As "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and television war rooms begin to wind down from the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime, it's time to cast a critical view at the news media and ask the question: Did television journalists provide the American people with unbiased reporting before, during and after the conflict? Absolutely not. Worse, other than reporters embedded with our troops, there were few, if any, news sources where the public could find the truth.

Long before the first bombs were dropped on Baghdad, the media feeding frenzy was on, but with a political agenda. With the exception of the Fox News Channel and a few Internet news sites and newspapers, the liberal elite news media made it abundantly clear that they were anti-war with excessive coverage of anti-war demonstrations, pro-United Nations and weapons inspections. Thus, they were pro-Saddam Hussein's regime and glaringly anti-Bush Administration to the bitter end.

Of course, the media's "chattering class" were delighted to crank-up their analysis machines with parades of overly-opinionated news anchors, reporters, pundits and retired military experts willing to promote blow-by-blow bias against the success of deposing Saddam Hussein and freedom for the Iraqi people. The cost, they allege with every traumatic view of death, destruction and suffering (using the tragedy of an armless Iraqi boy as a poster-child) was and is too great, even in the face of negatively manipulated polls that still show the American people support what President Bush is doing, and even after CNN, NBC's Peter Arnett and others were caught in the act of what is tantamount to attempts to sabotage the entire effort.

It is obvious that most Americans are simply disgusted by the media, including the elite print media and posturing politicians, and their unconscionable display of sniping, carping, whining and sniveling about the war against terrorism and the effort to free the Iraqi people. But what is most troubling about the precarious situation we're in, is the fact that the media have become too smug, condescending and judgmental. Not that there is anything wrong with that in a free speech, free press society. However, when biased media becomes too powerful, it's simply not a good thing for democracy. Indeed, the truthfully informed collective judgment of the people is far more reliable.

DDC
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Shallow "No Blood for Oil" anti-war activists should have watched PBS Frontline's in-depth documentary about what lead to the 1991 Gulf War. If they had, they would know that Saddam Hussein was not simply a local Middle East thug and Iraq was more than none of our business.

To the contrary, Saddam had grand plans when he invaded Kuwait, giving him control of 15 percent of the world's oil. Indeed, those plans included taking over Saudi Arabia's oil fields, which, coupled with Iraq's second largest untapped oil fields, would have given Hussein control of over 40 percent of the world's oil, thus control over OPEC. Lest we forget, Saddam's coveting Iran's oil fields resulted in waging an 8-year war to a million-dead standoff, primarily financed by Russia, and with U.S. blessing and assistance in retaliation for the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

What is most disturbing about the anti-war bunch is that the only reason Saddam was emboldened enough to move against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia was because he felt America's embedded anti-war Viet Nam syndrome would shield him from intervention by the United States. Frighteningly enough, Hussein had good reason to believe it, which fueled his ruthless aggression and his grandiose aspirations to rule the Middle East and wield his heavy energy swords over the global economy.

Clearly, blood for oil is a necessary evil, particularly when it rids the region of Saddam Hussein, brings freedom to the Iraqi people and stimulates democratic reform in the region. Unfortunately, there is little hope that there will ever be a balance between blood and oil as long as terrorists are bent on ridding the Middle East of American influence, and Israel. Certainly, the fires of war for oil, including those in Africa and South America, will continue to flare up until civilization rids itself of dependency on fossil fuels. Hopefully, alternative energy sources will be fully developed before it's too late...

DDC
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From all accounts, young U.S. Army soldier, Jessica Lynch is a good person from a traditional family, proudly serving her grateful country. Clearly, she is an All American heroine who survived as a POW in the successful effort to free the people of Iraq from Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. However, it is disturbing to see how opportunistic feminists and the liberal media are using Jessica as their unwitting poster girl.

Indeed, radical feminists, including the anti-war bunch who call themselves "Code Pink," have reached the heights of hypocrisy as they failed to condemn or even acknowledge the plight of Iraqi women, many of whom have been subjected to Hussein's torture, death and rape squads.

Alas, where were so-called journalists like CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour and ABC's, Diane Sawyer when the women of Iraq needed them, not unlike the women of Afghanistan? Fortunately, more people are seeing behind the thinning feminist veil of selfish interests and convenience. In case it slipped their shameful minds, it was the heroics of an Iraqi man who saved Jessica, and it is still unknown what atrocities she may have endured.

DDC
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Saddam Hussein shot, killed, tortured and destroyed the lives and property of his neighbors incurring estimated debts of aggression of up to $383 billion. On the high end, about half the debt is claimed by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia stemming from the 1991 Gulf War. And about a third is a debt rising from heavy borrowing to finance his war against Iran. Russia, France and Germany were Saddam's financiers in that one, and Russia was the major player.

Of the overall debt, there are about $58 billion in (pending) lucrative contracts that Saddam signed with Russia, France, China and the Netherlands to help develop Iraq's oil fields, second largest reserves in the World. Of course, Russia came out on top with about $50 billion in contracts.

However, Iraq should not be required to pay the debts of the tyrant, Saddam Hussein. Clearly, it was he, not the Iraqi people, who borrowed recklessly and used income from Iraqi oil to build his palaces, to create a sadistic war machine, to attack his neighbors, and to invoke a decades-long reign of terror against his own people.

Now that the Iraqi people are rid of the monster, justice demands that the billions of stolen dollars stashed by Saddam be given-up, by whomever is holding the funds, and returned to Iraq to help rebuild the country. Certainly, in all fairness, Russia, France, Germany, China and others should be excluded from any claim, participation or profit. Indeed, if for no other reason, simply because of their complicity in tyranny and their selfish opposition to the freedom of Iraq.

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DDC

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