When Al-Jazeera first went with an English version last year, they were boomed off line in the US by several never-revealed Internet companies using illegal electronic processes. The common assumption is our government was either doing this, encouraging it by others, or at least allowing it to continue. This lasted months - during the start of the Iraq war.

So - what are those poor kids dying in Iraq trying to protect? Our right to a free press and free speech? And what are we getting? Censorship and propaganda. So much for the Bush administration freedom talk.

The war is heating up over there and our government is again trying to prevent us from knowing what is happening. Those 8 Marines killed over the weekend were possibly killed in Fallujah, but the US military report only says Anwar province - where Fallujah is. That is like saying killed in Texas when they were killed in Dallas. Why? Because we supposedly conquered Fallujah and no Marines should be getting killed there.

As things go wrong for the Bush administration we can expect more censorship of our news. And more restrictions on how news reporters can operate from Iraq. You can bet another hot question to a visiting Rumsfeld or other official will not happen again. Not with any reporters present.

One last comment. If you have read this far on today's post then you probably are against the war and are a progressive or liberal. I keep hearing from my good conservative friends in Whatcom County that they don't read NwCit anymore as they are only interested in posts about local news. They don't like reading news that disturbs their comfort zone of rah rah war. I feel the war is an issue that every community in the USA should be debating and be concerned about. It is the issue that will wreck our country in the near future if we don't end it. We are on the road to perdition with this insane war. It serves no national purpose at all.