What do People Really Know about Iraq?

Lee Ellis

As I check the news channels for commentary or read the liberal pundits, I chuckle at how so many quote the Baker-Hamilton study as proving that Bush has lost the war. They go on to state, "The People" have told the politicians that they are tired of losing and want a change made immediately! Who is this entity called "The People"? Has this group been to Iraq and studied this country? Has this segment been schooled in war? From where does this group gain such knowledge that it can force politicians to fear winning a war? Sadly, the only thing that these people know about Iraq is what they see on television! Close-ups of coffins, wounded and destruction now govern the way people think and act. It is the polls of "The People" that cause our Congress to make decisions based on wind direction rather than genuine facts.

We forget that television news producers show only the bad news, seldom the good! I could take cameras into sections of LA and broadcast a news segment about gangs tearing apart a major city and after most people saw this on TV, they would think that California was about to be taken over! Think about the times you have had a flood or a fire in your state. After it is shown on national TV, how many times have you had relatives or friends call you long distance to see if you were OK, even though you actually lived many miles from the affected area? This same phenomenon is true of Iraq. Segments do burn, but you seldom see the majority of cities where civilians are flooding the main streets, shopping, dining and smiling at our troops. Iraqi kids flock around American soldiers, holding their hands and telling them they love America!

Major Scott Kish, who is serving in Iraq, was just on Fox Cable News. He told us about the new schools that are being built in Iraq, how both boys and girls are going back to school and are able to learn math and have books to read. Smiles and laughter are seen on their faces for the first time in a long time. TV cameras never seem to go there! How about all the new hospitals and equipment and the rebuilding of infrastructure by our people? Oops, this does not get ratings on TV! The entire media prefers to dwell on anything that makes President Bush look bad. Only our troops who are there are able to tell a different story!

John Conyers, Jr. has a bill (HR635) to impeach President Bush! Elizabeth Holtzman, former Congresswoman and prosecuting attorney, had so much fun impeaching Nixon that she is back on the air waves, along with David Swanson, trying to do the same with George W. Bush. Why impeachment? She tells us of all the horrible things he did to try to protect America. Holtzman decries Bush's arrogance in shredding international treaties as well as his disdain for the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions and for the torture scandals These concerns, she told Sean Hannity, have been compounded by growing evidence that the President deliberately misled the country into the war in Iraq. But, she said, it wasn't until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), that she felt the same sinking feeling in her stomach as she did during Watergate.

My, oh, my! I could have sworn that our President did what was necessary to protect us Americans from new terrorist strikes in a war designed to kill as many American civilians as possible. The so-called wiretaps were only on Middle East agents calling their sleeper cells here in this country. Innocent Americans were NOT being listened to by FBI or CIA agents!

Apparently, Liz Holtzman also has no concept of the difference between torture and interrogation. We who fought in WWII know what torture really is. Have any doubts? Talk to survivors of the Bataan Death March. We have not inflicted horrible pain or hunger on any combatants captured in this war! Nor do the Geneva Conventions really apply to terrorism.

The ratified Geneva Conventions were created in 1864, 1929, and 1949 (latter based on the 1909 Hague Convention). One protocol added in 1977 has been ratified. Other protocols have not. Do not these dates tell you that these rules referred to wars between nations with uniformed armies? Terrorism, by civilian thugs gathering from many different countries, was unknown then. Bush was wise to adapt to this new type of warfare. Had he ignored these changes, thus allowing more 9/11s --- now, that would have been impeachable!

As to the use of diplomacy, asking Iran and Syria to help us, Donald Rumsfeld asked the all important question while on his last goodbye trip to Iraq. When questioned about this by Sean Hannity, he asked, "Why would you? Why would they want to help us?" He went on to remind us that terrorism can happen anywhere, anytime, 24/7. "There is no way of knowing where or when. It is impossible to guess!" He added that it was important that the President had taken the war to the Middle East to keep the terrorists there.

The Far Left is still trying to tell us that WMD was the only reason we went to war. Their memories are as bad as their belief system. Saddam was using his "Food for Oil" bribe money to finance and fuel al Qaeda. Establishing a listening post in the heart of the Middle East with the least loss of American lives and the least dollar cost was a must.

Television-seduced viewers will decide who will be President in 2008. Republicans forgot all of this in the past election; let's hope they remember when it is time to nominate, elect and vote again.

###

Lee Ellis is a retired journalist and narrator, formerly with both CBS and Gannett (USA Weekend). He was also a combat veteran of WWII, having fought in the South Pacific invasions. He had the pleasure of interviewing Ronald Reagan as an actor and then later working to help him become Governor of California. At the age of 80, he is keeping busy writing and doing free lance narrations for radio and television. He is an active member of Rotary and the VFW.

indiolee@dc.rr.com