When we were last reading, I was heading back over to the protester side to do a couple of interviews. Since this was supposedly an anti-war march, I decided that I would get some interviews with those who didn’t quite seem realize that it was, in fact, an anti-war march. Some had other agendas.

I’ll start with the interview that, unfortunately, I forgot to record. It was the “9/11 Was An Inside Job” interview. I found a guy handing out the signs and stickers and decided he was as good a person as any, seeing how he was literally investing in the idea (fight capitalism; buy my buttons and stickers). I began by asking how 9/11 was an inside job. The gentleman asked where were the videos to prove it. I hesitated, a little thrown off by this absurd question. I told him the videos are everywhere. I asked if he had ever tried a Google search. There are plenty of videos of planes crashing into the towers and some surveillance videos of the Pentagon plane. There were even pictures of airliner debris from all three jets. That was the basic extent of our conversation because some bigmouth moron decided that it wasn’t fair that I questioned someone’s beliefs one on one.

He’s the one in the Navy uniform with Lt bars. Recognize that man next to him?

So, this Navy guy comes up and rudely intrudes into our conversation before it really began. He told me how unrealistic it was that 19 people with boxcutters could overwhelm NORAD and take down four commercial airlines. I quickwittedly explained that NORAD doesn’t fly onboard aircrafts typically and therefore couldn’t exactly beat the boxcutters out of their hands. I also reminded him that the terrorists screamed that they had explosives (whether or not they did, doesn’t matter). Fear is what kept most of those passengers in line. He then told me, ignoring true common sense, that in an interview with pilot, the pilot stated that if he were ever to encounter a hijacking, he’d just roll the plane over quickly and throw the terrorist to the ground. I asked him if that interview took place before or after 9/11 (to be funny). He caught it and got that goofy look of “do look stupid to you?” In my mind I immediately answered. I told him that pilots wre trained NOT to fight a hijacking and that a maneuver such as that would have caused a lot more harm than good. Consequently, I haven’t found ANY interview with that particular pilot except one about his farm. The guy gave me his bona fides by telling me he was a Navy Pilot (hence the Navy uniform). However, everything he was telling me didn’t make sense. So much so that I can’t even remember most of what he was trying to explain. He did say that he was a Navy Pilot and knew about the flashpoints of aviation fuel. No, wait, he never used the technical term “flashpoint”, I did. He call it a “burn rate”.

For those of you that know me well, know that I’m a Navy Brat. I spent 2/3 of my life around the Navy. My father was Command Master Chief, the highest enlisted rank one can attain in the Navy. So, the gold badge he wore on his uniform was inconsistent with his story. As a matter of fact, if he were an aviator, he’d be wearing one of THESE badges. When in fact, he was wearing THIS badge. You can see for yourself in the picture above or download the full res version HERE and blow it up yourself. I told the guy I was trying to have an intelligent conversation with the original gentlemn and asked him to excuse himself. He said he was only there because I was disrespecting the guy. I asked the guy if I had disrespected him at all and he said no. I asked the guy to leave. He wouldn’t. Then I realized I wasn’t dealing with this guy with the proper respect. After all, he’s an officer and I’m but a lowly Master Sergeant, enlisted man. I snapped to attention, saluted with my best Nazi salute and stated, “Sir, would you be so kind as to depart the premises so that I may continue my dignified interview with this wonderful gentleman, sir? Request permission for you to be on your way, sir!!” Every time I went back to talk to the original guy, because frankly the “Navy” dude was a kook, he would shout over me. Our conversation was drawing a crowd and that was not my intention. I asked him one last time if he was going to micromanage my interview, was shouted down again with more absurdities, and then shook the original man’s hand and went on my way. What a nutjob!

Next on the list of people I wanted to talk to was this group, the “Peaceful Terrorists” (my label, not theirs):

Instead of talking you through that weird interview, you can listen for yourself. Bottom line up front is that these guys’ signs had to do with supporting war resisters, but their chants were about “racist wars”. The group was a bunch of college students of the SDS from Kennesaw State University.

After that interview, we noticed a large group of SDS students gathering across the street of Constitution. They were tightly huddled and we decided to get the scoop and that core group. We approached the group and listened in on their hate speech. We didn’t listen long, because it didn’t take long to figure out their intent. “Stay together until we get to the Pentagon. It’s important that we keep tight. We’ve got shield, sticks and everything we need. When we get to the Pentagon, we’ll break away and come back here. That’s when the real fun will begin. If anyone gets in your way or tries to arrest you, headbutt them.” That’s all I needed to hear. We made a b-line to the nearest police officers and relayed the message to the Sergeant and Police Captain. The shields they carried were 55-gallon drums cut in half with the tops and bottoms removed, much like riot shields.

SDS Anarchists arming for combat.

In Part III, I take you to the march itself and all the fanatic actions on BOTH sides. I also break the news on perhaps the single most unnoticed reason behind the “success” behind the long march to the Pentagon. You will only get this breaking news on ASP. I’ll also give you the link to ALL my photos from the event. See ya tomorrow.