If you want to know what is happening in Iraq then you have to read the foreign press and independent websites. The major American news media are not present where the action is and are simply sanitizing the news for us.

Children and teenagers often hope for the best and ignore all the warning signs of problems. They hope if they ignore them then they will go away or that they won't even exist. If we adult citizens read and watch only the news that is comforting and reassuring to us and pretend bad news must be distortions by those who do not share our democratic values, then we are like children. And we will bring the whirlwind down around us.

Already it is becoming unsafe for Americans to travel abroad. Our US State Department is warning us. Even now countries who were our good friends a few years ago are turning against us. If we think like children and stubbornly assert we are right and everyone else is wrong, then we have only ourselves to blame when we suffer the consequences.

If you think you live in a democracy then you need to learn the truth of what is happening in Iraq. You - me - all of us - are in charge. We will make decisions this November. If we make those decisions based on wishes, fantasy, stubbornness and ignorance then we cannot blame anyone else for what happens during the next four years.

Simply put - if we all knew what our government is doing in Iraq then we would all - conservatives and liberals - vote out this president. Read the non-mainstream press and websites. Please.