The U.S., unlike my birthplace of Cuba, is a land of opinions that can be freely expressed without fear of repercussions. Look at any op-ed piece in any publication across the country and you’ll see this freedom celebrated to its fullest on a daily basis.

The freedom to create or possess ‘subversive’ literature is protected by our Constitution and be it communist, fascist, anti-capitalist – or whatever your anti-American heart desires – you can legally and fearlessly produce or acquire said literature.

On a side note, I bet many of you don’t know that in Germany, one of the most freedom-loving European democracies, it is against the law to possess Nazi literature – but can you blame them?

And so we jump over to Ward Churchill and his essay “Some People Push Back” claiming that the 9/11 terrorist scum had every right to do their evil deed on that fateful day in 2001.

Using Mr. Churchill’s convoluted logic, anything is justifiable including the mass murder of innocent civilians. He associates activities at the World Trade Center as capitalist imperialism, which he uses as a tool to justify the 9/11 attacks.

If this logic holds true, then the U.S. should’ve dropped the Mother of All Bombs on Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia, after 9/11. This action could be based on the logic that those places harbor Islamic fundamentalists bent on spreading terror throughout the world and eradication of their ilk is a necessity.

But of course, we would never do anything like that. Why? Because we know it is wrong.

As a country, we have our problems. But what country doesn’t? And compared to some places, our problems can be solved by the will of the people. Try that in Iran, North Korea, Cuba or Afghanistan during the Taliban regime and Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Ward Churchill and followers have a notion that all America does is bad or evil; the standard model for those who loathe the fact that America is the superpower that won the Cold War.

Of course, Mr. Churchill and followers will say that their beef is with U.S. policy in the Middle East. So what exactly is our policy with Saudi Arabia and surrounding Middle Eastern, oil-producing countries?

Simple: They have oil, we have money, we give them money, they give us oil, they take their money and go their way, we take our purchased oil and we go our’s.

And so after 9/11, the U.S. straightened things out. What the Soviets couldn’t do in Afghanistan in 10 years of occupation, our military pretty much did in one month. Cause and effect at its best: You attack us, we’ll attack you, and worse.

As a result of the Taliban’s fall, Ward Churchill and following most likely see the U.S. as a “bully nation” for simply defending the freedoms and safety of her citizens, many of which also happen to be Muslim.

But again, in the eyes of Ward Churchill and his following – a small one, thank God – America has never done right and never will. To those fans of such view, here’s an offer: Try living abroad with some of the terrorists that loathe America. With them and their vision you will see things much worse than you’ll ever see here. They are an enemy worthy of extermination, either at the hand of a 35,000-pound daisy cutter or an AC-130 gunship.

The enemy now is not like the Communist enemy of back then. In the days of the Cold War, you could actually deal with the Soviets by sitting across the table from them, negotiating troop or weapon reductions and eventually peace. You can’t do this with the terrorist ilk. They don’t want negotiations. They want a body count simply out of a thirst for blood, our “infidel” blood.

So yeah, Ward, someone pushed back, but it wasn’t those terrorists you see as heroes. It was the U.S., and the pushing continues to this day.

I’ll add that as an editorialist, my satisfaction doesn’t come in seeing Mr. Churchill’s essay reviled, as he has the same right as any of us – myself included – to make an ass of himself. My real delight comes from seeing the Taliban/al-Qaeda vermin get continually pounded by our military, thus forcing them to scurry into the hills between Afghanistan and Pakistan where they hide like the cowards they are.

Sweet dreams, al-Qaeda. Maybe Ward Churchill, et al., will write your eulogy as well.

Henry Sarria is a longtime Isla Vista resident.