I have always felt that the Iraqi theater is a part of the war on terror

Quote from Bush on the TV.

How do the press and the people let him get away with this??

It's a Muslim country, that's all that counts. We could invade Mauritania tomorrow or the Phillipines and use that same justification, and the wingnuts and sheeple will agree since there are "Muslims" there, and we all know that "Muslims" are terrorists and this is a war on terror and where they go so goes the war.

Isn't this what we did with the commies? Chased them from Korea to Cuba to Vietnam to Berlin. In the black & white bubble-world these goons live in, that's how this is viewed. How else could this regime so successfully spin 19 hijackers into Iraqis who somehow now have become the conveluted justification for this invasion. Yes, it boggles the mind...it's supposed to.

Unfortunately this is a theater that is showing a horror movie and the exits are chained shut. These goons are trying to tell you to ignore that smell of smoke rising from behind the curtains.

That's why it's so hard to argue with Right Wingers about Iraq not having anything to do with 9/11.

You can prove factually that the Iraqi government had absolutely no connections to anyone involved in 9/11 or al Queda. However, that's NOT what the Right Wingers are really talking about.

As you describe, they are thinking, "they are Muslim and Arab, so therefore 'they' are to blame." It's a racist outlook, but is exactly what Rush and Co. have been nuturing the last few years. ALL Arabs and Muslims are to blame for 9/11, according to the Right.

I feel this goes on before Rush...he just tapped into it and turned it into an artform.

Our media has always viewed the world as "us & them". Cowboys & Indians, Americans vs. Brits, Nazis and Commies. It's all very black and white...morality plays where our side always is right and always wins. It's led to stereotypes and perceptions that jade our view of the world and our interaction with it.

In the first half of the 20th century, this stuff was rife...actually some could claim what "made America great". Stereotypes of other cultures became accepted in popular culture...thus white men put on black face or racial and religious segregation was accepted. While much of this has been wiped out in some cases, this cultural mypoism still exists and is very apparent on our television sets.

After nearly a century of mass media creating a culture that seperates America from the rest of the world, our nation has easily fallen for the black and white views of things across the oceans. It's what "unites" us as a nation...like when our Soccer team wins in the Olympics, but it also divides when we try to associate our values on other cultures...especially those we know little of.

Isn't it amazing how many experts we now have about places like Fallujah or Ramadi or Basra, who couldn't have found Iraq on a map four years ago. As McLuan and his type pointed out, we live in a no-deposit, no return culture.