Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Inc.
P.O. Box 270143
Hartford, WI 53027
Phone (800) 869-1884
Fax (425) 451-3959
TRANSCRIPT
JPFO:
Joining us today is Terry Riebling, the author of a new book – Sniper’s Eyes from the well known publisher, Greg Pugh, owner of Accurate Press.
Terry, if you don’t mind we will get right into the book and what I think our members and supporters would like to know about you – and the book.
Terry:
Thank you Aaron, it’s a real pleasure being offered the opportunity to speak to so many people who understand what is needed if we are to remain free people.
Question:
The weapons and tactics in the book seem to be unusually accurate and detailed. How much research did you do to get these details correct?
The research took me about fifty years – I started shooting seriously when I was a young boy. I have been blessed by friends and family who have been shooters and hunters, and who have survived in war – and in those short spaces between wars that we call “peacetime”, through the use of firearms.
More than a few members of my real and extended family are active or retired CIA, SEALS, Special Forces, Marine Corps, FBI, or operating agents in other branches of service. I have learned from all of them – and can never thank them enough for their kindness.
But I’m not an armchair observer; I have been a competitive shooter for thirty years, a hunter and reloader for longer, and – although some people believe that we are free because we have firearms I go one step further – I KNOW that the ONLY freedom possible is the result of a well armed population capable of using those arms effectively. If you want to debate that statement I ask that you go watch JD Jones shoot before you question why we are free.
I have pointed out to the gun-banning crowd several times that there is one argument which they can’t and will not even debate.
In the United States we have somewhere close to 50,000,000 people who go hunting. These folks have their own firearms, clothing for all seasons, ammunition, and all other gear and accoutrement needed to hunt very wary, highly evolved game animals which are unquestionably adept at avoiding and hiding from contact with people. These gun owners and hunters are trained well enough to track, find, shoot, eviscerate, drag home and eat these wary game animals.
Just imagine the reaction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of any nation when some lunatic despot suggests that his armed forces invade the US –
I offer the following:
Despot: “General, we are a well armed nation, our forces are well trained, our armed forces, with those of our friends number greater than those of America , it is time to exercise our jihad, to take America for ourselves.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Mr. President – The Americans have 50 million people who are hunters – these people are armed, ready to use their weapons at a moments notice because their weapons are all in their homes. They EACH have all of the gear that allows them to spend days in cold or heat, in difficult terrain, and they have all learned or taught themselves to be able to hit a five by five inch – or much smaller - target at 100 meters repeatedly.
There is also a group of these people who spend their own money and time to drive to some place called Williamsport , Pennsylvania and shoot at 1,000 meters. To these people this is fun – and there are many of these people in America .
In addition there are another many millions who have fired rifles, pistols, revolvers, shotguns, and even bows and arrows. They may not be experts but they have access to firearms and will defend themselves with lethal force against us.
Mr. President, even if we annihilate the entire US armed forces we’re going to get our ass kicked.
Then I point out to the leftos that they don’t pay one penny in taxes to support all of us who own firearms, cares for their firearms, trains constantly, reloads in order to be better able to strike our targets at any distance, and in fact we are the ONLY FORCE on earth that can keep them free! Then I ask for a $500.00 donation to help defray the cost of my reloading and shooting!- So far I have not seen a penny – but they do begin to have a glimmer of understanding of why those of us who choose to be armed are the only guarantee of their rights and freedom.
Sorry for going off on a tangent but it is worth repeating – freedom is only possible to an armed, vigilant population.
Question:
In the blurbs on the back cover of the book is one by a well known film producer. Will a movie be made of “Sniper’s Eyes”?
Terry:
I have been blessed, fortunate to have friends in high places. Although I am very busy writing the second book, “Sniper’s Eyes - The Breath of Allah”, working on a three non-fiction book projects, and a book of poetry, I am really excited by the potential of the film being made. In fact I have already put the cart before the horse and cast the film – on paper - and will be sending copies of the book to some of my friends in high places hoping that they can get the book to the agents of the directors, producers, actors, and all the other people that will be involved in developing the project. God willing the film will be made before more ridiculuos “gun laws” are forced down our throats.
Question:
There have been many books written about the threat of bio-terrorism. Last week the movie, “War of the Worlds”, perhaps the first bio-weapon novel written, was released with all of the traditional fan-fare of a Hollywood block-buster. What makes Sniper’s Eyes different from those books?
Answer:
Without sounding as if I am denigrating any of those interesting, exciting books, it is simply a fact that that type of book is written to entertain, and scaring the pants off of the reader is an important ingredient in any thriller. Make believe thrillers miss the point entirely.
Bacteria that eats off your face, or other body parts, turn everyone into a zombie, or any of the other dire consequences used in these books ARE entertaining; unfortunately they make us believe that there is ALWAYS a “cure” for the deadly diseases used to drive the plot and keep the reader reading.
As you pointed out, the movie “War of the Worlds”, once again, provides us with the perfect premise – and escape from our own individual responsibility for our own survival - we don’t need to do anything but run and God – or our own, built-in biological defense systems – will save us. It is all in the luck of the draw. But this is purile fiction. If we continue to stick our heads in the sand, act like sheep or victims, we will end up dead. No matter how hard we pray – or hope that someone will save us - the real biological weapons which our enemies have – or will have very, very soon will not be so neatly and easily neutralized.
Question:
On the inside flap of “Sniper’s Eyes” there is a sentence, which says that “Sniper’s Eyes” will scare you, thrill you, and ultimately, warn you…” What is the warning?
At the core of the book is the development of plasmids. Plasmids are a very real threat, perhaps the most horrific biological threat to come along in hundreds of years – or in history. I will not go into detail here because the book deals with the science in depth.
I will say that Sniper’s Eyes is a warning about our future, the future form of warfare, and what we must do to protect ourselves.
Bio-terrorism is the ONLY means which the enemies of freedom and liberty can actually – GAINFULLY - use to destroy human life – while allowing the infrastructure – our farms, technology, manufacturing facilities, etc. to remain fully functional and, in most cases, fully operational within a few weeks following the plasmids attack.
We all need to begin to understand that plasmids, and other bio-weapons such as the bio-weapon used in the second book in the Sniper’s Eyes series – The Breath of Allah – are the most deadly threat in the history of the world. This is the warning that is withn the pages of the book.
Question:
Do you mean to say that bio-terrorism is a greater global threat than nuclear weapons?
Answer:
Absolutely! As a boy, and even today, I have listened and watched our television and radio media tell us about who, where, and how advanced the “nuclear threat” has become. Frankly, I think that the reality of international political leverage and the real threat to any nation’s survival has been obfuscated for far too long. But perhaps there are several reasons for this so perhaps I will go into more detail than is welcome, but to understand where we are going we must understand where we have been, and some of the enormous complexity of the problem our leaders – and we - face.
First, we need to understand that the development of even a fledgling nuclear capability is necessary to the development of any modern nation. The technology and infrastructure needed to develop and maintain a nuclear capacity drives the development of every other element of the infrastructure of the nation which is developing a nuclear capacity.
To build nuclear weapons and delivery systems requires that the financial, technological, educational, that all of the infrastructure, from public health to universities and advanced educational facilities, must exist BEFORE the nuclear capacity is possible. I offer as evidence of this thesis the development which is self evident in India , Pakistan , Russia , China , North Korea , and other nations who would be nuclear powers. Just take a look at their entire economy and infrastructure. It remained stagnant for decade after decade – then along came the nuclear development program and WHAM – the entire nation, and national economy – and individual opportunity - changed!
But there is a problem with becoming a member of the “We Have Nukes Club” – Developing nuclear technology requires an infrastructure that costs billions of dollars, is relatively easy for the intelligence community discover and monitor, and can, in fact, only be considered a weapon if the user is willing to destroy themselves should they actually use the weapon. Mutually assured destruction is a fact, not just a slogan. Imagine what would happen if any nation threatened to use, or used, nuclear missiles against the United States , Israel , or any other nation.
If ANY nuclear strike on the US, for example, was of sufficient size to eliminate the ability of the US to annihilate the attacker, the largest producer of food on this fragile planet would not only stop producing food. The United States would be unable to produce edible food for thousands of years – millions of people who recive food grown in the US woul;d starve - and the largest consumer of goods and services provided by the rest of the world would be gone. In this scenario, not even the extremists who are capable of developing a nuclear capability would contemplate the actual use of their weapons – they would be destroying their own source of food, the largest consumer of their own goods and services, and the entire infrastructure needed to grow that food and buy their products for hundreds of generations.
In simple terms it would be like as mob of rioting people burning down a store wirth all of the goods inside the store. A mob wants those goodies for themselves, therefore they don’t burn the store until they have looted it.
For a maniac bent on destroying the United States, or any nation or system of government, to contemplate real action there must be, like the mopb I mentioned, some means of profiting, gaining from the act. Nuclear attack not only kills millions of people, both immediately and in the aftermath of an attack, but also destroys virtually all infrastructure, and certainly eliminates the ability of food to be produced which can be consumed. This scenario clearly is not one which could be contemplated by any nation capable of developing a real nuclear capacity.
Fortunately the very process of developing a nuclear capability changes a society and culture, the infrastructure needed to develop a nuclear weapon and delivery system requires people capable of building cities, providing public health, and, building on this foundation, many specialties which will, perhaps, sooner or later, allow the weapons to be developed. If we look closely at the nations, which have or are developing nuclear capability I believe that it becomes self-evident that as the infrastructure becomes mature enough to build nuclear capabilities the nation itself undergoes an immutable, observable change. People begin to prosper, their lives improve, their technology allows them to participate in a global marketplace – and in subtle, and less than subtle ways, the need, or desire to USE nuclear weapons diminishes. But Sniper’s Eyes isn’t about nuclear proliferation. Sniper’s Eyes is about terrorism and the REAL weapons which can, and unfortunately, will be used against all of us if we don’t stop – absolutely – the ability of ANY nation, even our own nations, to develop them.
Recently Khadaffi chose to surrender all of Libya ’s nuclear technology which he has spent decades developing. Doesn’t this set off any warning bells in our seats of government? I guess not because this “surrender” was hailed far and wide in the media as a triumph of political persuasion and negotiation. I humbly suggest that this is a very loud warning bell. Khadaffi, no matter how much you or I may disagree with his ends, his politics, or his beliefs, is a brilliant man.
He is also a magician – he understands how to distract you with his right hand while his left hand is cutting your throat. Khadaffi is not a terrorist; he is too intelligent to be a terrorist. But he uses terrorists to pursue his goals.
This connection to Khadaffi is too long and complex to discuss here, it began before he was born, but it is explained in Sniper’s Eyes – and, again, will be further expanded upon in the next book “Sniper’s Eyes – The Breath of Allah”.
The bottom line here is simple: the development of a nuclear capability requires all of what I mentioned, billions and billions of dollars, etcetera, and may actually produce exactly the opposite effect desired – a developed nation full of people who are only looking for a better life and who may throw the maniacs out and join the nations who are building a global economy where all people participate in the rewards of freedom.
On the other hand - Bio-terrorism is cheap – VERY cheap – and comparatively easy. It requires only a couple of hundred million dollars, a couple of hundred good scientists, a very small research facility that can be moved easily and quickly, and the desire to kill millions of people while leaving the infrastructure intact and ready for occupation. Imagine, if you will, what Hitler would have accomplished had he been able to kill every man, woman, and child in France , Belgium , England , Russia , Poland . . .in any locale or nation of his choosing – and retain the complete, functioning infratructure of all of those nations. This is the threat, and reality, which we face with bio-terrorism.
And there is one more fact that scares me – and should scare all of us - the delivery system of bio-terror weapons is nothing more than a human body. There are no means possible to detect plasmids within a healthy human being. A terrorist can be injected with plasmids and remain completely healthy for years – until a reagent, say taking an aspirin tablet followed by a 1000 milligram vitamin E tablet and a 500 milligram vitamin B tablet, causes the plasmid to release the chain of diseases which have been implanted in the plasmids within their body.
Hundreds or thousands of “carriers” could be sent across any border, through any and all security check points, and we wouldn’t know that an attack was coming. Once the plasmids are activated it is far too late – we are helpless – our health care system would be overwhelmed in days - and millions would die - helplessly - in weeks.
Question:
The science and biological information about plasmids is something that most of us have never heard of before. Are you a biologist or scientist?
No, I am not a scientist, although I have worked side-by-side with many well known biologists at the University of Pennsylvania . The science, and specifically plasmids, I studied for several years before writing “Sniper’s Eyes”. – And all of the science has been vetted by a now retired biologist who was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health for about thirty years.
Unfortunately, plasmids are not just a dramatic device used to sell books and get movie deals done. Plasmids are the real threat that we are facing – and possibly why the invasion of Iraq was necessary.
Although not on topic I think worth a momentary pause to posit an interesting question.
If President Bush knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that plasmids were being developed in Iraq , could he tell anyone? Imagine how much President Bush would like to stop all of the nay sayers and “peace at any price” imbeciles in their tracks by telling the world how dangerous the “weapons of mass destruction” – really are.
BUT President Bush has a very serious, real problem. If he tells us that there are bio-weapons which can’t be detected, are ALWAYS fatal, and our own, advanced healthcare capacity can’t even slow down our own death - we will be terrified, we will start demanding an answer to the problem – even if it means using nuclear weapons against the potential users of plasmids. Admitting that this terror is out there and may be used – or may have already been used - is not even contemplatible by ANY government. This is one of the reasons that I thought it important to write “Sniper’s Eyes”.
Question:
What connection does Sniper’s Eyes have to the Holocaust?
The development of the science and technology which has led to plasmids, as you will see when you read the book, actually began in Austria before the Holocaust. And the billions of dollars stolen from those slaughtered in the Holocaust are still being used by evil people to finance evil around the world today.
Although I could have told this story without tracing evil back to its roots in the Holocaust, I believe that it is very important to remind all of us that those who ignore history, and evil, are doomed to repeat, or relive, it. We are all too fat, too happy, and staggeringly ignorant of the sacrifices made, being made, and which will be made, and of the monstrous evil which we have overcome, and must continue to overcome to remain free people.
But I will not take the credit for this book alone -
One of my uncle’s, a spy before, during, and after WW II, played a small part in the birth of the state of Israel . In fact, he met his wife, another American spy, in Israel in the late 1940s. Although not Jewish he honored the man and women with whom he fought in Israel by keeping a mezuzah on his door frame. Inside of the door, just past the entrance to his little home, was a framed, autographed photo of himself and David Ben-Gurion, both young men then, sitting on the hood of a JEEP with a .30 caliber machine gun mounted on the rear end. Every time I tried to cajole from him the story of this photograph, my uncle joked that they were hunting gazelle for food.
As a boy I grew up in the diamond and jewelry manufacturing business. I was exposed to more survivors of the holocaust than the average American. I listened to their history, and I heard their history. The toughness and generosity of these people, and the depth of meaning of the simple pledge, never again, needed, I believe, a deeper understanding by others who have little understanding of how long evil can live and the need for constant vigilance if any nation is to remain free. I hope that in some small way I have honored, and kept alive the spirit and courage of the Warsaw ghetto – of the Holocaust survivors who shared so much with a young boy and man, and those who survived the single most horrific atrocity in the history of mankind to create a new nation.
Question:
Some of our members, and your potential readers, will object to the sexuality in the book. Is there a reason for all of what seems to some, unnecessary sexual material?
This is a terribly complicated question – and one which deserves a good, thoughtful answer.
As a writer I could have used the sexual content to drive male readership – and interestingly many women who have read the book have commented that the sexuality could have been MORE graphic and detailed – but that would have been both cheap and would have restricted my ability as a writer to offer the reader the depth of insight and information I believe that any writer owes to his reader.
There are several very different types of both love and sexuality portrayed in ”Sniper’s Eyes” . The sexuality is there not to titillate, but to inform the reader of the complete dimensionality of the individual characters portrayed in the book – and, if I have done my job well, to allow the reader to understand or perhaps question some of what I find are my own preconceptions about sex, sexuality, and how two people place a value on their own sexuality. Some people see sex as domination, some as competition, some as a duty, and some as a gift to their loved one. In writing “Sniper’s Eyes” I questioned perhaps all of my own values about sex and discovered that I had been less than well informed – nor had I considered as deeply as I should have as a sexual being – how I had been conditioned to think about sex and sexuality.
In the end, as all writers must and are privileged to, I will rely on the intelligence and insight of the readers to – hopefully – challenge themselves to see beyond the sexuality to the heart of the person beneath which, to some greater or lesser degree, can only be made more fully dimensional by the inclusion of their sexuality.
Closing Comments:
Thank you , Terry, for taking so much time with us today. . .
Terry:
No, Aaron , thank you for the work you have done and are doing for ALL Americans – and all free people – without your voice the silent cloud of gun control and confiscation would roll across our nation – and others – an none of us would remain free. You are doing the work that we must all applaud, and support with our involvement and donations – speech may be free – for now - – but little else is free.
In fact I am going to make a sales pitch right here. Accurate Press has only 100 signed copies of the first edition. For anyone who becomes a member – or renews a membership in Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Inc. – Accurate Press will sell these 100 signed editions, with no additional cost until they are all gone.