"But why?" I asked rather perplexedly. I just don't like war or even the idea of war.

"Well, you can blame it on the media. Why? It goes all the way back to the presidential election. It was basically a race between two guys whom you couldn't tell apart unless you administered an IQ test. Half the country was upset because of Bill Clinton's sexual peccadilloes and decided to take it out on Gore. How did they take it out on him you ask? Well, a lot of them didn't vote, a few voted for Nader or Buchanan and some cast their ballots for Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Several wrote in for Goofy but these were later decided to be votes for Bush."

"So how does that bring us to the present condition," I asked, "leading to war?"

"Think about it my boy. What was the presidential election all about? Hah! You can't even remember. All you remember is those old people in Palm Beach who weren't strong enough to punch a hole in a card. That was the election story. Nothing to do with policies or platforms, just vote counting and the media latched on to it with a vengeance."

"I'm still confused," I tell the professor. "I'm not able to connect the dots, as they say."

"Come, come my boy," he replied in his usual condescending manner. "There was so much hullabaloo about who really won the election," he continued, "that when it was over, everybody forgot about running the country. Very quickly budget surpluses turned to deficits. The stock market went down the toilet. The new man didn't know what foreign policy was and unless it had something to do with oil, it didn't even interest him."

"But Dr. Think Tank," I protested, "how is the media connected to this? After all, they only report the news."

There was a loud guffaw on the other end, which made me feel that I'd said something stupid. "What planet are you from?" the professor asked after his laughter subsided. "The media reports whatever it thinks will sell papers or advertising, what won't offend its patronage. TV's the same, ratings and whatever sells airtime. Sound bites are meant to be controversial and even sensational. What gets better ratings, malfeasance or macroeconomics, war or welfare?

"Just when it looked like the media might turn its attention to the country's domestic problems, disaster struck in New York. The president now had to actually do something. George senior lived with the rap that he was a wimp so his boy is determined that isn't going to happen to him. Junior pulled on his cowboy boots, strapped on his six-shooters and started talking tough. He was going to smoke those terrorists out of their holes and bin Laden was coming in dead or alive. The press loved it. The country loved it. We're at our best when we're out there kicking ass even if it's from 10,000 feet."

"I still haven't made it to Iraq," I tell him.

"When it became obvious that B-52s weren't going to get bin Laden, the target changed to the identifiable Taliban. Our Air Force quickly made little ones out of big ones over there and the Taliban were soon history."

"So, how does that get us to where we are today?"

"The media loved it. After Afghanistan, the administration saw the chance to keep the game going and people's minds off things such as unemployment, 401K meltdown and any thoughts of voting for the opposition in the next election. Anyway, bombs being guided to their targets are a lot more entertaining than people standing in unemployment lines. It's the domino theory revisited.

"Now Bush is sowing his oats, as they say. Having put away one third world country, he looked for another and who better than the scurrilous dictator of Iraq? Remember, Saddam tried to kill his dad! Now Hussein's a guy who's easy to hate and he's not hiding out in a cave. Got no place to run so this looks like a winnable war. Could be messy but results are guaranteed."

"And the media isn't pointing this out?"

"My boy, they have jumped on the bandwagon! It's a whole lot easier than digging out the truth or reporting things that people don't want to think about. Remember, football season is here and the World Series is just around the corner. The guys who never got a chance to be Rambo love it at a vicarious level. The talking heads have talked it up. The editorialists write that this bad boy is going to attack us sooner or later. Just look at the murdering scum's record. Our best buddy in the Middle East, Israel, insists if we don't take this guy down now, we're all a bunch of wimps. You know how well that sits with George Jr."

"So, with bad press for Saddam and good press for Bush we're going to war?"

"Now you're getting it," Think Tank responded. "Notice how George W. gestures with his hands, jabbing his finger into the air? Vengeance will be his and the media is cheering him on."

"Thank you, Dr. Think Tank," I sighed as I hung up the phone. I wasn't happy with this analysis. To think we might go to war to keep our collective minds off our real problems and to get even for a guy's dad is depressing. My faith in the media may never recover.

[Raff Ellis lives in the United States and is a retired former strategic planner and computer industry executive. He has had an abiding and active interest in the Middle East since early adulthood and has traveled to the region many times over the last 30 years.]

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