If the media doesn’t cover a war does it really exist? To watch Fox news these days one would not know that there was a war going on in Iraq; Quite ironic since they were one of the prime supporters of going to war in Iraq. Almost four years ago right wingers said, “911 changed everything.” When questioned about anything their response was always 911, 911, 911. To dissent or analyze was to dishonor the dead but how about honoring the dead soldiers and Iraqi civilians who have been killed needlessly? ABC’s Nightline was chastised severely by conservatives for naming the nine hundred soldiers who had been killed at the time. Why ignore this ongoing death machine? To watch Fox News this summer is just like the summer of 2001. It is all about news alerts for shark attacks and tawdry murders of American white girls. Now back to “The Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancée.” 911 was an event that transposed our country and was supposed to have united us but it has been used as a political tool by the right to attack anyone that dare questions them. If you didn’t agree with all they did you were for the terrorists. They wouldn’t even allow a real bipartisan investigation concerning why it happened like we did after Pearl Harbor. When asked about the WMD and why our troops don’t have proper armored vehicles the administration just says 911, terrorists, Saddam, 911, but ignore the question. The only sacrifices we are asked for are to buy $1 yellow ribbon decals for our cars, always vote Republican and keep paying over $2/Gal for gas. If Fox and the right wing don’t like the way the war is going then they don’t cover it or whitewash the truth. We were supposed to just swagger into Iraq, kick Saddam’s butt, get all the WMD’s, take the oil, be greeted as liberators, declare, “Mission Accomplished” and swagger back out of Iraq like “w” does to and from his helicopter. Our boys would all come home unharmed and ready to carry “w” around on their shoulders while drinking beer 24/7 and scoring with all the chicks. But it is slowly beginning to dawn on Americans that we were lied to and don’t have a plan to pay for the war or leave Iraq. They are now saying we will probably be there for twenty years or more. I wonder how fast that would change if all our senators and the president were required to have their kids go to Iraq? In one sense this war is somewhat like Viet Nam except that this war has been sanitized by the administration and pictures of the reality kept from the American people. Even the caskets of our dead are not allowed to be shown so we can honor them. Many on the right said that we rejected the Viet Nam War when body bags began appearing on TV but today the media is an instrument of government propaganda and that would never happen. After we lost Viet Nam and walked away with the country in tatters, thirty years elapsed and it is doing just fine. They make some of the best Nike’s in the world without us there. I think the same could be said of Iraq except the oil they possess is priority numero uno to the powers that be in Texas. We knew as far back as Jimmy Carter that the day would come when we started running out of oil but refused to plan for alternative fuels. If oil is the reason for the death and maiming of over twelve thousand Americans why didn’t Chevron send an Army there? Iraq posed no threat to anyone under the sanctions that were being imposed on them prior to the war and they were not a haven for terrorists like Afghanistan was and still is. We created the quagmire that Iraq has become. I am not a pacifist like Christ. I don’t have the will to allow others to harm me or my loved ones. There are times when it is necessary to go to war but we need to grow up when making the decision. We need to question and make sure war is needed instead of being threatened by politicians who will call us unpatriotic if we don’t swallow their lies, hook, line and sinker. We need to see exactly what war does. Anyone that has been there knows. So rather than watching shark attack warnings and fake reality shows all summer maybe we should insist on the real reality of this war and some accountability from our leaders.