Post by Pennyroyal_Tea (admin) on Jan 1, 2005 19:32:58 GMT -5
Coming on the heels of the WWE's trip to the Middle East, WWE Champion John Bradshaw Layfield saw fit to respond with a letter to Pro Wrestling Torch writer Wade Keller in regards to Keller's column "Next Year Entertain the Troops and Keep the Politics Out of It" where Keller wants WWE to leave Vince McMahon's political views out of their trips to the Middle East. Here is JBL's letter and the link to the page below.
www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_11276.shtml
Mr. Keller,
I am having trouble with my internet connection over here, I am not sure if the e-mail I sent you went through, so I will try another. I am still in Afghanistan visiting our soldiers, I do this every year with the SMA and the USO, I stayed after everyone left to go home. I am sure you didn't know that because I try to make sure the media doesn't cover it.
I was looking on the Internet to see our ratings, and I saw your column. I wanted to respond.
You are wrong about how much the soldiers get to watch the media on TV. Every mess hall has a TV along with every rec center and gym. They get to see more news than a lot of us do, mainly FOX but also CNN.
Your take on Vince I respectfully believe was wrong. The media has done a bad job of covering the war. They all sit in a hotel in Baghdad reporting the news. They might as well be in Des Moines, I saw no reporters in any FOBs (forward operating bases), and there were no reporters on the ground in Afghanistan. The troops are very sick of how the war is being portrayed, I know this because I have just spent almost two weeks with them.
The morale is high and all of them have sufficient armor when they leave base. Make no mistake, this is a rotten place, and I believe we could have planned better, but the enemy always has a plan also.
I do not believe it is a liberal bias necessarily, I believe it is a tabloid mentality by the media. What Vince did was good for the troops, remember he spent a lot of his money and the company's money to come here, a lot of people who talk about what he did have not been here themselves. By the fact he was here should give him some credibility.
You are entitled to your freedom of speech, I firmly believe that. As long as you believe in America, I have no problem with that. Let me clarify, I believe in Freedom of Speech always, but when a person does not believe in America I have a problem with them (I don't feel this applies to you).
Al Franken is over here with me, and he is a very dear friend. We disagree across the board about politics, we do not disagree about our soldiers and about our love for America, we just think it should be run different ways.
Vince did a great thing by bringing the WWE to Iraq, I feel your criticism was unjustifed. Vince is as good of a person as I have ever met, and a great American, I know you may disagree, but I don't. Look at what he has done over here.
I held the hand of a soldier that was hit in the Mosul attack that had lost almost all of his face to burns, he asked to see me because he was a wrestling fan. If I live a thousand lives I will never replicate that moment, Vince was the reason I was there.
I respectfully ask that you take things in a bigger perspective than your own beliefs, I thought what he did was great.
Now you can go back to bashing me as a terrible champion, which is your right.
John Bradshaw Layfield
www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_11276.shtml
Mr. Keller,
I am having trouble with my internet connection over here, I am not sure if the e-mail I sent you went through, so I will try another. I am still in Afghanistan visiting our soldiers, I do this every year with the SMA and the USO, I stayed after everyone left to go home. I am sure you didn't know that because I try to make sure the media doesn't cover it.
I was looking on the Internet to see our ratings, and I saw your column. I wanted to respond.
You are wrong about how much the soldiers get to watch the media on TV. Every mess hall has a TV along with every rec center and gym. They get to see more news than a lot of us do, mainly FOX but also CNN.
Your take on Vince I respectfully believe was wrong. The media has done a bad job of covering the war. They all sit in a hotel in Baghdad reporting the news. They might as well be in Des Moines, I saw no reporters in any FOBs (forward operating bases), and there were no reporters on the ground in Afghanistan. The troops are very sick of how the war is being portrayed, I know this because I have just spent almost two weeks with them.
The morale is high and all of them have sufficient armor when they leave base. Make no mistake, this is a rotten place, and I believe we could have planned better, but the enemy always has a plan also.
I do not believe it is a liberal bias necessarily, I believe it is a tabloid mentality by the media. What Vince did was good for the troops, remember he spent a lot of his money and the company's money to come here, a lot of people who talk about what he did have not been here themselves. By the fact he was here should give him some credibility.
You are entitled to your freedom of speech, I firmly believe that. As long as you believe in America, I have no problem with that. Let me clarify, I believe in Freedom of Speech always, but when a person does not believe in America I have a problem with them (I don't feel this applies to you).
Al Franken is over here with me, and he is a very dear friend. We disagree across the board about politics, we do not disagree about our soldiers and about our love for America, we just think it should be run different ways.
Vince did a great thing by bringing the WWE to Iraq, I feel your criticism was unjustifed. Vince is as good of a person as I have ever met, and a great American, I know you may disagree, but I don't. Look at what he has done over here.
I held the hand of a soldier that was hit in the Mosul attack that had lost almost all of his face to burns, he asked to see me because he was a wrestling fan. If I live a thousand lives I will never replicate that moment, Vince was the reason I was there.
I respectfully ask that you take things in a bigger perspective than your own beliefs, I thought what he did was great.
Now you can go back to bashing me as a terrible champion, which is your right.
John Bradshaw Layfield