This column was responsible for my first two death threats.
Yep, when it was published, I received my first two within two days,
each one coming via email, and each one telling me how I was going to
die and for what reasons (the usual - anti-American, unpatriotic,
liberal, and so on...) Upon reflection, I think they mistook the term
"hate mail" at the bottom of my blurb for "death threats." At the time,
people hated everything I wrote (not the columns - just my opinions),
and were happy to send in four or five pieces of hate mail a week. I
decided to mention hate mail that week. The results were death threats.
I never again mentioned hate mail; it seemed a bit short-sighted to do
so. But I never backed off my anti-war position and I never toned it
down. I also didn't live in fear. I turned over the death threats to
the sheriff's department. I received four or five more (I honestly
can't remember how many it was) and didn't worry about it. None of
these twerps ever killed me, so I got that going for me, which is nice.
The
US people can feel proud. We’ve put one in the “Dubya” column, against a
third-world enemy with antiquated weaponry and an army made largely of
non-soldiers. Dozens of American and British soldiers have lost their
lives in this illegal war, but hey! That’s okay, since it means cheaper
gas for all of us, right? Now, all that’s left to do is to send our POWs
home, install our own puppet government, and make sweeping trade
agreements for millions of barrels of cheap oil.
Oh, yes. And
find those pesky chemical weapons. These weapons are important to the
White House, more important than some people realize. These weapons,
which were labeled “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” are the reason for
this war. These weapons, not yet found, are the justification that the
Governor of the United States used to attack Iraq. And nobody’s found a
single one yet.
Right now, most of the world’s population hates
us, because of this insane war we’ve undertaken. But there are some who
are waiting, giving us the benefit of the doubt, wondering where the
chemical weapons are. If we don’t produce any, we will have been proven
wrong; and we will find it harder to hold onto allies.
At this
point, the White House is so desperate to uncover chemical weapons that
any substance in Baghdad which cannot be readily recognized as sugar,
salt, or Tabasco sauce is being sent off to be tested for chemical
content. They have to. If we are unable to find any chemicals, then we
have to admit that the reason we went to war is bullshit. This will not
go over well with the Europeans, Arabs, Asians, or in fact with our
allies – the few we have – who genuinely believed our intelligence.
I
find it highly unlikely that there are any chemical weapons of any sort
in Iraq. As many Iraqi POWs as we have taken, and as much information
as we have gained, we have not uncovered a single shred of evidence, not
a single vial of sarin gas. Just recently, our military managed to find
a group of trailers buried in the sand, miles out from the nearest
city, in which were found elements of a laboratory. Of course, the White
House proudly announced that they had found the proof they were
seeking. That is, until US military scientists admitted on CNN that
there was no way that these were used to make chemical weapons of any
kind. Munitions, yes. Chemicals, no.
Let’s look at it this way.
If you were an Iraqi who knew about the chemicals, and you were
captured, wouldn’t you offer up the location and contents of these
chemical weapons stores for any better treatment you might get? So far,
captured Iraqis have spilled the beans about quite a few things,
including the buried laboratory equipment. Is it possible to believe
that not a single captured Iraqi knows where these Weapons of Mass
Destruction are? It is possible, but it is not likely.
Next time, class, we will be discussing Syria. Avoid the rush! Send your hate mail to: yahoo.com.
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