Hey Dad.
Being out of the country for quite a bit of the last couple of years, I’ve made a lot of new friends and have had the opportunity to see many different viewpoints. The fact is a good part of the world now really hates America. This is to be expected. But I’ve started reading papers in other languages and from different countries. The American press has painted such a nice clean pretty picture of the war. I think to be a rational well informed person you should look at both sides of the picture and only then can you have a well rounded picture and form a well educated opinion. Now CNN and all the other major networks are giving only the news that Americans want to hear so they can feel good about themselves.
Well here are some interesting sites that paint another more horrid picture of the war.
http://www.aljazeerah.info/ <– The main source of information for a huge portion of the worlds Arabs (In English)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info <– can see the videos the gov’t doesn’t really want you to see about the war.
Now there may be some propaganda in these sites but it is good to realize that the American press also spews propaganda that Americans can’t see because:
1. They are American
2. The American public is stupid (er) (than most) and know absolutely nothing about the world outside America’s borders.
I also read an article in the Dispatch a couple days ago about what the good folks in Richie’s tavern think about the war (they are all Pro-War)(“Views of War Fuel Tension, Confrontations” by Lornet Turnbull) and that when someone spoke against the war a patron went outside and beat him up. The article made it seem almost humorous that the Anti-war protester got beat up. The same article mentioned that someone reported to police a Middle Eastern person driving down the highway.
I also wish the media would quit interviewing moron Americans about their views of the war which are of course moronic. The people that should be interviewed are experts on Iraq who have been to Iraq and know Iraqi people. Then if they could get opposing views then I would consider that news. I don’t give a flying F#ck about what the people at Richies Tavern on the West side think about the war.
One final though about that.. If Saddam did have WMD, don’t you think he would have used them by now? Or is he just playing nice?
Ok, just had to get that off my chest and I prefer to write you about these things because you are my Dad, and have always offered good, level-headed advice and opinions. I’m just really unhappy about this whole war situation and the consensus outside Americas boarders,, is America is the BAD guy. So unless George W has something up his sleeve to magically make things turn out great, implement a lasting Democracy and prove that we are all wrong about his only wanting oil, then I’m afraid America is really going to be hated for some time to come.
