Peaceful existence with everyone else. Then other group wants sharia law. Host you quote contrary to public misconception islam does not mean peace but rather submission to the commands of allah. Guest what we tried to do is show the people who actually do believe if i said to you, lets go take on the nazis. And you insisted it wasnt about nationalism or socialism you would just say these people are crazy. Well, i dont get to their ideaology and stop them. Hitler was crazy but a lot of people based their understanding of socialism. People in denmark are nazis are they . They were National Socialist and it was that combination that brought us the nazi world. Doesnt make every socialist a nazi. We have to find the people calling for our death, quoting the koran and say we are about islam. We cannot deny what they say. If you want to defeat them you have to know them. Host this is part of your control series. What is that . Guest we did a book on the Second Amendment then we did one on common core. Trying to correct some of the information out there. It is not a series that is not a lot of my opinion in this. This is the facts. We try to make them in paper back and small so people can carry it with them. Well, one of the things you did in this bock, it is about islam, you listed 13 lies about islam in the book. And number five was america is safe from sharia law. Guest its not. We have a court case in the book from new jersey where a judge ruled that he could have sex with his wife even though she said no because it was his religious right to do so. And the judge sighted with him. We dont have two standards of law. And where i live down in texas just outside of dallas the City Council Just voted and it was a 54 decision, it almost passed, and what the resolution was we only respect american laws. And texas laws. That is it. We are respecter of no other laws. That almost didnt pass. And the reason why is there is a Muslim Community there, some of them are muslim brotherhood, and they are setting up their own Little Council to be able to work with the people in their religion as the arb arbitration of two sets of laws. Host in your new home state of texas you had an event. The mohammed cartoon contest is happening. What is your take on that . Guest should that happen . Yeah, it is america, i guess. I am not a fan of it. I am an ultimate freedom guy. I believe we all have the right to do things. Should we do it . No, she is trying to prove a point that you could get killed by doing that. I think we all know that. I think the push back on her was obscene but i didnt attend nor would i have attended. But you have the right to do it. Should you . Probably not. But with that being said i respect the fact there are some things we better wake up to and that is what i think the ultimate goal was here. Was wake up america. There are people. It was about five years ago that you held a rally down on the National Ball in washington and that they planned for the future. Any similar events . I do. It is kind of on lists and im greatly concerned about a couple of things. 1i dont have any answers militarily or anything else for the middle east. Thats a mess. You cant export our freedom and bring it to people who dont want it. But, on the other hand, we have a genocide that is going on. I had one of the rabbis come to my office in texas and asked me, im a big supporter and ive been crying out about the anti semitism. Now things like things are starting to happen and people are starting to wake up. He came to my office right after france did he said glenn, we do me a favor . Favor . I need you not to focus so much, please, on just whats happening to the jews. I said, excuse me rabbi. Are you seeing whats happening . He said theyre coming for you first. He said whats happening with isis in the middle east is a genocide. A genocide. This time you guys are getting at first. Im trying to wake the jewish people up to show whats happening to the christians. Im gravely concerned about whats happening there and im also concerned that we have hardened our hearts and i openly admit that i played a role in the divisiveness of our country and thats not good. Im currently going through, this is the only interview and im giving a speech tonight, and i hope to not be speaking to as much. You can hear my voice, its a little rocky. Ive been having some issues with my voice and other Health Issues for the last five years and that kind of clarifies things. That puts you into perspective when you think you may not speak again. You may not have long to work or live. What are you doing with your life . And its clarifying. We are, any role i have played, im trying to make up for. We for. We are in a very dangerous situation where we are not seeing people as people anymore. Someone asked me this morning, whats your take on bruce jenner . Whats the societal answer for that . Do you want to be bruce jenner . How would you feel if you live your whole life that way. I dont know what to say. I dont think society knows what to say and how to deal with it but i think and hope we all have compassion for the man and we all can say i dont necessarily think he is a woman. I think hes a man or i do think hes a woman, but we can all look at him and agree and say we have to have compassion and heart for one another. Whats happening in the middle east, no one is paying attention. These are innocent children, women and in the book we talk about nineyearold girls being slip sold into into slavery. 9yearold girls for 170. Does anybody care about that . How about the homosexuals were being thrown off holdings are ripped apart or stoned to death in a rand . A war on gays . Yes with isis and iran. We are at at and a negotiating table saying they are normal and can coexist with western society. Not while your killing may gays. Not while your stoning women to death and crucifying children. No, i dont think so. I dont have a political answer or a military answer, but i do have this, we better have this, we better Start Connecting with one another. We better start standing up, stop worrying about your rights, lets worry about our responsibilities to protect the rights of other people. Lets stop worrying about us. Lets start worrying about the person most unlike you. You know, i went to new york and i called a meeting with the head people about four months ago. They were shocked. It was uncomfortable, you know. Know. We dont have a lot to talk about. Even though, i am for gay marriage, i believe the government doesnt have a right to be in your life and tell you anything about marriage, so in that way im for gay marriage. Religiously, im not. But thats my decision. My world is my world in your world is your world. We sat down and i said, can we stop talking about weddings. How about about we stand together for whats happening in russia where they are now taking drivers license away from homosexual and saying that is a mental disorder. How about we stand up against that. How about we stand up against isis and those in iran and saudi arabia, those all across the middle east who are killing people. Let stand together. So this august down in birmingham alabama, where the last civil right movement started, im asking people to come together of all different faith and belief in all different walks of life that can say, you know why, my political interest may differ from you, but my principles are the same. We have to stop talking about interests and Start Talking about principles. On saturday the 29th we are going to have a march on the same street that Martin Luther king did. I believe i have bruce graham, Billy Grahams daughter joining me on the other arm and we have thousands of pastors coming from all over of all different religions and people coming from all over, and then were going to start putting that into action. I believe its time for people of all walks of life to stand up and raise their hand and say, you know know what, we have to stop the hatred. We have to stop, we have to stop jamming our points of view down other peoples throat and start seeing people for other human beings again. The easiest one we can unite unite on are those people in the middle east. The the muslim who arent muslim enough, the gays, the christians and the women who are being crucified. Lets start there on an easy one and stand together and say lets stand against that. Anything significant about august 28 and 29th . Yes, august 28 is the anniversary of Martin Luther kings i have a dream speech we didnt pick that intentionally five years ago. I announced it and five minutes after announcing the New York Times said, tweeted out glenn back takes Martin Luther king. I thought geez, how can i not know that. But that. But now we are embracing it. Islam is not much different than christianity or judaism. Its radically different. The biggest difference is it doesnt have a reformation. If you dont have a reformation you are still living in the stone age. There are people who want to reform islam but the law doesnt allow you to take whatever the common consensus is. So if if all the scholars say no, this is who we are, they can kill you for trying to reform. I mean this sounds very barbaric but it sounds like christianity 1000 years ago. Weve had our reformation. There are great muslims who want their reparation but its not happening. By us denying that there is the struggle within islam, were hurting the reformers. We are we are trapping them in stone age. Glenn back, you have 25 books under your belt. I dont know. What is your writing writing process . It depends. I put this one to bed the same time i put another one to bed. I have another book thats coming out and its very different. This is almost like jon stewart, how john stuart rights. I set up a table and i said these are the things i want to focus on. Thats why we start really with the if you dont understand that islam, isis and the republic of iran believe that the end times are upon us, if i said that as a christian, hey, jesus is coming back, everyone would say i was crazy. If i said jesus is coming back and to help him come back, even more crazy. Jesus is coming back and im in a help him come back by causing chaos around the world and killing people around the world now im dangerously psychotic but because its a protected islam saying it no one pays attention to it. Or maybe we have such a low standard for the people in the middle east that we think it doesnt really matter, but they believe they are on the verge of armageddon and its their job to bring it upon us. So i set the table and i say, i want to find out all the details and get the best quality we can and oversee that and then we put the bet book together. The other style of book is one done entirely by me. And that is the example is the immortals. That that will not be its name when it comes out but its due at christmas time. Do at christmas time. We have an unbelievable community. There is a deeply passionate, underserved and misunderstood group of people in america that will recognize america in a different way than they may have ten or 15 years ago. They will recognize that we as a nation have made mistakes. We we as a nation are currently making mistakes. That may be people like me who saw war in 2002, now and under bush, very antiwar. We have woken up and thats the community that we serve. That is a great, really solid group of people. Would you like to see president obama or president whoever, what would you like to see them do about boko haram, isis, al qaeda . I dont know. I mean, we are in such a bad state right now. We have fumbled so badly that im not sure. Im certainly not in commander qualified enough. My gut is that at some point we will have to deal with it. I dont, im offended that our military is still over there. Im offended because most americans dont even know where they are, what theyre doing or more importantly, why they are doing it. Why. Why are we killing people today . For what . For what, really . If we really mean were going to stop isis, unfortunately that means youre going to have to do things like we did in world war ii. Youre going to have to raise the flag just like we did in germany. Do you have a stomach for that . I dont think the American People have a stomach for that and i dont want to kill another person until we know what it is. Why are we killing people . I dont know. I did in 2002. I lost it about 2006. Im completely baffled now. Stop, bring our troops home. Were going to have to go back but only when we know and have the balls to say who the enemy really is. Thats the enemy and there is no compromise. There is no well they had a hard time. No they are are psychotic killers. Just like the nazis. Killers. Wended the fumbling start . Oh, early on. They are trying to nation build in afghanistan. Right from the start. That is that is not our job. Youre never going to take and bring our republic to people in afghanistan who dont necessarily even know what it is or want it. What are we doing . What are we doing . We should have gone in, got the bad guys and got out. I think the best thing america should do is when we fight a war, we know exactly what were doing. We know know exactly who we are after, what a win looks like, make it fast, make people walk away and say dont ever mess with those guys because theyll take you down and they will not ever rebuild that you. Thats not our job. We dont want to go to war and we dont want to rebuild you either. You either. You do your thing will do our thing. We talk to an author yesterday and he said in his view, saudi arabia is a powder cake waiting to explode. Oh my god. Saudi arabia, i cant believe there are allies. Thats the biggest problem we have as a country in the world. Would you want to be friends with us . Do you know what we stand for . I dont. I dont. I know know what our constitution stands for, but i dont know what our parties stand for, i dont know what our government stands for. I know what our people do. Our people generally vote republican, democrat, independent. Its all pretty good. But government tends to stand for power and money and control, but thats not america. When we get into bed with saudi arabia or lubar eric, where are our principles there . We are going to send them over there for prison for torture because we dont torture. Thats insane. If youre standing there and your loved one has been put into the prison by the United States, what you think of the United States . Are they the freedom loving guys . No. We dont apparently give a flying crap about anything but us. We have to have principles. When have to have principles. When i hear politicians on both sides talk about well, its in our National Interest, our National Interest can change. Our National Interests do change all the time. My interest this morning was to have a big stack of waffles. My interest right now is not so much. They change. What are your principles . Nobody talks about our principles anymore and because we dont even know our principles, what you think the rest of the world thinks . Of course they want to kill us. What if they do. We are part of the problem. Were you believe that homosexuals shouldnt be killed. Do do we do anything about it . Nope. We believe women have the right to vote and drive cars. Are we doing anything about it . Nope who are we . I was in texas. What about that . Texas seems to be america to thousand two. Its asleep. Its asleep and it thinks it can weather the storm. It thinks it can, but its texas. They have a thousand people from california alone moving into texas every single day. I had a meeting with 200 ceos that have moved their companies to texas and i said now, you, you know why you moved your company to texas, but do your employees know . Have you made a point to tell your employees we could no longer do business in new jersey , we could no longer do business in california. No. You just moved to texas. All the employees come and they say i like texas but i really liked california. They will vote for the same thing and it will fundamentally change texas. Do you expect another 911 . Yes, i think its only a matter of time before we are gravely attacked. I dont think be necessarily like 911. My worst fear, that is what america should be worried about. That is Something Like them. I dont think everyone realizes, especially with grease and everything else, we just asked them to remember what they felt on september 11. We all felt the same thing. Oh same thing. Oh my gosh, this is fragile. It has been 15 years of taking a beating. Our country has taken a beating over over the past 15 years, financially, morally, politically and spiritually. We cant keep doing this. Somebody is going to take advantage and i think there is a lot of people who want to take advantage of this time. If we dont heal ourselves we will fall. Lincoln was right. It wont come from the outside, it will have to be national suicide. I think the outside hitting us when we are so divided, national suicide. The books soldier girls. It was part of the book festival held earlier this year. She also served as the first o [inaudible conversations] afte san antonio book festival private executive director and i am happy to be here with you and helen thorpe to discuss her terrific book soldier girls the battles of three women at home and at war before we begin barnes noble is selling books upstairs in the atrium up the escalator and she will sign in the reference area at 1 30 p. M. After this. And those to germinate in dash donate the portion of sales and we have reserved audience questions for the last seven minutes please turn off your cellphone. A seasoned journalist and author, helen thorpe born in london group in new jersey now living in denver. It has appeared in the New York Times magazine York Magazine you och the new yorker and Harpers Bazaar and on this American Life from the mid90s your 2,000 rare the subject ever stories range from drug cartel and her five tour first book published 2005 just like us follows girl surmise going to college to show the personal side of American Immigration law. Her current book soldier girls also looks at what american women face when they go to combat shed details lies of three women from deployment and back home again. How did you choose a subject and how did you find the women that you profiled . It is wonderful to be back in texas. When i was beginning this project started with a question that dictated to i chose to write about. The question on my mind did not have to do with being a favorite it a female soldier or a woman in the military but i do that many veterans struggled after a deployment to settle back into their lives at home and i was wondering what the struggle was about provide thought i wanted to understand it better and if many of us could understand that transition better and the challenges. But if you have a question like that on your mind, and then i thank you find people who are struggling after a deployment and that is what happened in this case i interviewed a couple dozen different veterans at was the story of desma brooks one of the three women who takes over toward the end there really is her struggle that struck me as the story that i wanted to write about. A single mother who day playtimes deployed two times with three children and the last time was transferred into a previously all mail unit were she was the driver of a gun and try she trained to do is supply and logistics she is a National Guard soldier never envisioned overseas deployments is very dangerous work and all kinds of things happen to her and she did struggle as she came back to resume her role as a parent. That is how i settled on these three women but there are many different stories that could be written because depending on your question you would tell a different persons story and with military trucks we are used to heros you are in the thick of combat and they are typically meant. Men so for those said dont fit that stereotype of who you might find inside the pages there almost antihe rose they are humble and do support work and train to be support personnel so in some ways they are different of your hero but i thought there very heroic. Theyre also very human. So while the book is about the military there are sharply john portraits and it is the good thing to describe each of the women. How did you get them to be so open and honest . They share amazing internet details and a you conducted a lot of interviews but they gave the military record and its batteries and emails and opened up the Facebook Post for i am curious how that came about. It took awhile. One of the things that i love about these three women is how different they are from one another. It is a little startling. Maybe they never would have been friends except they deployed together. Machel is the youngest of the three. She is very unusual as a soldier in that she describes herself as a leftleaning pot smoking hippie to me. She was 18 when she insisted the spring of 2001 and all she wanted was College Tuition and research and she never wanted to be a soldier the schumer join the National Guard to be a parttime soldier just for the parttime College Tuition benefits she was sure she would never go to war because the National Guard never deployed. Then of course, well she was in training and 11 happened and she did understand right away maybe that commitment would be much bigger than what she envisioned. When she goes overseas she becomes very close to two other women and their political beliefs are the opposite of hers. So in the fall she voted not to al gore or george bush but ralph nader says she is pretty sure nobody else was a supporter like she was. The woman who she is sharing a tent with voted for bush and during the daytime when she is working with an older woman the oldest roman in the National Guard unit to debbie did not vote at all because she doesnt trust politicians and doesnt want anything to do with politics so yet another point of view that was very different. Debbie was not originally chosen to go on deployment and was upset but michelle would have to add anything not to go but debbie argued her way on to the deployment because our father was in the army she always wanted to serve her country overseas into her it was the most fulfilling moment of her life when they said yes you may go on the deployment. She worked as a beautician and a beauty salon in indiana and she found the ada to put on a uniform every day to serve her country far more exciting and filling. And closer to her dream. So even to the question of how if they support the 04 there were i in totally different sides. But then your question was around how is it come about they would share so much about their experiences. We did almost four years of interviews. We got to know each other over time so when day came back already from both appointments and then they went to a rack and we did many interviews i just feel we need details from the actual moment in time to supplement your memories. There are rich but the emotional reality that i cannot see where we are in time. But can you help me find more details . They found the things like photographs for visual descriptions, and desma found all the days newsletters the officer had distributed from a there was said to the Weather Report so some of the big surprises was the letters machel had written because she did not have them herself and or if she could recover them. So when she deployed she was 21 and had just fallen in love for the first time in her life it was so hard to the the person behind she was in love with she started to write him letters there were heartfelt but the same time righty to her parents thought they were cheerful to tell them she was fine sushi comes from the unusual family from a difficult family background for parents had split up when she was shown six times that for women and in and out of jail, her mom move to a lot but did anybody keeps the letters . He lived in a Party Trailer and he was in and out of trouble arrested for letting somebody make methamphetamine in the Party Trailer. But there they were every batter from her training or end her life starting with a valentines day card when she was seven. She meant the world to him and he saved everything which actually met the great deal to michelle and her boyfriend is saved all the letters in a shoebox and gave those to us even though theyve broken up as many years had gone by so it was amazing for me as an author but also for michelle but i think having voices come to life is important it was meaningful. Intimate portrait of these three women. So to expose themselves that way there are dire reissues diary issues that she had a drinking problem and revealed that. And the medical records become important later on. Why do you feel this was important. Can do feel they are vulnerable. The deployment was so hard. They needed there p to help grapple with posttraumatic stress and she shared those there prenotes. She just candid we heard tire military record and a certain point to say i know you want to verify everything but the whole story is right here. So she handed over the six diaries. Said to have a chance to read that manuscript because i want them to see how much they had turned over. Head that was very surprised they could have been too revealing but they did not hesitate where debbie said you cannot write about where were reaching for of entering or dont use that there be session. They felt very strongly to watch some fellow veterans to not make that transition and successfully at. To share all of their difficulties, when i was writing of the civilian audience for those who had never deployed to understand why it is hard to come home what that was like they had in mind and a different audience. To have the much harder time than they had. Theyre wanted to share everything so another veteran would know they were not alone. Obviously a very big theme in the book and upon their return although they had the equivalent of a desk job they did suffer ptsd. But to talk about the hierarchy of suffering and michelle would feel guilty she was struggling the issue with that fellow soldiers who had much more difficult experience of combat and that was not fair. There is a particular passage that michelle is the young guest that was a Ralph Nader Fe and. I would love to read that. The indiana National Guard primarily consist of infantry units were in transition and still today pet and a support infantry soldiers so supporting the infantry a good job choices are to do laundry and cook and field sanitation to empty toilet san drive trucks to bury the dead or fix the weapons. Supply and the of logistics. Debbie, of the oldest have chosen to become weapons mechanics. But did micheles case thinking it is a savory best man driving a truck so weapons mechanic. Is in debbies case she loves guns and could outshoot most of the men on the range as a perfect shot. She really wanted to work on weapons. Working in afghanistan with the ak47 but they were not working on american weapons because they were not breaking azov did not or often enough to keep the team busy so they were deployed to help the Afghan National army. That is unusual to work on the ak47. And while we were doing that to be that desk job to keep track of all the words to order spare parts that is really different that coming back from the first appointment that although they have not seen combat is the moment to transition. So part of what happens so with previous conflicts a period of transition with the current conflict you jump on the plane and home 24 hours later it is a very abrupt transition so michelle is getting ready to fulfill her dream and now she gets to use those College Tuition dollars to go to university of Indiana University so her boyfriend to the issue was writing the love letters to a companys tour although on the deployment she had an affair and confessed this and they had broken up but nonetheless he is helping her get ready. To get ready for school because he is an incredibly nice human being. They went to a target because everything is the show needed cleaning supplies, shampoo and with a paper inside she grew edgy and slowed to a halt and there was a lot of kinds of to a paper. How you choose . She thought of the toilet paper they used in afghanistan in remember giving one roll to the afghan workers and how he considered it to a grand luxury. This is what the war is about . In new that al qaeda had established trading cams but could not fathom the work theyre doing why it is necessary to invade iraq for in the pledge it one dash present loaded form to signify a she had broken ak47s often she had a hard time to state and the president and standing in target. Stay here i will be back. Panic. A sense of hearing dropped and her heart thudded in her chest she could have justified in rational terms something fantastically and this with a store that sold 25 cars a tour the paper how could this level of abundance be acceptable given the poverty she had seen on the other side of the glove . So to see it was literally abandoned by a nameless danger. Im having a panic attack she managed to say get me out of here. So the book tackles women in day in combat. With their stress on david lives and relationships or when they come back home. So that overall take away is much greater. So to tell the stories of these three women. What i was hoping to address what i wanted to were two Different Things there was a Huge Division in our society i saw to authors pocket who have written books but their books are an amazing and i hope to have a chance to check them out there speaking later this afternoon at 3 30 p. M. A guy was hoping to redress of gulf between the civilian mind frame and those between military experience. Ive put myself in the kiev of those who dont understand what the military deployment is about i have no background and neither does anybody in my family. I found it disturbing we could go through a decade of for and i could be so cut off. I wanted to understand what veterans were living author to write a book to enable other people to get some feeling for what it was like. That drove my desire for material but a reader who has not gone into afghanistan or iraq needs a sensory experience to put themselves there and feel the recipient that creeps into your clothes and the pages of your notebook rand your bed sheets and is in your food to begin to feel what it could be like. But i felt strongly that if my tax dollars were going to peoples salaries to send them off to war then what is this like . It should not be borne by those that ask but those that do the asking as well and should be carrying that story. The reason it is so hard as they are coming back and enjoy a reality where nobody knows what their living through or nobody can understand. Had a certain point michelle speaks to a family member. She says this is my sister michelle she just got back from iraq and mitchell says i was in afghanistan. I think that is the lovable of disconnect. Yes. Is hard with two wars fought at the same time and you wonder where fallujah is. And it is hard to keep track on the map but it is important. Is good to have fellow authors writing about the same subject i feel it is in the fiction or the forever war they come out after the conflict is in the book you can really feel what it is like the News Coverage people were trying but it was hard to convey the reality and there is a whole canon of books being written now to convey that experience. But in some ways as much a friendship between these three women and at the onset i did not think i want to write about female friendship, but really that is the heart of the book as much as anything. We have time for some questions. Does anyone have any questions . This is one of never author is. You had mentioned it you didnt have any family in the military. Did you feel you didnt have a right to to write about that . Very much. It was hard to feel legitimate at the end of all the research i think my editor tricks me to
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