I was in Hollywood last week. A limo picked me up and took me to the Beverly Hilton in preparation for my appearance on RealTime with Bill Maher. We taped at CBS studios in the famed auditorium where Jack Benny and Red Skelton once filmed their shows.
My partners on the panel were Bradley Whitford of West Wing and Iranian-Muslim, Reza Aslan. The show began with Frank Rich of the New York Times sharing his new book “The Greatest Story Ever Sold”…. his collection of what he considers “lies” told by the Bush administration to get us into war in Iraq. The interview was entertaining…even funny as Bill and Frank mocked the president, the vice-president and marveled at the clever way the American public had been deceived. The audience roared approval as Bill was overcome with laughter at the memory of Bush’s landing on the aircraft carrier to the backdrop “Mission Accomplished.”
In an e-mail dated Tuesday, September 26th, a doctor stationed in Iraq, sent the following: “Today… we had a 20 year old soldier who came in with a head wound. Unfortunately his wound was too severe to save him. We spent about 30 minutes trying to resuscitate him. I have witnessed many deaths but this was different. The Chaplain prayed for the soldier and then I pronounced him dead. After we realized our efforts were futile, there were many tears shed. After the flurry of the resuscitation, the room full of doctors, nurses, and techs was strangely quiet. Many tears were shed. I did not know him from Adam. It was like I had lost a member of the family. I could not help think about the precious life that was lost, the family that would have a horrible void, and the pain his mother would feel.”
He continued, “Soldiers like this unknown fellow are the true heroes of our age. Unfortunately many are never recognized. They exhibit courage and commitment far beyond what I possess. These guys go out and literally face death on a daily basis. They do not know when they may be hit by a sniper‘s bullet or drive by an IED.
As the day unfolded, I took care of another soldier who had neck injuries, but survived. His only concern was not whether he would be ok, but his platoon. What selflessness and commitment.
Pray for the protection of our soldiers and peace for Iraq. Grace and peace. Doctor B.”
I liked Bill Maher, Brad Whitford, and Reza Aslan very much. I thought the New York Times reporter was very entertaining. They really believe what they are saying and can’t believe someone like me could have another opinion. They profess support and loyalty for our soldiers while launching a campaign of derision and hate for the president.
President Bush is America’s Commander in Chief….do they really think they can destroy him and NOT affect the confidence of our soldiers? Do they think those soldiers can march into battle giving all when their sacrifice is being degraded and ridiculed as carrying out the marching orders of a stupid, lying president? To hear this line of reasoning is to deny the very real threat that manifested itself on 9/11 and is sure to return soon....sooner if we undermine our president and troops. What victory will there be if they succeed in impeaching the president, installing a new one who represents their thinking, bringing all American troops home? Is that the utopia they envision? Because if that happens, the bloody swords of Radical Islam will descend upon us with a fury we have yet to behold.
Our Hollywood friends and their journalist counterparts are behind a veil of deception so thick, I don’t know what will penetrate it short of another disaster. They think war proponents are equally deceived. I wish we were. To wake up and think this whole nightmare is a construction of a deceiving president would be far more comforting than the reality of the brutal, murderous hordes surely coming our way.
The doctor closed his e-mail with a familiar but profound tribute to the young soldiers making that sacrifice in spite of the poison that would render it vain….as another young man named Jim Elliot once said…”He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Let the scoffers scoff…..for now, America still has heroes…they just don’t hang around CBS studios.
