Originally posted by caltour:
Originally posted by Dan Nixon:
I am so ashamed of some of these politicians, above and beyond any partisan differences, it makes me ill at times.
But as a private citizen it is fine to voice whatever objections to the war immediately and publicly and often. It is unlikely that Al-Jazerra will put you on the cover and if they do, no one will care.




I see what you're saying, Dan, but what difference would it make if only the politicians shut up? Who cares if 535 politicians are silent about the war? Unless you muzzle the public and the press, the jihadis and the insurgents will very quickly find out about our street protests, opposition editorials, and polls showing that a majority of Americans don't support Bush's war.



I believe it makes a big difference..
They understand (perhaps better than some Americans) that the politicians are selected by the majority of the people and represent the people. A US sentator literally speaks for millions. The environment that they are familiar with is one where the citizens have NO VOICE and protests are relatively meaningless. A DOZEN protests crying foul do not carry the weight in the Middle East of a single senior US senator calling Gitmo a Gulag. They also know that the president can make war without the American people's consent but he REQUIRES congress to sustain it. They have seen congress thwart presidential legislation many times and can only pray that congress will thwart the war. Such negative comments by a Senator give them hope and fuel the cause.."If only we can hit them harder, kill more Americans, it will give the great Satin's (Bush) detracters in Congress even more power, so that THEY can stop him". Because they now know that Bush WILL keep coming...

Protests, articles, polls simply do not carry a FRACTION of the propaganda power of a single powerful leader's quote in Iraq or Iran. Think about it..if a pole or a protest carried the day in Iran, the Ayetollas would be long gone.
As far as the running and progress of the war is concerned, politicians need to present a united front to the media. But saddly, they are not..

1999 Amazon Green SVT Contour (#554/2760) "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." -Soren Kierkegaard (as posted by Jato)