Massacre in Beziers

Killing shipwrecked sailors is an obvious crime...the worst kind of crime — senseless and intentionally wicked. Even in times of real war, enemy sailors are not gunned down in the water.

The Death of Simon de Monfort at the Battle of Toulouse in 1218, Source: Getty Images

Tuesday, December 9^th, 2025

Bill Bonner, from Baltimore, Maryland

On the 22nd of July 1209, the crusader army arrived at the gates of Beziers. The town, in what is today Southwest France, was said to be a hotbed of wrongthink.

They were there to confront the ‘bad guys’...heretics. These ‘Cathars’ neither robbed nor killed. They were worse; they stole souls.

And so, a powerful army of crusaders and riff-raff, representing the regional hegemon, attacked.

But wait. The attackers faced much the same problem faced by the IDF in Gaza...or the US Navy in the Caribbean. All of the town’s residents were not heretics. Many of them were actually good Catholics. How were the attackers to know which was which?

Simon de Montfort, the crusaders’ commander had his answer. “Kill them all,” he is alleged to have said. Which is what the crusaders did.

If there had been a ‘liberal’ media back then, it would have been outraged and appalled by the cruel, merciless and pointless “massacre in Beziers.”

There was no such media to comment. But there is today, and it has finally gotten itself worked up to chronicle the backsliding of 21^st century America to medieval standards. It is not so much the murder of people on boats...1500 miles from the US...who were allegedly going to commit a crime that causes their righteous blood to bubble up. But finishing off the survivors must have crossed some kind of line. For now, the video has been tucked away with the Epstein files. Still, it doesn’t take much imagination to have some sympathy for defenseless people adrift on the sea.

Killing shipwrecked sailors is an obvious crime...the worst kind of crime — senseless and intentionally wicked. Even in times of real war, enemy sailors are not gunned down in the water; they are plucked up and put in prisoner of war camps.

What is perhaps most amazing about this is that you can look all up and down the chain of command. You will find intelligent, thoughtful people. If they accidentally hit a puppy while driving home, tears might come into their eyes. Many go to church or temple, regularly recalling that we are meant to ‘do unto others as we would have them do unto us.’

Some identify as Republican. Others lean to the Democrats. But the remarkable thing is that all of them will commit murder if they get the ok from the higher ups. Senator Rick Scott:

“Blow them to smithereens.”

Didn’t Senator Scott swear to uphold the Constitution? Has he never heard of the Ten Commandments? The Bill of Rights? Federal law prohibiting assassinations? The Uniform Code of Military Justice? Doesn’t he believe in the rule of law...and the idea that everyone is innocent until proven guilty? Where was the judge, jury...what was the charge...where was the evidence...what happened to due process?

The ‘liberal’ press dodges the interesting issues and focuses on the highest ups...and fixes the blame there. But the Trump gang has no monopoly on murder or indecency. It was Barack Obama who set the pace. James Bovard:

On February 3, 2010, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair stunned Washington by announcing that the administration was also targeting Americans for killing. Blair revealed to a congressional committee the new standard for extrajudicial killings: “Whether that American is involved in a group that is trying to attack us, whether that American has—is a threat to other Americans. We don’t target people for free speech. We target them for taking action that threatens Americans.”

One of Obama’s first targets — an Islamic cleric, born in the USA, Anwar Awlaki. Mr. Awlaki was saying things Mr. Obama thought he shouldn’t. So, when Awlaki fled the country, Obama set an assassination plot in motion.

Did the ‘liberal’ press howl with indignation? Did it demand an impeachment...a trial...a hanging? Nope. Instead, the New York Times reported in 2010 that “there is widespread agreement among the administration’s legal team that it is lawful for President Obama to authorize the killing of someone like Mr. Awlaki.”

Two weeks after killing Awlaki, another hit took out his 16-year-old son who had no connection to any terrorist organization. He was with a group of people drinking tea. God could sort them out.

The Washington Post was on the story too. It assured readers that not only was Obama within his rights, he would suffer no damage at the polls as a result of his murder of the Awlaki family:

77 percent of liberal Democrats endorse the use of drones, meaning that Obama is unlikely to suffer any political consequences as a result of his policy in this election year.

The Post was right. Even after the New York Times revealed that Obama was not just a killer, but a serial killer, he was re-elected. Like Stalin, he personally approved the list of victims:

“Every week or so, more than 100 members of the government’s sprawling national security apparatus gather, by secure video teleconference, to pore over terrorist suspects’ biographies and recommend to the president who should be the next to die.”

Democrats and Republicans were okay with the killing spree. Rep. Peter King explained:

“Drones aren’t evil, people are evil. We are a force of good and we are using those drones to carry out the policy of righteousness and goodness.”

Mr. King was never even asked to explain how a ‘force of good’ could go on such a killing spree. .

And none of the people responsible for massacres, assassinations, and senseless killing — neither terrorist nor narco-trafficker, neither crusader nor heretic...from Simon de Montfort (who died after getting hit in the head with a rock)...to Dick Cheney, Barack Obama and Pete Hegseth — may get what they deserve in this life.

But you have to have faith; God will know what to do with them.

Regards,

Bill Bonner