GLENN BECK PROGRAM
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

GLENN: I want to bring in Rick Santorum and talk to him briefly about a speech that was given by Ahmadimejad yesterday. Did you see this speech or see clips of it yesterday, clip?

SENATOR SANTORUM: I saw clips of it and I saw a lot of excerpts of it, yes.

GLENN: Were you amazed at how unbelievably honest he was?

SENATOR SANTORUM: Yeah. I mean just, you know, we're ready to take charge here, we're ready to step in and as many of us have been saying, you obviously first and foremost among them that Iran has clear designs and have showed it through their activities in supplying weapons and logistics and support for Shia rebels as well as some of the Sunni rebels in Iraq and now it's very clear. He's saying we're ready to share power with Al Malachi, he's our buddy and that --

Senator Rick Santorum

GLENN: He not only said that, Rick. He said there will soon be a power vacuum in Iraq and we will fill it.

SENATOR SANTORUM: Yeah. He's listening to the Democratic politicians who are saying we're going to get out of Iraq, hearing Republicans who are running for the hills saying it's time to get out of Iraq and Ahmadimejad says, great, we're ready. We're now, we're in position, we've accomplished our mission by providing the EFPs and providing the money and providing all the support that we have for those who have been killing civilians and military personnel in Iraq and, you know, our game plan is working; we're ready to step in. Guys, don't let the door hit your butt on the way out of Iraq.

GLENN: So how does -- how have you took the "We've got to get out of Iraq" position, how do you possibly keep that position now and have some credibility when -- if America followed that plan when Iran walks in and takes that power and the whole, the whole Middle East is on fire as we've been talking about and I've been predicting now for how many years?

SENATOR SANTORUM: Well, you know, it's one of the things that a citizen from when you and I got on the phone the first time and talked about this. Both of us hope we're wrong. Both of us hope that we're misreading the tea leaves. Both of us hope that we're looking at the statements being made by leaders and misinterpreting them, but we don't think we are and I think this in a sense confirms a lot of what we've been saying for the last two years, that Iran is the major threat there, Iran is orchestrating this game and we are falling right into their clutches by, you know, playing the emergency exit strategy out of a country that has a chance. It's still a struggle but has a chance of surviving as a democracy and as an ally to the United States but it certainly will not be that and certainly will be the axis point of the confrontation between the Sunni world and the Shia world and, you know, for a part of the world like we've never seen.

GLENN: Did you see in his speech yesterday he actually said that we're ready to -- what was it? We will fill the void with our partners, Saudi Arabia and I thought --

SENATOR SANTORUM: Saudi Arabia.

GLENN: You've got to be kidding me.

SENATOR SANTORUM: Yeah, it's garbage. We may have talked about this term before, which is Takia. I don't know if you're familiar with that but it's a concept in Islam.

GLENN: Yes. You can lie if it --

SENATOR SANTORUM: That's exactly right. And the Shias use it and particularly the Iranian government used it. You are permitted by Islam to lie in order to, if you are -- if someone who is not in power and to promote your ability to get into power. So you can lie about what you're going to do and, in fact, you are permitted and, in fact, encouraged to do so in order to gain power and so what Iran is a master of and, in fact, Ahmadimejad, the master of all masters, is basically going out there and lying, you know, whether it's about nuclear weapons or whether it's about his intentions in Iran, whether it's about partnering with Saudi Arabia. These folks are religiously convicted to lie. And I know that's hard for us to believe because, you know, the Ten Commandments say thou shalt not lie. The bottom line is under certain circumstances it is religiously required to lie and this is one of those circumstances.

GLENN: Okay. So let's read some tea leaves here for a second. 35,000 troops deployed now for Saudi Arabia around their oil facilities. They just deployed 35,000 security members to protect those oil fields. Why do you suppose that happened? Is that just a threat that they are afraid of from Al-Queda? Is that putting people in position in case we do leave and leave this vacuum? What are they afraid of, do you suppose?

SENATOR SANTORUM: Well, I mean, first off you are seeing a lot of destabilization. The Brits are on their way out and everything you are seeing in the southern part of Iraq right now is bad news. If you want to get a sense of what's going to happen or what would happen if the United States pulls out, look at all the progress that is being made across the board. You are not hearing anybody come back from Iraq now saying you know what, there isn't progress being made because of the military presence and what they're doing. What they're also saying is southern Iraq is a mess because of what the Brits are doing, and that destabilization in that Shiite area of the world is, I'm sure, very alarming to the Saudis. On top of that you've got this possibility of the United States pulling out and what that will mean. And I think Saudi Arabia is getting prepared for what could be a very, very difficult time in the battle, the new battle for Iraq when the United States gets out.

GLENN: We've only got about 90 seconds. Let me lump these two together. Bush came out and said nuclear Holocaust on the way if we don't do something which is really new and strong language for him. The new President of -- yeah, the new president of France came out and said we're going to take them down. We are now beginning to see world leaders prepare and soften the ground with the public saying, here we go. Do you believe that and how long do we have?

SENATOR SANTORUM: I do believe that, and it goes back -- and this is a longer conversation which you can't do in the 60 seconds we have left but it's something you've talked about. It goes back to the bottom line of what these radical Shiites who are governing Iran believe in. It goes back to what Ahmadimejad and these Mullahs we talk about bringing about Armageddon, bringing about the end of the world. It is different than the Sunnis, which is very decentralized religion. This is a very centralized religion and a very centralized power structure in Iran. And when these people say that they will use nuclear weapons, wipe off the face of the Earth and they talk about the religious overtones of doing it, you've got to take them seriously because they mean it.

GLENN: Gotta go.

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