In its August 12 edition, The Pueblo Chieftain published a guest editorial in which the author, Don Bendell, stated that if the United States were to withdraw from Iraq it would mean that “we ... have been defeated by a bunch of heathens who beat women at whim, decapitate prisoners, don't use toilet tissue and kill innocents but then cleverly manipulate our own naive media to portray themselves as the victims, so that our plastic Hollywood geniuses or some greedy left-wing industrialists will try to hold hands and be their friends.”

The Chieftain identified Bendell as a resident of Cañon City and veteran of the Army Special Forces who is “the author of 24 books with over 1,500,00 [sic] copies in print worldwide” and a “1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame.” The Chieftain also indicated that Bendell's column was the "[f]irst of two parts."

Earlier in his column, after stating, “Years ago, Uncle Sam turned into Big Brother” but now “has become Big Smother,” Bendell complained, “We are smothered by taxes, strangled by regulations and suffocated by the leadership of a multiheaded, beady-eyed dragon, which has been castrated and had its heart removed.”

From Don Bendell's guest editorial, “Anti-war politicians surrender nation's freedoms,” in the August 12 edition of The Pueblo Chieftain:

Years ago, Uncle Sam turned into Big Brother, but now it is no longer Big Brother. It has become Big Smother.

We are smothered by taxes, strangled by regulations and suffocated by the leadership of a multiheaded, beady-eyed dragon, which has been castrated and had its heart removed.

I wore a Green Beret and fought for the principles of freedom and justice, the very foundation upon which our nation was built, and now two of my sons also wear Green Berets and serve for those same principles. But none of us fought for the burden of intrusion or for federal regulations filled with esoteric legalese.

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We are, “One nation under God,” but many of our pseudo-leaders think our motto is, “One nation under the thumb of Beltway lawyers, lobbyists, and legislators.” No thanks.

I actually prefer being “under God” with my own free will. That is why God gave me free will, as well as a brain and two hands. Washington politicians did not do that for me. But I am very surprised they have not demanded the amputation and immediate mailing in of three or four of my fingers. And before you tell me there is no God, I tell you, “God does not believe in atheists, so therefore atheists do not exist.”

Regarding the Global War on Terrorism, specifically Iraq and Afghanistan, if you must get into a fight, any fight, you win, period. Any other scenario is surrender.

Try any rose-colored glasses you choose, but there is simply no other way to paint that picture. Pull out of Iraq and we, the United States of America, have been defeated by a bunch of heathens who beat women at whim, decapitate prisoners, don't use toilet tissue and kill innocents but then cleverly manipulate our own naive media to portray themselves as the victims, so that our plastic Hollywood geniuses or some greedy left-wing industrialists will try to hold hands and be their friends.

If we pull out and simply give up because it is too tough, then we will have become a nation of cowards. Want to pass that on to the grandkids? I sure don't.

No matter how hard we wish, we have only two choices: We can either fight the fanatical jihadists here on our soil, or we can fight them in some other countries overseas, but we must fight them and defeat them, because they will not stop attacking and killing us until we do.

We cannot appease them, reason with them, or coexist with them. That is totally against their religious dictums, and they believe killing us gets them into paradise.

We must win or we will perish. There is no other way. The foundation of Dar el Islam, the Nation of Islam, is to spread Islam worldwide. Borders do not count. The pre-Seventh Century mindset of al-Qaida is to destroy all Christians and Jews.