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I have been critical of President Obama's overseas pronouncements apologizing for America, equating our failings to some of the world's most egregious offenses against humanity, and excusing the atrocities of terrorists and dictators as byproducts of America's sins in world affairs.

If he's trying to curry favor in the international community with his equivocation and expressions of shame, he's naive. If he truly believes what he's saying, then I am appalled at his contempt for the nation that elected him to the most powerful position in the world.

His recent statements in Moscow disavowing America's pivotal role in ending the Cold War frustrated me because while he was organizing communities and pursuing his law degree, I was engaged in helping my country fight that war.

I was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1983 to 1992. I reviewed and analyzed our most sensitive intelligence information and briefed senior commanders on the militaristic and murderous actions of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

When Ronald Reagan went against the advice of the State Department and his advisors and declared the Soviet Union "an evil empire," he was condemned by many but I cheered his words because they rang with the authority and clarity of truth. And I wasn't the only one.

Natan Sharansky, the Soviet dissident and human rights activist, was in a Soviet gulag serving 13 years of forced labor when Ronald Reagan uttered those words. While the voices of appeasement in the United States and the West cried out against the provocative words of our "cowboy" President, the reaction in the gulag was markedly different:

"It was the great brilliant moment when we learned that Ronald Reagan had proclaimed the Soviet Union an Evil Empire before the entire world. There was a long list of all the Western leaders who had lined up to condemn the evil Reagan for daring to call the great Soviet Union an evil empire right next to the front-page story about this dangerous, terrible man who wanted to take the world back to the dark days of the Cold War. This was the moment. It was the brightest, most glorious day. Finally a spade had been called a spade. Finally, Orwell's Newspeak was dead. President Reagan had from that moment made it impossible for anyone in the West to continue closing their eyes to the real nature of the Soviet Union.

"It was one of the most important, freedom-affirming declarations, and we all instantly knew it. For us, that was the moment that really marked the end for them, and the beginning for us. The lie had been exposed and could never, ever be untold now. This was the end of Lenin's "Great October Bolshevik Revolution" and the beginning of a new revolution, a freedom revolution--Reagan's Revolution.

"We were all in and out of punishment cells so often--me more than most--that we developed our own tapping language to communicate with each other between the walls. A secret code. We had to develop new communication methods to pass on this great, impossible news. We even used the toilets to tap on."

When Sharansky was asked if Ronald Reagan was responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union, he said simply, "yes." He went on to say:

"Ronald Reagan had both moral clarity and courage. He had the moral clarity to understand the truth, and the courage both to speak the truth and to do what needed to be done to support it. There was more to Reagan than rhetoric...

"Reagan's great strength was his optimistic faith in freedom and that every human being deserved freedom and that this freedom is a force that can liberate and empower and enrich and ennoble...

"Thanks to Ronald Reagan, to the legacy he leaves behind, we now know that totalitarianism can be beaten and that freedom can come to anyone who wants it."

Powerful words from a man who experienced the evil of the Soviet Union personally and understood the impact of Ronald Reagan's words and deeds in bringing an end to the regime that murdered over 53 million men, women and children beginning with the barbarism of Vladimir Lenin in 1917.

Maybe it's more important to President Obama to be "a fellow citizen of the world" as he proclaimed in Berlin during the campaign.

As Newt Gingrich says, however, "I am not a citizen of the world; I am a citizen of the United States of America." Despite her struggles and failures, America has never stopped striving toward a more perfect union. I have always been proud of my country, and I ask our President to give her the credit she deserves for tearing down that wall.

Ron, your writing is far deserving of a bigger audience as a syndicated columnist in The Jewish World Review, The American Thinker, The American Spectator, Real Clear Politics, Investors Business Daily Editorials, et al. Take the plunge and go for it.

>> newsmagician247

Thursday, July 16, 2009, 12:36 am

Ron, you're asking the impossible. BHO doesn't like America, at least not Her Constitution, Bill of Rights, or the Supreme Courts lack of action when it comes to wealth redistribution (which is curtailed by the aforementioned pesky Constitution). And as a typical liberal/leftist/progressive/statist/whatever-himself, he has an inherent self-loathing that prevents him from liking himself, much less his country.

>> Darn Sillius

Thursday, July 16, 2009, 10:20 am

Well written

>> ROK

Thursday, July 16, 2009, 8:58 pm

I too am a Cold War and Viet Nam veteran. I completely agree with Ron's assessment of mr Obama. He has a total lack of comprehension the effect his remarks will have on this country and the world. God help us.

>> Lewhamm66

Friday, July 17, 2009, 6:44 pm

Ron, excellent writing as usual. As Newsmagician247 said your words needs to be published nationally.

>> jackjr60

Monday, July 20, 2009, 9:49 pm

As a Cold War Veteran I was taken by surprise at President Obama's failure to mention the "Cold Warriors" at all. Then in a followup interview with Fox News he again side stepped the issue when asked directly about the Cold War Veterans. This is a complete turn around from his campaign mentions of support for Cold War veterans. In a letter to a member of the American Cold War Veterans then Senator Obama was in favor and supported a Cold War Victory Medal. Cold War veterans are like the forgotten step-child, stepped on, disregarded and told we are not "veterans". Most of us are unable to collect VA benefits or pensions. We were used, abused and discarded and forgotten. It is time for America to remember and honor these brave and honorable men and women who were there to stem the tide of communism. We stood ready everyday, faced the "bear" and prayed we never heard "the balloon went up".

>> jerry88acwv

Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 12:48 pm