Happy Birthday to the greatest nation on this earth. After seeing the Capitol’s 4th Celebration on PBS, NASCAR on ESPN2, and watching fireworks off of my patio, I was so truly proud to be an American on this day. It also reminded me of a stunning exchange I recently had with a former co-worker of mine, which left me wondering “aren’t all other people proud of their own countries?”

My company is based in Germany, and my colleague Ingrid (I’ll call her), was in town here in Atlanta to do training for my department. Ingrid has been with the company since the mid 1990s, and she was an integral part of the IT team that conducted software implementations and rollouts to most of the other sites around the world when they would come online with our global platform. So she’s been around the world quite a bit. I really didn’t know Ingrid very well, as I had met her only a few times. However, on her last trip to Atlanta, I was in a week-long intensive training with her, and really got to spend some time talking to her.

One day in training, she came in and said the night before when she arrived back in her hotel, she tuned in to C-SPAN. That particular night, they were showing Congressional hearings about whether or not to begin impeachment proceedings on President Bush and V.P. Cheney. She said she was fascinated by it, and remarked that if he was half as guilty of things as they were saying he was, she thought they should be impeached.

Not knowing she was talking to the department’s resident political person, my American colleague just shot me that look like “oh, no… please don’t go there,” but I just couldn’t help it. I told her that even without knowing or having seen the hearings she watched, I could tell her that probably the majority of those testifying were also buying into the 9/11 truther mindset. She said she had seen Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” and believed every bit of it. Needless to say, my American colleague decided it was time for his lunch break.

Ingrid said she had a general impression that Americans didn’t like to discuss politics because in the past when she’s brought them up to folks in our Atlanta office, people would just not engage her, or they would give the pat response “I’m not into politics.” I told her that most likely she’d encountered others who were either unarmed in terms of what’s going on in the world, or those who had such a visceral response to American politics, that they could not effectively argue their points and they just refused to participate in a civil discussion.

We had to get back to our training, but we both agreed we’d like to have a further discussion later. On Friday after work, we decided to go out for a few beers and appetizers at a local Taco Mac restaurant by the office. I thought we’d be there for an hour or so, but I went home around 9 p.m.

We fully engaged in robust debate and discussion about the realities of the world today, and we both educated each other to some extent. Ingrid’s main contention as to why she hates George W. Bush is because she thinks the Iraqi war was his personal choice and that he was responsible for all the deaths of the troops, as well as the suffering of military widows, parents who’d lost children, etc., and that it was all President Bush’s fault. She hates war with such venom that she cannot see past that emotion. I told her that nobody likes war, and that sometimes, war is a necessary evil. I told her one of the phrases that most pisses off a lot of Americans is the phrase “this is an unpopular war.” What war is popular? Even the Revolutionary War was unpopular, as were all that followed, but it didn’t mean they weren’t necessary or warranted. The “unpopular war” theme is just a tag to further enhance Bush Derangement Syndrome.

She said she she felt there were too many casualties in war, not just on the battlefield, but all of the families back home who suffered when their loved ones were wounded or killed. That seemed to hurt her the most. I almost wondered if she thought we DIDN’T have an all-volunteer military? Did she think that President Bush was ordering folks into war against their will? I said “Ingrid… if I’m an American wife, or if I am an American mother who had a son who enlisted, I would know that part of what that entailed was the possibility that my loved one might not come home.” This seemed unrealistic to her. Did she think men and women were pulled from their homes to serve? I’ll never know. But in retrospect, it makes my next point even more clear to me now.

She related a story to me that really took me aback. She moved here to Atlanta for a brief period in 2004. When she was here, she did the typical “touristy” thing and went to Stone Mountain Park to see the famous laser show. The laser shows are put on seasonally, and during certain times they are nightly, and others just on the weekend. Stone Mountain is a mountain where the granite face has been carved with the images of Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.

The carved granite surface of Stone Mountain

The laser show is conducted to the sound of different music, but one segment surprised Ingrid.

Toward the end of the show, some images were shown on the rock face of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ingrid was frightened as she witnessed everyone around her jump to their feet, cheer, clap, “woo-hoo,” high-five each other, cry, hug, and chant “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” and carry on about our men & women in the U.S. Armed Forces. She could not fathom the depths of our pride, as Americans, of our country. She told me she could not believe it that we were so proud! Now, for one who is not easily surprised, I dropped my fork, dropped my chin, looked her in the eye and asked “are you serious?” She said “yes, I’m completely serious - I was frightened!”

She also said that it was “disturbing” to her to see all the American Flags that flew everywhere…off buildings, on cars, on many houses, bumper stickers, etc. She thought that was a bit haughty, if not a bit pompous and a little crazy. Either way, she didn’t understand that either.

For the first time that night, I was truly speechless and incredulous. Was she really serious? She said that she later would have friends over to visit from Germany, and she would take them to Stone Mountain to see the laser show. She wanted them to witness the same thing she had. And she was not surprised they all reacted the same way she did. They were shocked at the overwhelming pride we have for our troops and our country. Because of this perplexing view, I now believe that she cannot possibly fathom that an American would so love their country that they would be willing to lay down their life for it. And that’s why, I believe, she felt such hurt for the soldiers’ families. That could be the only explanation.

I am only one voice in America and have my opinion. So it wouldn’t be appropriate to say all Germans feel the same way Ingrid does. But from what she explained to me, all of her friends and all of her visitors felt the same way. I would have thought that every person on this planet would be robust with pride of their own country. But apparently not, at least for this small group of Germans I knew. Did they have an undying shame for what Hitler did? Could they not overcome that and realize how far they’d come? Certainly America has had her flaws, and I am ashamed of slavery and other injustices of the past in America, but we have come a long way. And so has Germany. How can this shame be so ingrained and not be able to be shed?

I’m reminded of a recent book by Shelby Steele called “White Guilt.” And I wonder if some Germans didn’t feel some sort of “Hitler Guilt” for their past. Can’t they recognize how far they and the rest of the world has come? We have to learn to forgive what has happened in the past so we can move forward, but I wonder what it is in the German psyche that won’t allow that? Even if it’s just in the persons whom I know personally?

Ingrid still has her opinions of President Bush and America, and I told her that Al Qaeda has been attacking Western interests for a long time, and that the desire for the Islamic Caliphate is something that has long been festering. She seems to have been stuck in that guilt phase, and thinks all countries just should mind their own business.

Then she talked about the lack of WMDs found in Iraq. Oh, boy, here we go. I told her that whether or not she knew it, there were WMDs in Iraq (hundreds of ricin-filled weapons heads), and that all of the other intelligence agencies (including Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak) had told us that Saddam had WMDs and would use them on our troops in Afghanistan. After all, why wouldn’t we believe them if he’d used them on hundreds of thousands of Iraqis? Plus, I reminded her, that as the world’s greatest superpower, what would have happened if Pres. Bush wouldn’t have acted, and Saddam DID use WMDs on any Western country? Bush was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.

I reminded her of the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, the attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, the attacks on the U.S. Marine barracks, and countless other atrocities against the West since the 70s. Clinton lobbed a few missiles at an aspirin factory, but President Bush was finally the one to do something about the problem with Islamofascist terrorism. She said she still hated war and that’s why she didn’t like Bush. I respect that, but it just confirms my belief that our media (as well as the International media) are wholeheartedly to blame for the world’s opinion of the U.S.

I then asked her hypothetically, “who is it that the world comes to for help in times of need?” She correctly answered “America.” We talked about the Tsunami in Indonesia and the U.S.S. Mercy Ship being the first there, and that politics were the last thing the U.S. considers in times of need around the world. She also was not aware of Bob Geldof’s befuddlement about the world’s lack of recognition of Pres. Bush and his commitment to helping with AIDS in Africa. From a Washington Times article:

Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.

Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, “has done more than any other president so far.”

“This is the triumph of American policy really,” he said. “It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion.”

“What’s in it for [Mr. Bush]? Absolutely nothing,” Mr. Geldof said.

Mr. Geldof said that the president has failed “to articulate this to Americans” but said he is also “pissed off” at the press for their failure to report on this good news story.

“You guys didn’t pay attention,” Geldof said to a group of reporters from all the major newspapers.

I told her that regardless of what other countries think of America, it IS America the world first looks to in times of need, and that we always come running. She acknowledged that and said the world should be grateful. However, she did say Germans were generally glad that their country refused to participate in the war in Iraq. And she railed about the U.S. not allowing the Red Cross to visit detainees in the War on Terror. Geez, what is the international media telling the rest of the world? She knew nothing of KSM, Abu Nidal, the Blind Sheikh and others. This conversation was a long one.

Lastly, she knew nothing of Gen. Petraeus, the counter-insurgency, what’s truly happening in Iraq, but was completely enamored with Barack Obama and his “change” mantra. That’s when I decided Ingrid needed one more gift to go back home with. I gave her my copy of Michael Yon’s “Moment of Truth In Iraq,” and told her if she was as hungry for knowledge as she said she was, she should read the book. I told her it was not all rosy about the war, but it was a first-hand account of what’s really happening in Iraq. She promised to read it, and before she left, she said she was learning a lot from it. But in the end, she said she still detested war.

I reminded her that we do, too.

But I love my country so much I can never understand her bewilderment in that pride.

Col. David Roeder, who was held hostage for 444 days during the Carter screw-up, was on H&C earlier this week to talk about the current U.K. hostage crisis involving the 15 seamen and Marines. Ollie North joined the discussion, and it was nothing short of heart-wrenching to hear Roeder describe his captivity at the hands of Ahmadinejad.

You can read the whole transcript here, but here’s a partial:

COLMES: Ollie, we hear that things are getting worse. Then, we hear they’re getting a little better, then we hear they’re getting worse. And then we hear — one report says the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, saying that, if Britain can show that this is a mistake, this can be resolved. So what truly is going on here?

OLLIE NORTH: Well, as Colonel Roeder can tell you, the Iranians lie a lot, and so I wouldn’t believe a thing that the Iranians are saying, unless these hostages are on an airplane headed back home.

One of the things that we’ve learned, Alan, is that, 10 days ago, in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps publication, Reza Faqir, who is probably a pseudonym for an author who writes in it regular — Zubi Sadek is the name of the publication — threatened that they could take British and American hostages anytime they wanted and, quote, “feed them to our fighting cocks.” This all is in response to the Iranians being emboldened by actions of the U.S. Congress and Tony Blair’s suggestion that they’re going to pull out in the not too distant future from Iraq. The Shatt al-Arab follows — this whole incident follows a meeting with the United States and Iranians in Iraq, so you obviously can’t believe that the Iranians simply want to sit down and talk to people.

I think what you’re seeing is internal politics in Tehran being played out on the stage, just as they’re being played out here. This is done for internal political consumption. The IRGC is dealing with a government that is now feeling the heat from sanctions that have been imposed and three very high-level defection that have come to the West exposing a lot of their secrets — Alan?

COLMES: Hey, David, when we hear that a letter was written, and she makes conciliatory — we’re talking about the female hostage who makes conciliatory comments about Iran, you’ve been through this. What kind of pressure is brought to bear on a hostage to write a letter like that and say those kinds of words?

DAVID ROEDER, FORMER HOSTAGE IN IRAN: Well, as David Jacobson said last night on your show, who knows who was behind the scenes with a gun to one of the other sailors or royal marines? Obviously, the young lady is scared, and that’s understandable. As a matter of fact, this morning on E.D. Hill’s show, one of our colleagues was asked about that, and he said that she was scared. And I certainly agree with that. What I don’t agree with and would like to correct it, particularly for Ollie’s sake, is that he went on and said we had the same thing happen with our young Marine enlisted men. That is absolutely not true. So I just wanted to get that clear. But she’s under a lot of pressure. This is deja vu all over again, as Yogi said. I think leaving the folks with blindfolds, the nice little communal meal. What they don’t tell you is, after the cameras go off, all the food disappears.

COLMES: So, Ollie, what is the way out of this? We keep hearing, as we’ve said, some conflicting reports of how close they are to possibly settling it. Is there a peaceful way out anytime soon?

NORTH: Well, certainly. And there are a lot of things that the British can do to bring pressure to bear on the Iranians, so it does not have to end up in, you know, military action. Let me just make sure that David understands what I was talking about last night, when I made the observation that letters were drafted for people to write. And as you know, they were drafted; they just weren’t sent by those U.S. Marines out there.

Here’s what the British can do. They can start expelling diplomats right away. They can shut down the trade missions. They can bar visits and stop granting visas, which means no new Persian carpets for the foreign ministry, but who cares? Most Iranians going to Europe on legitimate or black market business go through Frankfurt. If London gets Berlin’s cooperation, it could put a real damper on Pasdaran, meaning IRGC, finances. And finally, Iran imports about 40 percent of their gasoline. If you get cooperation from Bahrain and the gulf emirates to stop refining Iranian gasoline, you can shut the country down.

SEAN HANNITY: Hey, Colonel North, Sean Hannity here. Look, these are acts of war. For example, they’ve been supplying the insurgency in Iraq with their weaponry killing 175 U.S. soldiers that we know of. They capture these hostages. They’re threatening to try these hostages. They’re parading these hostages around, and they’re forcing these hostages to write these letters admitting that they were on Iranian soil and Iranian waters, territorial waters, et cetera, here. All acts of war. Now…

NORTH: Well, and we’re not going to get any help out of the international community; the U.N. grave concern press statement this afternoon was totally meaningless.

HANNITY: Well, yes. And on top of that, too, we know that Russia probably is not going to be inclined to even help anyway, and they have a veto possibility. Now, Colonel Roeder, I want to ask you specifically here. This is not the first time you have dealt with Ahmadinejad. You were one of the hostages. You were held against your will for a long period of time, but you believe Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, was one of your interrogators back then.

ROEDER: Not the interrogator, but present at several of my interrogations. I was one of the six that identified him when he was announced as the president of Iran. He appeared about the fourth interrogation that I had. And I know, 99.9 percent sure, that this is the same guy. And the reason for that, Sean, is that this man is what I call a blinker. He blinks his eyes more often than an average human being does. And everybody changes in 25, 26 years, but that’s something you can’t change. He’s the same guy.

HANNITY: Colonel North, what can we learn from the example with President Reagan? President Reagan didn’t bother negotiating when they were dropping these land minds in the Persian Gulf in ‘87 and in ‘88. He didn’t bow at the altar of the U.N. He went in there, and he started sinking navy ships of Iranians, and it worked.

NORTH: And even more important, Ronald Reagan’s rhetoric leading up to the election in 1980 is what brought David home. I mean, the reality was the Iranians realized that inaugural day that Ronald Reagan was now president. Jimmy Carter no longer was. The problem is, this president has been severely weakened by what the Congress has been doing since they got elected in November. And the Iranians are doing this, again, for internal political purposes. David is absolutely right. Ahmadinejad was one of the people who planned the whole operation at the American embassy back in 1979. And so these guys look at this president as weak. And, unfortunately, our media and our Congress have made him appear so.

Why do we keep appeasing these two-bit, thug dictators and letting them hold the entire West in a virtual hostage state as we kow-tow to their demands and play their games? I’ll never understand it, but I know Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, nor Winston Churchill would have put up with this B.S. Time to get tough and do what needs to be done.

Calling Fred Thompson… Fred Dalton Thompson, please come in???? We need you and need you NOW!

Watch the two-part interview here and here.

***UPDATE****

Bumped up, revision of original video. Worth the watch.

***WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGES***

Thanks to my buddy, Crusader18, for another brilliant YouTube video, “Ready, Steady Go!” Crusader brought us Neal Boortz’ “Where Is the Muslim Outrage?” rant, and after the events in the U.K. last night, he’s saying “Wake up, Europe! The time is now!” Yes the images are graphic and horrific, but in case you haven’t figured out by now, so are the acts of violent Islam. What they do to non-believers is graphic, evil, violent and bloody. They are obscene. And this message isn’t just for Europe - it’s for the entire Western world.

People, are you paying attention? These people want to kill every non-Muslim in the world, and they don’t care if you’re conservative or liberal. If you’re an infidel, your head will be sawn off with a hacksaw much like Nick Berg. Do you really want that? Are you listening to what I’m telling you? Are you listening to the message that Islam is giving you? Most importantly, are you PAYING ATTENTION TO IT? Are you paying it heed?

If not, WAKE THE HELL UP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! And that “too late” may be sooner than you think unless we realize the brutal sub-human ideology we are all dealing with. Whether you like it or not, it is us against them - Western civilization against radical Islam.

What we saw unfold on television last night and today are just portents of things to come.

Religion of peace, my ass!

WHEN WILL YOU WAKE UP?