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Instead what we are getting are endless repetitions of the mantra, "I can not comment on the details of our war effort." or "Answering that question would give aid and comfort to our enemies." or...the silliest notion of all..."We do not want to give our enemies ANY information that will help them prepare for what is coming next."

Huh?!

Our enemies have already "informed" us that they can outlast us NO MATTER WHAT WE DO, that they are going to retaliate with further terrorist attacks and that, by fighting them, we are engaging in a war against all Islam.

Our military leaders, rather than countering these arrogant pronouncements with accurate and timely information, continue to maintain military secrecy AT ALL COSTS. President Bush daily informs us that; we will win this war no matter how long it takes, that the other side is evil...implying that we are "good" and thus God MUST be on OUR side...and, of course, we are NOT waging war against all Islam. Reassurances to be sure, but backed with absolutely NO evidence! To date, we the people have NOT even been trusted with the "clear and convincing" evidence that bin Laden et al are the main forces behind this war. The result? Well, lets tote them up:

The Taliban seems to have convinced our military that they CAN hold out forever. We daily hear how tough they are and how they DID beat the Soviet Union. Thus, we need a tax break for business.

Anthrax forever...we remind you only that more people were killed by sharks last summer than by anthrax since 9-11...is serving to make our government look like total idiots. We are told they don't know who is doing it, how they got the anthrax spores or what we can do about it. Hey, maybe an anti-missile defense will help, or a 200 BILLION dollar contract to Lockheed for new fighter planes.

We are blithely informed that "this war"...it's not clear which war is being referenced, the "war against terrorism" or the "war against the Taliban"...will last weeks, months, even years. Last night, one wise retired general suggested that it might take DECADES! Let's see, at an average of one civilian death per day, that would be one heck of a pile of bodies...

Do you remember Gary Condit? How about those shark attacks last summer? Did you know that O.J. just got acquitted in Florida of a crime for which he could have drawn fifteen years? No? How come? Could it be that your TV screen was dealing with other information?

Instead of stonewalling the people who pay its bills, in money and blood, why does the government not open the floodgates of information? Fill our TV screens with a hundred contingency plans for dealing...IN SHORT ORDER...with the Taliban and al Qaida. Never mind that some of these plans will not work. War is not the planting of a rose garden. Put thousands of pages of details of all these possibilities on the Internet. Tell us more than we could ever want to know. Inform us so that we will believe we are REALLY all in this together, not just, once again, cannon fodder for the elite. Amaze and confound both our friends and enemies with something truly new and American...THE TRUTH. In all cases of actual operations, say what we intended to do and what went right and wrong. Put reporters in the heart of the Pentagon and with our troops in the field. In short: involve us.

Help our enemies prepare? You mean that the Taliban has a legion of English speaking analysts who watch our TV and read the Internet all day looking for inside tips on how to beat the Great Satan? Give us a break! Are you trying to tell us that our stating what we are going to do AT SOME TIME in the future will prepare them? How, will they replace the rubber bands on their slingshots? Or are we to believe that stirring the rubble of Kabul and Kandahar each day with expensive munitions will accomplish the same end if we just stick with it with our eyes and minds tightly closed?

We are told that the terrorist networks are out to destroy Western civilization. Then, why does our military refuse to USE the main tools of modern Western civilization to wage this war?

In fairness, we should say that many of our wishes appear to have been carried out by those waging the war. They are giving the Taliban ample warnings and opportunities to surrender quickly to avoid loss of Afghani lives. They are providing humanitarian aid plus propaganda and delivering both to the civilian population of Afghanistan. They themselves declare that they are roughly on plan, that the campaign is mostly successful and we have no reason to disbelieve them.

Then how come all we hear on TV each day is each new exposure to anthrax by our noble representatives in Washington, D.C., how many civilians were killed in Afghanistan due to human, targeting or some other "error" or how long...how very, very long this war is going to last?

Come on, guys, wake up. In the current era, the most powerful weapon of all is firmly in your hands: INFORMATION. Sock it to us! We CAN handle the truth. The lives...and careers...you save, may be your own.

Talk to you later...

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