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The views and opinions are my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of NQR

Reading earlier this week an opinion piece on the editorial by Ayers in the New York Times on a blog called The Moderate Voice titled: Prediction: The Ayers haters still Won’t be Satisfied,” reading the recent transcript, and viewing the actual footage on Hardball with Ayers, reminded me of my last deployment to Iraq and an incident that happened. I had just pulled my vehicle to park in the back of our TOC (Tactical Operations Center) with my TC who rode with me to pick up the mail. There wasn’t much that day so on the way back we stopped at the main PX that was located on another camp to get a carton of cigarettes since they always ran out at the small one on our camp. My TC who was also one of my tent mates wanted to smoke before we went in by the barriers, but we had to smoke five feet from the TOC, which was in front of one of our LMTVs, so I told her we should take our bags in first. Instead of walking around we decided to just cut through the TOC because it was quicker. We did not even make it inside all the way before we heard the whistle of a Mortar, the sound it makes when incoming. And the next thing we heard and felt, was that mortar as it hit the vehicle parked behind us, where not even a minute prior we had just left. It took out the truck, caused the chapel ceiling to cave in, and hit inside our camp, directly behind the vehicle we just left and in the exact place we had formations each and every day.

Mortars & IEDs. It was what people on convoys never want to encounter when they are convoying on dark roads since we ran our convoys at night. It is what you would hear while in the shower, in your sleep tent, while eating or when they constantly and consecutively attempted to hit BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) which was close to our camp, all the time. From mortars you can hear and IEDs you cant even see, till this day I have yet to see a non issue “friendly bomb” mortar or IED. There is no ducking or running for cover. Just like you are unable to dodge or outrun a bullet. When you hear that whistle you are screwed and can only hope where it hits will not happen in your vicinity and have you end up dead. I used to say that I would rather be in my tent sleeping if it hit us and not know it. Then to be awake taking a shower, eating or working, hear it and know what is coming next. These people who do this don’t care about who you are, what you may do or who you may be, the only thing that they care for is to cause destruction because of there cause. For them, if they take out even one of us, they consider it winning.

Because they are fighting for something which we don’t understand or believe in. They were not fighting against us, they were/are fighting for there cause, their beliefs, their ideology. And whether we were there in there country or not, they will continue to fight for their beliefs and will continue to strap bombs to themselves because it is not just about dying for them, it’s about believing in their cause to the point their death does not even matter. But I know and knew all of this when I reenlisted two weeks after 9/11. I knew it 10 March 1998 when I joined. I knew it when I deployed to Kuwait. I knew it when I deployed to Uzbekistan. I knew it when I was in Bagram in Afghanistan after 9/11, and I knew it when in Iraq on my last deployment. I was in Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda in 02 when 10th Mountain Division, the US Special Forces groups from USSOCOM, JSOC and CIA’s Special Activities Division and 101st Airborne Division, as well as other allied forces, went in to the Shahi-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains for Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Mullah Omar. Our task force from Fort Bragg, one of the many battalions in the rear which was part of the command of the former Coscom Commander General Dunwoody, was pulling base logistical support from fuel, ammo, water and running the SSA in Uzbekistan before we picked up to move down to Bagram to fall under 10th Mountain. Where part of your briefing was “if you didnt drop it, don’t pick it up” because of the amount of unexploded ordnance left from when they were fighting the Soviets could be found any and everywhere. When paths walked every day, walking in the wrong spot on a path you have been on daily, had the possibility to become deadly.

I knew this and I understood it, but we were fighting against something that was much bigger than my fear. It was a sacrifice worth making and I know it and still do till this very day. Which brings me to my point. What I do not know, do not understand, and will not even attempt to, is why in the hell anyone would give a man a platform to explain the ideology of their organization who is giving the impression that “bombs” are just a form of self expression. When I read the words of this portion of the exchange between the recent interview of Chris Matthews and Ayers I literally became sick to my stomach:

MATTHEWS: What’s the lesson of Vietnam for America?

AYERS: Well I think one of the lessons is that we should be, very, very wary when the United States government tells us that we must invade and occupy a country. We should be very wary of led down, being led down that path. And we should be rethinking, right now, most of all, we should rethink America’s role in the world. Do we have to be the policemen of the world? Do we have to be the one and only superpower? Or could we imagine ourselves a nation among nations. Could we imagine a foreign policy based on justice, rather than power.

MATTHEWS: Yeah. Aren’t you scared a little bit, I certainly am, by the willingness of the American people to assume language, brand new language like “weapons of mass destruction,” “Homeland Security,” all these references to a new kind of foreign policy? “Forward leaning.” “A preemptive, preventive war.” Preventive war sounds like an oxymoron to me. But aren’t you scared that the American people bought every one of those words, bought the whole argument that we had to go to Iraq?

AYERS: I actually think that those are contested. And I think you’re right to worry about how much we did buy into that. But on the other hand I think we should be very hopeful that people rejected quite, a month ago, rejected eight years of the politics of fear, the politics of terror, the politics of violence and war and said, “Let’s turn in a different direction.” So we’re, we’ve ended the era, I think, of 9/11, or at least turned a page on it.

MATTHEWS: Yeah.

AYERS: And we’ve entered an era of “Yes We Can!” But the question remains, “Yes we can, what?” And in foreign policy can we become a nation among nations? Can we become a nation who believes in justice for everyone.

MATTHEWS: Yeah well those are good things. I think you’re a different man. I think you’re a different man than the one that was in the Weather Underground and you’ve said so. Let me ask you are you concerned that the centrist positions of the people, Senator Obama, President-elect Obama has named – Senator Clinton, Jim Jones, General Jim Jones, Bob Gates, the holdover Defense chief – are you concerned that she’s putting establishment figures, who, who, who supported the war authorization in Iraq in powerful positions of influence over him? That the people in the room, all around him now, will be people who disagreed with him and you about the Iraq war? Are you worried about that?

AYERS: A bit but I think that people like you and me, and probably most of the people who watch your show are suffering a kind of postpartum depression. That is we were so used to reading the polls and getting agitated about every nuance of what was happening that we now don’t know what to do with ourselves. So we try to read the mind of the President-elect. I think it’s much less important that we do that, than that we pay attention to building, on-the-ground, forces that want to rethink-

MATTHEWS: Yeah.

AYERS: -and, and re-imagine what America could be.

Attempting to explain why they deemed it necessary to set bombs and actually have people not only explaining his actions but rallying to this man’s side is unbelievable. But to have the goddamn nerve to ask an individual about positions in the new administration as if his opinion counts? Unbelievable. I am amazed. I am astounded and I am furious. What in gods name are we coming to when this new Pro- Ayers media and bloggers have the audacity to insinuate that we, the people, are considered “haters” and that something is wrong with us for believing placing a bomb inside of a building is not some form of freedom of expression? Have they lost there minds? Do they even know what it is like to pray daily you will come home the same way you left when deployed? Or to pray daily for those once you left, for those still there? Have they ever seen the damage to a person who has been on the receiving end of what they are giving justification for? Seen what shrapnel can do to a person’s face? Their body? Their arms? Their legs? I have, as well as so many others who are watching this shit play out in the court of public opinion. It’s one thing to have injuries you can see as a daily reminder, this I know, but to hear explanations is entirely different.

They will send the message to those who would do our country harm that if they have a “valid reason” for their actions, they will be excused because pundits, commentators, and the MSM says it‘s a non- issue? We are fighting against something in which they have the gall to explain and give justification. And no one will say a word in fear the majority will label them “racist”. That they will be blacklisted, shunned or taken apart in the mainstream media if they have the audacity to question those who are considered the majority. I will not be held hostage by the label “racist” to keep me from speaking up or defending what is right. For the MSM to give this man a platform, for bloggers to make excuses for what he has done, and political parties to remain silent feels like a betrayal. What so many see as a “non-issue” is a very big issue for me because I do not see the difference in his type of “expression” and the same type of “expression” I have seen overseas.

What makes his type of bombs any different from anyone else’s? If his name would have been Akbar Jamal Muhammed and he did the exact same thing Ayers did, but did it in 2001? Would he have the opportunity to write opinion pieces to garner support in the New York Times? Would he be on a book signing tour? Have Democrats & Republican pundits, and commentators agreeing it was harmless while saying it’s racist to bring it up, asking advice on national security and appointments like he is qualified to do so, while lining up to the closest microphone and spotlight on his behalf to use that “non-issue” word? Or would he have the opportunity to do guest appearances on “Hardball” and “Good Morning America?” Chris Matthews deserves to be fired. We have not reached the level of desperation where we need to solicit the opinion of a domestic terrorist on national security or on how our government should govern.

Our elected officials are becoming next to worthless for not calling the media out on this. I want change but not at the cost of compromising what I know to be right. I want our country to prosper, but not at the cost of turning into a spineless wimp who cant do their job because they have seen how they destroyed others who didn’t cater to a certain campaign and the MSM. We don’t make friends with terrorists. We don’t listen to terrorists’ ideology. We don’t allow them to explain there actions. We don’t make excuses. We don’t attempt to sympathize, condone, attempt to believe, justify or encourage their form of “expression” when it involves anything that could do this country or the people harm. And I could care even less about the biased shill, in the pocket, media because they are just another organization that has to pay the bills to keep the lights on just like we do but thiee paycheck comes from ratings.

But what they do not realize, is that what is given to them, can be taken away. They may be bought and paid for but no one owns me and I refuse to join the crowd that lacks a spine, and a backbone who can’t form their own opinion without checking with the media first. I want someone to get up and say enough is enough and send that man back to the hole, rock and bridge he crawled out from under and do us all a favor by staying there. Either you are against terrorists who go about using bombs to get their message across or you are for it. Anyone wanting to sympathize and become buddies with terrorists, foreign and domestic, in my opinion should pack their damn bags, get a strip map for their training camps from officials in India and head to the goddamn borders of Pakistan or the mountains in Afghanistan. They can blog and report the news from there. This is the final straw for me.

There is no man or woman that walks on this earth, put their pants on the same way that I do, that can instill this type of fear that would make you compromise your integrity. I could care less. I was born from dissent and was told years ago the first time I was deployed to a combat zone and touched ground that no weapon ever formed against me shall prosper. And each time I stepped off a C130 when I made it home safely, I knew it to be true. But it was not and will not be at the expense of fighting terrorists in a foreign country just to see one on every damn channel on tv or writing editorials and doing interviews in the newspaper while whining about how they are misunderstood and done wrong. Who will the MSM interview and drag out next? Bin Laden? Will we have to listen to how its really our fault for not understanding his beliefs? Do we get to read his editorial in the New York Times? Will he do “Hardball?” Or maybe “Oprah” or “Good Morning America?” There is a quiet storm building over this and I cannot wait for the day the binds that currently hold me no longer exist. And any party, pundit, or person believing this will be the new way to fight the war on terrorism, is to relate with the enemy and attempt to explain and understand their cause may need to step back and realize that everyone does not care about being part of the majority.

Or care about being on the “winning side” with the MSM. Because the only “winning side” to be on is the side with this country and the American people on it. They have ALL failed the test the minute these elected officials, who we gave jobs with our vote to represent us, lost their minds, lost their voice, their credibility, and their common sense the moment they lost their backbone to stand up and represent us. If they can’t even fight for a cause here in our own damn country, they are going to get run the hell over by people in other countries. I want elected officials willing to fight, not watered down individuals scared to say or speak the truth because they need the majority to stand behind them. I don’t want to be Bff’s forever and couldn’t care less if the so called “enemy” in third world countries hate our guts. They should hate us . We don’t need to cater to or understand their beliefs or work on our nations social standing with them, they need to work on there social standing with us. We should not bow down to any individuals in any country. We don’t have anything to prove, they do, and if they dislike us even more so be it. That just means we are doing something right. Because when they begin to want to be buddies and best friends for life, then we have something to worry about.

Look at them. In the news acting as if government positions or no better than powerball tickets waiting to see if they bought and paid for enough while hoping they are the ones to have the winning number. Acting as if this is a high school student council instead of our governing body of our government. While other countries are dealing in politics, we look like fools who don’t know what politics actually is. We are not sending a message of strength. We look weak. I want individuals willing to stand up and take on the MSM for this, by calling them out for what they are doing by promoting these type of actions. It is wrong. It’s pathetic. Just because they don’t have the heart or strength to execute what they were elected to do, because they are too scared to do their job for fear of being labeled “racist” by “the report nothing and do nothing” MSM does not mean we, as a whole, should suffer.

All because they want to be on the “right side”. The “right team”. With the “right crowd”. There is no way on gods green earth will I listen to them hype this man up for the next four years. There is no way in hell I will watch individuals get smacked in the face daily by those explaining this man’s organization and what they have done as a “non-issue”. I don’t care if this man is best friends with the king and queen of England and considered royalty. What he did was wrong and there are no explanations in the world that can give legitimacy to his actions. If they want to sell their souls to the devil to prove they are not racist by embracing him that is their choice. They can stand behind and defend whoever they want, in their own warped thinking, thinking that speaking highly of him based on his past perceived association will gain them favor. By hiding behind the facade that they are standing behind this country and what is best for it by not questioning his actions so it will not reflect negatively on the President Elect. Bullshit. Theodore Roosevelt said it best:

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiently, or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.