Sports

‘WIPE OUT THE TERRORISM!’ WAR HERO FELLER CALLS FOR REVENGE

HE SPEAKS the truth without regard to how it will be interpreted by correctoids. Now, more than ever, his is a booming voice of experience. So listen to what Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller has to say and listen very closely.

“They don’t all love us,” Feller said from his home in Gates Mills, Ohio. “We don’t have to make them love us. We just have to make them respect us. The only thing they respect is who has the most guns and knows how to use them. In other words, who has the strongest military. We should never close a military base. We should ring all our enemies with military bases. It’s going to cost a lot of money, but it’s absolutely necessary.”

Feller served his country in the United States Navy for four years during World War II. The first thing he did when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor was contact former prizefighter Gene Tunney, head of physical fitness in the U.S. at the time. Tunney flew to Chicago a couple of days later and swore in Feller at the recruiting station in downtown Chicago.

Feller’s father was dying of brain cancer at the time. No matter, duty called. Feller never saw his father again.

He has decried the scaling back of defense spending in recent years. Most of his words have fallen on deaf ears. It’s not too late to listen to him.

“We’ve had a lack of leadership for the last several years,” Feller said. “These, you might call them barbarians, have taken advantage of that. They have no respect for life. They don’t care. They think it’s an honor to get killed, just like those idiot kamikaze pilots in World War II.”

Feller has faith in generations younger than his, faith they can adjust their lifestyles and make sacrifices they never have made.

“I think it’s a wakeup call for some Baby Boomers to quit thinking about themselves, quit counting their money,” Feller said. “I think the people will respond.”

Feller gave all sports a thumbs-up for shutting down for the weekend.

“I think it’s necessary,” he said. “They talk about sports heroes. I don’t know if there is such a thing. They talk about pressure in sports. After you’ve been in a war where they’re shooting at you and you’re shooting at them, you realize there is no real pressure in sports.”

Feller is an unabashed, self-proclaimed “hawk.”

“I hope they can pin this down, find out the ones harboring these terrorists and wipe them all out,” he said. “Wipe out the ones harboring them.”

Asked if he had more confidence in George W. Bush’s administration than in Bill Clinton’s, Feller interrupted before the question was completed.

“By far, no comparison,” Feller said. “I don’t think Bush is any genius, but he’s smart enough to have some smart, honest and very good people around him. The other guy, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. I do have confidence in this administration. I think we will prevail. I think we’ll get good cooperation. An awful lot of countries had businesses in the World Trade Center and we’ll get cooperation from those countries. Koreans, Chinese, British, Italians, Germans, Russians. They all lost people in that horrendous act.”

Failing surrender, Feller would like to see us, “send in the Delta Force, the paratroopers, the Green Berets, same as what we did in Japan. Tell them if you don’t surrender we’re going to drop one on you and if you don’t like the first one, we’ll send you another.”

Just a week ago, such talk would have sounded so callous. It would have led many to wonder whether this robust man 82 years of age had lost his mind. Now, in the wake of the acts of evil hijackers backed by evil revelers rejoicing in the mass death and destruction of innocent Americans, Feller’s words ring true. Color them red, white and blue. Most of all, listen to them. The rules have changed forever.

Heed the words of a war hero.

“No,” Feller corrected, “heroes are the ones who didn’t come back. I’m just one of the survivors who came back.”

He fought to preserve the freedom now challenged by evil. He’s a hero. If you run into him at one of his card shows, thank him. Most of all, listen to him.