Letters to the Editor
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@My post on Tuesday at 11:32am
Thanks Glenn for giving more attention to this most important video segment. If there is a problem with your video, here is a link to Charlie’s site. I am also reposting because I could use some help and ideas.
http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/03/19/2/continued-discussion-about-the-war-in-iraq
Let’s seize the opportunity
As usual, Glenn has really stirred my emotions especially by providing that 15-minute video of Ali Fadhil and Sinan Antoon. How could any decent human regardless of political persuasion not hurt in the gut from watching the pain of those two men? You could see in their faces how they knew it was vitally important to seize the opportunity, albeit on PBS, to tell the American people the truth that the M$M is not telling them and how frustrated they were with Rose’s insipid, emotionless questions and responses and wondering how could so many Americans represented by Rose be so ignorant and immune to the tragic disaster America brought to Iraq, the Middle East and the world.
I hurt not just for them but for myself for not trying to do enough to stop the invasion when I knew it was so stupid and wrong and reflect on the part I played as an American citizen and my 28-years of service in the Air Force including a tour of duty with US Central Command when it was created, in allowing the military-industrial complex, Serious foreign policy experts and the MSM to lure me into buying too much propaganda and garbage. True, I opposed the Vietnam war from about 1967 on; true, I found Reagan’s “diplomacy and intervention,” especially in Central and South America repugnant; true, I have disliked since the ‘60s Israel’s apartheid oppression of Palestine and out of balance influence on our government; true, I thought going on to Baghdad in the Gulf War would be a tragic mistake.
However, what now disgusts me about me, is initially supporting the Gulf War and admiring the shock and awe of American air power during the Gulf War and then seeing the devastation of burned out Iraqi convoys and the Iraqi bodies strewn throughout the burned vehicles; hearing about the innocent Iraqi youth being put up front to be slaughtered so that the Iraqi professional soldiers could safely retreat; and then later hearing about the brutal vengeance Saddam’s forces reigned on the uprising we inspired that Fadhil talked about during the interview. I had just retired prior to the Gulf War and started to fully examine my own beliefs about how our military was being abused by its civilian leaders both Democrat and Republican.
I say all this because the only way to really reach into the hearts of ignorant and propagandized Americans is to find ways to convince them that they and their government are responsible for terrible atrocities and abuses and destroying a nation whose citizens only wanted a modicum of freedoms so they could live as somewhat normal human beings.
You can’t start really solving a problem unless you first own the problem, accept the consequences and vow to change your thinking and behavior. The American people are like addicts who have accepted false premises of how to live and co-exist and now need to be shocked into the realities of their life and decisions.
As important as a discussion of racism, social injustices and economic woes would be, I say our first priority when the general election discussion starts is a total reexamination of the influence of our military-industrial complex, our foreign affairs policies and strategies, and our government and fourth estate checks and balances mission collapse.
One way to do that is to find a way to get the story that Fadhil and Antoon told to Charlie Rose into the American consciousness. We need to start a PR campaign to get them every media interview it is possible to arrange. They need to stand up at campaign appearances of both Obama and McSame and ask them very pointed questions. They need to be on a national speaking tour and appear at as many congressional panels as possible.
Who could sponsor such a PR campaign? Let’s put on our thinking caps. Would it be Iraqi veterans like IVAW or some billionaire who could foot the bill. Maybe a Hollywood mogul who could make a documentary of events as the campaign unfolds. Glenn and other bloggers could start a fund raising effort. Maybe Bloomberg could show that he really loves America and fund them as a purely patriotic, not political endeavor. We need a sponsor for them and we need it now. They have a painful reality to tell to the American people and there are other Iraqis who could help them tell the story if they can be given large and meaningful enough platforms.
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Rose show
I just watched it the whole way through, 16:38.
I didn't think Rose was very adversarial -- maybe for him, he was. But compared to what goes on on CNN, MSNBC, (no need to mention Fox), he was civil in allowing the guests for the most part to complete their points.
What a tragedy.
On a related note, Duke U Press has just published a new book by the political theorist William E. Connolly entitled Capitalism and Christianity, American Style. He writes at leangth and in detail about what Glenn calls the right-wing noise machine, but what he calls the capitalist-Christian resonance machine, and sees it at work in more than just the MSM, but becoming institutiionalized in all sorts of our institutions.
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Get them out there.
I hope that Antoon and Fadhil are using the Rose interview to aggressively seek bookings on the more highly watched shows. My personal fantasy is to watch them swat down the Fox crowd. Americans desperately need to hear this before they mindlessly vote for McCain.
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Enlightening
Thanks Glen for focusing on something rarely discussed. One of the best pieces on the profound subtleties that can be missed and so critical for us to understand. Thanks
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fwiw, I'm on very slow dial-up (24k) and appreciate the transcripts -- can't do video ...
or rather, can't seem to successfully download the software I need to get video ... too slow.... thank you Qwest