CROSSROADS COMMENT -- The Heat Is On

[This letter appeared in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, Aug. 29, 2007]

It’s 8:55 pm and 106 degrees in Baghdad. The high temperatures forecast for the week in that suffering city will range from 113 to 115. Some range. Lows will reach 86.

Bush and the media refuse to give the public the daily gruesome side of the war in Iraq--no graphic photos, no detailed injury and death reports. So we have the weather statistics to think about.

And after you think about pushing yourself day after day through dusty streets, in body armor, hauling your gear (a total of 60 to 80 pounds worth--click on image) under a merciless 115-degree sun, force yourself to remember the rush to start this disastrous, so-called “pre-emptive” war. But as you walk over and turn the air conditioner up a notch, forget about the lies you were told back then. The bitter lies we chew on each day. The Saddam and Bin Laden buddy stories. The WMDs aimed at the Terre Haute Stuckey's. The candy and flowers and smiles and oil from a grateful Iraqi people.

Instead, recall this. In the stupid and criminal rush to war in March of 2003 we were regularly told that a quick entry meant a quick finish. We would wrap up the job before the heat of an Iraq summer swallowed the war effort. This we were told by the far seeing Bush-Cheney geniuses and a compliant Congress.

Our brave troops in Iraq are now in their fifth summer of broiling heat. Little wonder that so many Americans are experiencing a political heat stroke.