The latest ongoing saga between Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert heated up Monday after the Fox News host slammed Colbert for mocking his plan to defeat the Islamic State militants through the help of a 25,000-person mercenary army.
The ISIS plan was outlined on "The O'Reilly Factor" last week, according to Yahoo News.
"Elite fighters who would be well-paid, well-trained to defeat terrorists all over the world," he explained. "Here's how it would work: The fighters would be recruited by America and trained in the USA by our Special Forces."
With the Obama administration repeatedly emphasizing the country's objection to having "boots on the ground" in Iraq and Syria, O'Reilly expressed impatience at their "phony rhetoric," adding that the new plan would require U.S. to take charge of who makes the cut and how they are deployed.
"Even if the USA trains Syrian moderates and gives them weapons, they will not - not - be able to defeat the terrorists," he said.
The English-speaking, Kurdistan-based force would be called "the Anti-Terror Army" and paid for by the international coalition of countries that is being put together by the Obama administration, according to Yahoo News.
"That means that all countries that want intelligence and protection from the USA and NATO would have to chip in," he said. "If they don't pay, they get no help."
O'Reilly's war plan was immediately mocked by many, including his own guest, U.S. Naval War College professor Tom Nichols.
"This is a terrible idea," Nichols said. "It's a terrible idea not just as a practical matter but as a moral matter. It's a morally corrosive idea to try to outsource our national security. This is something Americans are going to have to do for themselves. This is not something we're going to solve by creating an army of Marvel Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy."
Joining him, Colbert mocked, or "admired," O'Reilly's plan to fight ISIS, Salon reported.
"Oh, come on, please," Colbert said on Thursday. "Bill's plan isn't like the Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy; they'd be an elite team of pros putting their consciences aside to dish out violence for big money. So it's like the NFL."
Slamming his critics and Colbert on Monday, the Fox News host claimed that Colbert and others like him lived in a world where solution didn't matter.
"Mr. Colbert and others of his ilk have no bleeping clue how to fight the jihad," O'Reilly said. "They don't know anything. And when somebody gets beheaded, their reaction is, 'Oh, that's bad!' But by being completely vacant, it doesn't stop these people from mocking ideas that might have some value, might solve some complex problems."
Appearing on Tuesday's "CBS This Morning," O'Reilly again dismissed the criticism, alleging that an unscientific poll showed that his mercenary army plan was supported by about 70 percent of his viewers.
"It's going to happen," he said. "This anti-terror army is going to happen."
