"The Devil opened up his case, and said, "I'll start this show" and fire flew from his finger tips as he rosined up his bow. When he pulled that bow across the strings, it made an evil hiss and a band of demons joined in, it sounded just like this."
- Charlie Daniels, The Devil Went Down to Georgia

"This ain't no rag, it's a flag and we don't wear it on our heads. It's a symbol of the land where the good guys live. Are you listening to what I said? You're a coward and a fool and you broke all of the rules and you wounded our American pride. And now we're coming with a gun and we know you're gonna run, but you can't find no place to hide. We're gonna hunt you down like a mad dog hound make you pay for the lives you stole. We're all through talking and a messing around and now it's time to rock and roll"
- Charlie Daniels, This Aint No Rag, It's a Flag

March 31st, 2003

Mr. Wizard sends this one in. He found a letter written by famed singer Charlie Daniels. I thought it was great and I'm happy to see a celebrity who is not afraid of the liberal left wing of this country.

Charlie Daniels, the popular singer-songwriter. He penned this opinion piece upon his return from his first trip to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to entertain U.S. troops in late March 2002 and posted it on his web site in the Soapbox section, where it appears under the title "The Straight Scoop."

Charlie Daniels, famed musician, writes regarding his Guantanamo Bay trip.

I've just returned from the Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) Naval Air Station base where we did three shows for the troops and toured several locations around the post visiting with some of the finest military personnel on planet earth.

The kids seemed to really enjoy the shows and especially liked "This Ain't No Rag, It's A Flag" and "In America." We had a great time with them.

We saw Camp X-Ray - where the Taliban detainees are being held - only from a distance, but I picked up a lot of what's going on there from talking with many different people.

The truth of the matter is that this operation is under a microscope. The Red Cross has an on-site presence and watches everything that goes on very closely.

The media is not telling you the whole truth about what's going on over there. The truth is that these scum bags are not only being treated humanely, but they are probably better off health-wise and medically than they've ever been in their lives. They are fed well, able to take showers and receive state-of-the-art medical care. And have their own Moslem chaplain.

I saw several of them where they were being treated in a state-of-the-art medical facility.

Now let's talk about the way they treat our people. First of all, they have to be watched constantly. These people are committed and wanton murderers who are willing to die just to kill someone else. One of the doctors told me that when they had Talibans in the hospital the staff had to really be careful with needles, pens and anything else which could be used as a weapon. They also throw their excrement and urine on the troops who are guarding them. And our guys and gals have shown great restraint in not retaliating.

We are spending over a million dollars a day maintaining and guarding these nasty killers and anyone who wants to see them brought to the U.S.A. for trial is either out of their heads or a lawyer looking for money and notoriety. Or both.

I wish the media and the Red Cross and all the rest of the people who are so worried about these criminals would realize that this is not a troop of errant Boy Scouts. These are killers of the worst kind. They don't need protection from us, we need protection from them.

If you don't get anything else out of this soapbox, please try to realize that when you see news coverage much of the time you're not getting the whole story, but an account filtered through a liberal mindset with an agenda.

We have two fights on our hands, the war against terror and the one against the loud-mouthed lawyers and left-wing media who would sap the strength from the American public by making us believe that we're losing the war or doing something wrong in fighting it. Remember these are the same people who told us that Saddam Hussein's Republican guard was going to be an all but invincible enemy and that our smart bombs and other weapons were not really as good as the military said that they were.

They also took up for Bill Clinton while he was cavorting around the Oval office with Monica Lewinsky while the terrorists were gaining strength and bombing our Embassies and dragging the bodies of dead American heroes around the dusty streets of Somalia.

It's a shame that we can't have an unbiased media who would just report the truth and let us make up our own minds. Here I must commend Fox News for presenting both sides much better than the other networks.

They are leaving the other cable networks in the dust. People want to be told the truth. Our military not only needs but deserves our support. Let's give it to them.

The next time you read a media account about the bad treatment of the Taliban in Cuba, remember what I told you. Been there, done that.

Footnote: I got an e-mail from a rather irate first cousin of mine the other day who has a daughter who's a lawyer, and she seemed to think that I was painting all lawyers with the same brush. Please understand that I'm not doing that at all. That would be like saying that all musicians were drug addicts. There are a lot of good and honest attorneys out there. I happen to have one of them. But it seems that they never get any airtime. It's always the radicals who get their opinions heard, who fight the idea of the military tribunals and cite The Constitution and the integrity of America as the source for justifying their opinions.

Well, first of all The Constitution says, "We the people of the United States," it doesn't mention any other country. And, secondly, as far as integrity is concerned, I don't think some of these folks would know integrity if it bit them in the posterior.