Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Some troubling issues keep coming up about Iraq

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

I don’t know if you’ve caught that heart-pounding thriller of a TV show called “24”.

Had to swear it off myself, because certain scenes seemed to make my heart race, which can’t be good for the ol’ ticker. The plot is simple: government counter-terrorism officials have 24 hours to stop a particular threat that endangers thousands of American citizens, and each show equals one hour in “real life.”

There’s plenty of violence and other terror to get the blood pumping. But the scariest part to me is how the show demonstrates the powers of the U.S. President and how those powers can be abused with the bat of an eyelash.

Recent events have jogged my memory of how “24” showcased the difficulties of being president.

Fast-forward to real life.

Our military forces are in Iraq fighting terrorism. College-age kids and career military folks are dying just about every day in our pursuit of freedom for that country and protection from terrorism.

Then we find out this week that it’s unlikely any evidence of weapons of mass destruction will turn up in Iraq. This on top of a former Bush cabinet member saying the President is out-of-touch with national policy issues and not able to keep up intellectually at policy meetings.

That’s one reason I couldn’t be commander-in-chief. I’m just not smart enough to wrap my brain around all the injustices in the world the U.S. might or might not decide to become involved in.

Certainly, Bush has been dealt a bum hand. The “intelligence community,” the CIA and others, ultimately failed us. They were the ones who said Saddam has WMD and he must be stopped now.

Is Hussein evil? You bet. Did I rejoice when he was caught? Sure ‘nuff.

Has the military done a good job of rooting out the terrorist targets in Iraq? Yes again.

But who’s benefitting from millions of dollars in government contracts to provide services in Iraq? Halliburton, the company with direct ties to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Don’t ask me what Halliburton does. I don’t care. Just the hint of impropriety is enough to convince me there’s trouble afoot.

The president has banned all news coverage of the return of servicemen and servicewomen killed during the war. You won’t be seeing any photos of flag-draped caskets which tell just a tiny but important part of the Iraq war story.

“You were a good soldier, Rick, but we can’t acknowledge your death in a poignant way, because that would require people to think about what’s really going on in Iraq.”

That’s the impression such policies leave on me.

Ultimately, you and I are paying for the war in Iraq. Billions of dollars. And at least hundreds if not thousands of lives.

Judging by the recent bombings there, we’re nowhere near out of the woods. This is going to be a long haul campaign, and there’s no end in sight to the death toll.

Support our military forces, but let’s do a little rational thinking about the war, too. How did we get to this point?

Are we ashamed to acknowledge the ultimate price of war being paid by America’s sons and daughters?

It’s sad, it’s gripping and its tremendously more scary than any plot on “24.”

Maybe I just need to swear off the TV news and stick to my son’s cartoons.