I can forgive terrible grammar, to wit: "The WUO stated in their book 'Prairie Fire' that they had did the explosion."

but if you're going to expect me to consider someone who won't even type the word "hell" in an adult forum:

"1981 'Guilty as hel*. Free as a bird. America is a great country,' Ayers said when interviewed by David Horowitz."

I'm just not gonna be able to take that boy seriously as any kind of legitimate information source.

Sorry, but refusing to type "hell" in a quote just scareeeeeeeams some net.kook in a basement to me.

JPK1000 Hate blinds you!

You are faulting Reagan for Hussein's crimes. Let us say, for the sake of the argument that that is true although I do not believe it to be so. But because of that Bush should not have tried to stop them?

Why are you blaming Bush for all the dead in Irak?

All terrorism is bad. And terrorism is neither Christian or Muslim because true Christians or Muslims see terrorism as a sin.

Your hate for republicans blinds you.

Ayers did plan to kill hundreds of soldiers and their dates with a nail bomb that exploded and killed his accomplices.

Ayers has not repented. And Shapiro did not ask him about this when he was claiming his innocence.

I simply wanted to say that this was the most beautiful interview I have ever read, and I am 65 years old. Mr. Shapiro should be extremely proud to have done such a splendid job on an "interview"! This was such an eye-opening interview into understanding Bill Ayers and where his mind was during that very troubling and turbulent time. Despite living though those years, I somehow never got that involved in the political landscape because I was too busy gettig high and did not realize that government really did DIRECTLY impact my life. I, of course, have realized that subsequently. This was beautifully done and cleared up many misconceptions the public must have previously had about Mr. Ayers, as well as it reading rather like a good story as opposed to an interview, which can often be quite dry! Thanks again to Mr. Shapiro.

When will you repent of your Bush voting. Bush tortured because of you. Bush invaded because of you. Bush borrowed because of you. Bush crippled the American economy because of you. He couldn't have done these things without your votes.

Repent.

Pull on your big boy panties and show Mr. Ayers how it's done.

How could Shapiro's reaction be "Martin Luther King", when Ayers said "the parallel to that is that the powerful black freedom movement gets reduced to a single preacher in a single church and a single phrase"?? Even I know he was referring to Jeremiah Wright...

This interview is a reminder of why Salon is so important and, when it's living up to its potential, the magazine is such a vital part of American public discourse.

Walter Shapiro's interview elicits a personal, even intimate, response from Bill Ayers without veering into the mushy territory of irrelevant overdisclosure — and without letting Ayers off the hook without first accounting for his past.

Granted, the (quite salient) parts about Obama aside the interview gives us nothing new that we couldn't already have learned from The Weather Underground. But Ayers' essential insight — that slaughter breeds insanity within any democratic conscience — is extremely important today for two reasons.

First, it helps us get a better handle on the Vietnam era. In this respect Ayers isn't alone — he's joined by the likes of Robert McNamara and John Dean in making the observation that everyone was consumed by the madness of those times. When people today write, "You had to be there to understand," what they mean is the same thing as when someone who is mentally ill says, "You have to have been insane to understand what it's like."

Personally, I don't really want to know, and I don't wish that knowledge on anyone. I'll take their word for it.

But that leads to the other point: we are in a time where, increasingly, we're learning what happens to a democratic conscience in a time of slaughter.

The US military, perhaps alone among all American institutions, actually learned from Vietnam and doesn't (when it has a choice, ahem, Bush) fight its wars the same way. Iraq and Afghanistan will never be Vietnam, despite (with bitter, tragic irony) the doggedly insane efforts of our departing leaders to remake it as such for their own twisted vindication.

Nevertheless, all wars fought under the basis of the kind of imperial delusion which impels our current strategic thinking will inevitably fall into similar patterns, and with similar results both in the theater and at home. We sneer at Bill Ayers' insight at our own peril.

Zubouba said:

“It's amazing that supposedly radical leftists like Ayers see Obama as an anti-war president!”

Are you amazed? I believe they are right and you are wrong. They are his true friends and know him better than you.

Obama wanted to win the election and he lied about is true intentions.

Obama will not move a finger to defend what he believes is the “imperialistic’ USA!

Obama is for the destruction of the political system of the USA. There are going to be times when he will pretend he is doing something but in reality he will not.

Did not Biden ask for support when it looked that Obama was not making the right decision?

The media kept silence about these words of Biden.

And the media is going to pay with is extinction for this complicity. Obama will silence it.

re: You are faulting Reagan for Hussein's crimes.

U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup

Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1230-04.htm

Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/51/220.html

How Reagan Armed Saddam with Chemical Weapons

http://counterpunch.org/dixon06172004.html

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein:

The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

Reagan and Saddam - The Unholy Alliance

http://www.counterpunch.org/dawoody06082004.html

Plenty more where those came from.