Mr. Bush:
Good morning sir. Like you, I am a father and an
American. Like you, I consider myself a patriot. Like you, I
was horrified by the events of this past year, concerned for my
family and my country. However, I do not believe in a simplistic
and inflammatory view of good and evil. I believe this
is a big world full of men, women, and children who struggle
to eat, to love, to work, to protect their families, their beliefs,
and their dreams. My father, like yours, was decorated for
service in World War II.
On November 14, 2002, a few days before the first members
of the new U.N. inspection team arrived in Baghdad, the U.S.
secretary of defense did an hour-long live interview on the
Infinity Broadcasting network. A caller asked what would
happen if the U.N. inspectors did not find any weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq. “What it would prove would be that
the inspection process had been successfully defeated by the
Iraqis,”Donald Rumsfeld replied. In effect, he was saying that
absence of incriminating evidence would be incriminating....
On November 14, 2002, a few days before the first members
of the new U.N. inspection team arrived in Baghdad, the U.S.
secretary of defense did an hour-long live interview on the
Infinity Broadcasting network. A caller asked what would
happen if the U.N. inspectors did not find any weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq. “What it would prove would be that
the inspection process had been successfully defeated by the
Iraqis,”Donald Rumsfeld replied. In effect, he was saying that
absence of incriminating evidence would be incriminating....
Basra once had a swinging reputation. Sheiks from around
the Arab world came to the Basra Sheraton to enjoy alcohol,
women, and other pleasures formally prohibited in their
home countries. Today foreigners can get a rather dilapidated
room at that same hotel for forty dollars a night. It costs
Iraqis ten....
When the U.N. Security Council adopted its Iraq resolution
on November 8, 2002, American politicians and journalists
hailed the unanimous vote as a huge victory for international
cooperation, and a breakthrough that averted unilateral
action. In Washington, a range of lawmakers sounded upbeat.
So did pundits eager to congratulate the Bush team for a
diplomatic job well done....
During the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. military wreaked havoc
on Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles. The Iraqis didn’t stand a
chance because the U.S. tanks were protected with metal called
depleted uranium. Depleted uranium (DU) armor and
ammunition gave the U.S. a decided advantage. U.S. tanks
fired DU shells, and helicopter Gattling guns sprayed .30 mm
DU ammunition in a deadly rain that may well be killing U.S.
veterans and Iraqi civilians years after the war ended....
In the early autumn of 2002, shortly before Congress voted to
authorize a U.S. war against Iraq, a CBS News poll found that
51 percent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was
involved in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Soon afterwards,
the Pew Research Center reported that two-thirds of
the U.S. public agreed “Saddam Hussein helped the terrorists
in the September 11 attacks.”...
Night has fallen on the dusty two-lane road in eastern Iraq
when the taxi driver casually mentions that his family lives in
a nearby town. When asked whether he would mind if an
American visitor met his family, the taxi driver hits the brakes
and swings the car around....
For several decades, Helen Thomas covered the White House
as a reporter for United Press International. She became a
syndicated columnist at the start of the 21st century—and
when the specter of war grew large in 2002, she didn’t hold
back. “It’s bombs away for Iraq and on our civil liberties if
Bush and his cronies get their way,” Thomas said in early
November during a speech at MIT. Looking back on a long
career, she said: “I censored myself for fifty years when I was
a reporter.”...
Reporters become real friendly, real fast in Iraq.You have a lot
of shared experiences—from poor telecommunications to
suspicious Iraqi officials to exasperating editors back home....