselves against these fanatic Islamists is with strength. Not with hand-wringing, not with the United Nations, but with a strong and swift attack on the tribal regions of western Pakistan. Now, I will not quibble with you as to whether they should be with nuclear -- that is, tactical nuclear weapons, which are limited in their scope and limited in their power -- or with cluster bombs or with weapons I'm not even aware of. But there's no question that entire region needs to be annihilated and stripped off the earth.

—H.D.