Read All About It

Here's what you can read about the Iraq war tomorrow in the newspaper where I work. I've taken out the local names and I won't link to it, because my company's policy forbids me identifying myself as their employee or linking to their material.

This is the newspaper that just last week couldn't be bothered to waive the $75 fee for the father of a soldier killed in Iraq to run his son's obituary:

As you read this, a war rages.

It's easy to forget when it's so far away. But not everyone has forgotten.

"I think a lot of people don't like to talk about it," said Matthew ______ of the war in Iraq. "If you support the president, it's hard to talk about this war in terms of success. This war is a colossal failure. People don't like to talk about failure when it's something they believe in."

______ has been watching the casualties climb. Just weeks ago, when his organization, ______ Coalition for Peace & Justice, designed posters for upcoming peace events to mark March 19 as the second anniversary of the war, the American death toll was 1,450. Before the event even rolls around, it will be well over 1,500. For the Iraqis, the toll is much heavier, with more than 100,000 dead.

And for all of us, ______ says the financial toll is crippling.

"The budget cuts to finance this war are affecting everyone," he said. "It's not the stroll in the park it was made out to be. And for what? Why is this worth the lives lost in Iraq and the lives of our soldiers?"

Although ______ recognizes that some don't oppose the war, he holds fast to the belief that most do. And he says the distinction between another unpopular war in Vietnam and this war is a mounting number of soldiers and veterans who oppose the war in Iraq.

"Today veterans are at the forefront of the (anti-war) movements," ______ said. "People are learning that supporting our troops does not mean blindly supporting the government or your president. The biggest lie out there is that supporting the troops means supporting the war. In this case, I would say the opposite is true."

As ______'s observance of the anniversary takes place, Mike Hoffman will be holding another war protest in Fayetteville, N.C., just outside Fort Bragg, home of the 82nd Airborne. He expects people from all over the nation to join him to protest what he calls an unjust war.

Hoffman is an unlikely protester. Just a few years ago, he was fighting in the war he now protests.

"I joined the Marines thinking I would defend my country," Hoffman said. "But the war in Iraq has really nothing to do with our nation's defense. Weapons of mass destruction turned out to be a lie. And the idea that a country with a military that we completely demolished in less than 30 days was a threat to our country was not the truth."

Hoffman, 25, founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War, said he is one of many veterans and soldiers opposing this war. He said his experience in Iraq solidified a feeling he had when he left for duty in the Middle East.

Still, he's not anti-military. He's not anti-war. And he makes the distinction.

"I believe a nation needs a military for defense," he said. "The military involvement we've been in since World War II has not been about our defense. It's been about going after other nations' resources."

Hoffman admits his is a complex view. He's fighting for a peaceful exit strategy from Iraq. He's fighting to bring home friends still in Iraq. He's fighting to get back veterans' benefits that he says were cut to fund the ongoing war.

"A lot of people say you have to support the troops by supporting the war," he said. "What are they really saying? The people who sent us there are the same people taking away our veteran benefits and the same people who sent us to war for something that wasn't worth fighting for anyway. What they sent us to war for turned out to be outright lies."

Hoffman acknowledges some soldiers and veterans support the war. But he qualifies their views saying the war experience is different for each person.

"Not everyone is in the same place in Iraq," Hoffman said. "Some people never leave the secured areas in Baghdad. All they saw was what was going on in a secured area right around them. For other people, when you go to war, you lose a lot of yourself. You put in your own time, your own flesh, your own self. You have friends who lose their lives. Some people get by after seeing those things by telling themselves going to war was the right choice. I know a lot of Vietnam veterans and it's the same thing. That's why they're so divisively split."

Hoffman and ______ see the war in Iraq as lethal to national unity as Vietnam.

"It's already that bad," Hoffman said. "This war is already a divisive issue in our nation. The only thing that has kept it from really blowing up is that there hasn't been a really huge national push about this. None of the presidential candidates were really against the war. Bush said we were doing fine. Kerry kept saying we need to tweak a few things."

______ agrees our country is polarized, but it's not simply pacifists versus those for the war. And he says while it seems many support the war, it's because that's how the war is presented by the press.

"Our values of peace and justice are not being represented by the dominate sphere in the press," ______ said. "We've got to find and create forums to send that message because when the dominant voice is pro-war, it shows complicity. We're left to think that everyone is for this war. The majority of people are not for this war. This isn't just a movement of pacifists. Many are against this war because this war is wrong. There is a much broader movement that's emerging in this country."

Like Hoffman, ______ firmly believes protests like Saturday's can make a difference in finding a peaceful strategy to get out of Iraq.

"History is determined by historical actors," ______ added. "And we're all historical actors."

On Saturday, ______'s group will host a 1 p.m. silent process of mourning through the streets of ______ starting at ______ and proceeding to the Unitarian Universalist Church of ______ at ______ St. Participants are encouraged to wear black.

Once at the church, a 2:15 p.m. town hall meeting to discuss the war is scheduled, with several panel speakers, including ______ College economics professor Antonio ______ explaining the economic impact of the war in Iraq. The panel will be followed by respectful, open discussion among those for and against the war.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, a candlelight vigil is scheduled on the steps of the courthouse.

I love it when 33 inches of unanswered ranting by anti-war voices in the newspaper includes the obligatory assertions that anti-war voices are not represented in the newspaper. You'd think they'd dampen that part of the credo for at least one hour when they realize they're talking to a reporter. But "not looking like a horse's ass" never was a strong suit among that crew.

The highly speculative 100,000 civilian casualties figure is presented as straight fact, without question.

You could fisk this all day. As a copy editor part of my job is supposed to be to question balance and information in a story like this. But I don't dare say a word. Not doing my job? Yes, I suppose I'm not. But I've learned from experience that what's in my job title, and what they really want me to do here, are two different things.

[UPDATE: The story is in the news cue, but it's not on the posted budget, so I'm not sure if it's running tomorrow or holding for a day.]

[UPDATE: And of course, the assignment to copy-edit this story went to ... wait for it ... yes, the most active peace protester in the entire newsroom! The one who never misses a march or a vigil, and who certainly will be present at this one. Needless to say, he loved it. Needless to say, nothing in it will be challenged or balanced.]