A former Navy SEAL, Ephraim Mattos fought the Taliban and ISIS, and later returned as a volunteer to help civilians in war zones, getting shot by ISIS soldiers in the process.

So when CNN host Don Lemon declared last week that "the biggest terror threat in this country is white men," Mattos had something to say.

After all he's gone through, Mattos wrote in a statement spotlighted by BizPacReview, he's "now returned home to the USA where a CNN host has labeled me as a radicalized right wing terrorist simply because of my gender and the color of my skin."

"If CNN does not fire Don Lemon immediately, it only goes to show that they are truly the 'enemy of the people,'" he wrote.

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Mattos made it clear he identifies himself as "simply 'American,' not as 'white' or 'male' or 'Republican.'"

"After surviving three wars, a gunshot wound, a near fatal drowning, a failed parachute, Taliban ambushes, ISIS snipers, mortars, mine-fields, suicide bombers and laying down my life for the cause of freedom while fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with my brother Arabs, Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Animists, and Atheists, I have now returned home to the USA where a CNN host has labeled me as a radicalized right wing terrorist simply because of my gender and the color of my skin," Mattos wrote.

His response to Lemon went viral on Twitter, with reactions such as "God Bless Ephraim Mattos! I can't imagine a better response, or a better man to make it. And I can't imagine a smaller 'man' than the one who made the incendiary remarks."

Another Twitter user wrote: "That was very powerful and moving regardless of party.

The former Navy SEAL said his "forefathers are the 3% who founded this Republic against the might of the British Army."

"It was white Conservative men who died by the tens of thousands after charging into our southern states to free our black brothers from the slavery imposed on them by the Liberal left," he wrote.

"We were the ones who acknowledged that women have a right to vote. We held the line in WWI and charged the beaches of Normandy in WWII. We have fought for freedom and liberty for generations and we continue to do so today alongside all of our brothers and sisters regardless of their race or religion."

Mattos said Lemon is "the true face of the Democratic Party."

"First they enslaved and killed blacks, and now they use them to spew hatred and lies against the very people who have fought for generations to free them and uplift them,” he said of Democrats.

"Remember that when you go to vote."

He warned that "identity politics does not lead to freedom."

"It only leads to hatred and division and an 'us vs. them' mentality."

Mattos co-authored the new book "City of Death: Humanitarian Warriors in the Battle of Mosul."

'Cold hard facts'

Lemon was speaking with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday in the wake of the mail bombs sent to Democratic leaders and the deadly attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh when he said the "biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most are radicalized to the right."

His comment drew rebukes from a broad spectrum of commentators while CNN remained silent.

On Wednesday, however, Lemon doubled down, insisting the "cold hard facts" were on his side.

"Earlier this week, I made some comments about that in a conversation with Chris [Cuomo]. I said that the biggest terror threat in this country comes from radicals on the far right, primarily white men," he said.

"That angered some people. But let's put emotion aside and look at the cold hard facts. The evidence is overwhelming," he claimed, according to the Hill.

Lemon cited a Government Accountability Office report saying that since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, right-wing extremists have killed 106 people in 62 different attacks in U.S., while Islamic extremists have killed 119 people in 23 different attacks.

Lemon pointed to another finding "that for every eight deadly attacks by right-wing extremists," there was one by left-wing extremists.

"So people who were angered about what I said are missing the entire point. We don't need to worry about people who are thousands of miles away. The biggest threats are homegrown. The facts prove that," Lemon claimed.

On Tuesday, the Gateway Pundit blog urged Lemon to read the long list of terror attacks in America by Muslims posted on his own network's news website.

See Lemon's comments:

"The only attack in this list by CNN that did not involve Islamist killers is the August 2017 attack in Charlottesville where one protester was killed at a Unite the Right rally," the Gateway Pundit said.

"Every other terrorist attack involves radical Islam."

Among the attacks on the CNN list were the 1993 bombing of the 2 World Trade Center building, the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, the 9/11 attacks, the Boston Marathon bombing, the attack on a Marine recruiting center in 2015 and the massacres in San Bernardino and Orlando.