THE TURKEY HAS LANDED

You might expect the French to announce that the quick trip to Iraq by Bush, our media swooned over, was "a pre-election stunt" but how does one explain the reaction of our closest allies?

"The turkey has landed," ran the front-page headline in the London Daily Independent.

In Madrid, the centre-right daily El Mundo said the visit was "a publicity stunt which will not solve the problem of Iraq."

If anyone thinks the world press is being unfair, consider this. Bush started his term by pulling away from long time partnerships with other countries. He treated other countries with arrogance and acted like a petulant little boy when they did not support his plan to invade Iraq.

Then he caught his tit in the ringer in Iraq and called on the other nations of the world for help. Small wonder that most turned their back on him.

He burned his own bridges with the UN and NATO. What is even worse is that he hurt America and Americans. With $200 million from special interests in his pocket, he intends to do this for four more years.

What should make us all scream in horror is how little we would be informed about the world if we only had access to the American media, walking in near lockstep with the Bush spin for fear of reprisals.

The news we get is tightly controlled by the information fed to the White House press corps. The reporters in this elite press corps are carefully chosen and given perks by the administration. They know that if they do not conform that they will be denied access.

When Bush was a candidate in the primaries, he would only allow access to reporters that he could control absolutely and he has continued that policy ever since.

Thus the tone and the arguments on any issue are set by the White House and all of this is regurgitated by our newspapers, TV and radio. We are immersed in Michael Jackson-like crap so we will forget about Enron, other corporate crimes and the Vietnamization of Iraq.

We do not hear much from the many Americans that have opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. We do not hear their argument. They have been censored. This is indefensible.

One huge example of how American voices have been stifled is that the media has totally ignored our veterans, many of whom protest the war in Iraq.

The active military are, by training, bereft of political opinions. They must take an oath not to disagree or disparage government policies and procedures. So it is understandable that few of them would openly protest this war or criticize how it is being waged. It is understandable that we do not read or hear what they may truly think.

However, it is a crime that veterans are not part of the national dialog on the war.

Veterans, just like most of us are voiceless. It is intolerable that the national dialog includes only the talking heads spouting the administration's spin -- the lies that keep us ignorant. Veterans do have much to share with the rest of us and they do so on the World Wide Web. Drop in and give them a hearing even if the media won't. 'Gappers thanks subscriber, RL, for the following information.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/

http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php (this site has a running total of how much the Iraq occupation is costing us, among other things)

http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/ (this is a site for military families as well as vets)

http://www.mfso.org/ (military families speak out)

http://www.sftt.org/

AOL has once again refused to allow our subscribers to receive GenderGappers posts. We have had to resort to alternate means of posting to get around their censorship.

We are told that other Liberal postings have received the same treatment from AOL but we have never had any other ISP refuse GenderGappers. Who knows what other information all of us may be missing because of similar censorship?

twanda@sover.net

2003-049

Copyright 2003 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@sover.net.