Cash's Testimony (PJW)

"Cash's Testimony" is a transcript of testimony from former Civil Protection Unit agent Herman Cash to the Gore Commission on Domestic Totalitarianism, 1992.

Testimony from Herman Cash
So there we were in the big Windy City, over our heads in a place far, far bigger than Birmingham or Montgomery. Our unit agreed to be transferred from Alabama to Chicago to enjoy the new scenery as well as get the hell out of dodge; the negro had every white man in Alabama's head in his gun-sights, and I preferred to keep my head on my shoulders.

I was never one for the violence. I mean yeah, I'll bop a negro on the head, but I'm not the one to go mowing down a mob of them. Birmingham haunted me for years, so yeah, maybe that was another reason to get away from the city. Our team leader, though, Chambliss, guy was a nut. Claims he served as a mortar man in the Pacific, but he never showed us medals or any evidence. It's believable though. Guy was in love with bombs. Dynamite Bob, we called him. Even told us he had a small amount of respect for the NRM for using dynamite to blow up the Birminghan wall. Bob was always armed to the teeth with grenades and other explosives looking things I didn't dare get close to.

We were lounging around the barracks one day. It was hot that day, and I know that whole summer was hot, but that day was the hottest. We were watching television, something few of us had, in the makeshift office we called home. One of Minister Rarick's sermons was on television, and our eyes were stuck to the screen. That's when we got an urgent call - one of those religious blacks that was stirring up trouble, Elijiah Muhammed, was spotted at a nearby mosque.

That's where Chambliss steps in. Orders were to wait for local law enforcement and FBI agents to arrive before we headed to the temple. Chambliss says sure, then immediately orders us to mobilize. Man saw his chance for glory, capturing one of the FBI's most wanted.

When we got the church, Chambliss ordered four guys to block the rear exits, then immediately attempted to bust down the door while they had Tom on some loudspeaker, demanding the immediate surrender of everyone in the mosque. Bunch of idiots, I remember thinking. We were in over our heads. Storming a rundown slum is one thing, but a mosque full of jihadists defending their prophet?

So a window opens up, and the long barrel of rifle points out. Man behind it is giving a few seconds to leave before they start shooting. Dynamite Bob slowly backs away from the church. That's when I hear the fuse going off. Madman had been setting up dynamite when the door wouldn't break down. So there's a few moments of silence, when BANG! Whole world shakes, the door crumbles down, there's a cloud of smoke, and suddenly Tom's head explodes in a cloud of red. More gunshots rang out, and suddenly we're in the fight of our lives when Bob leads the charge into the temple.