The conservatives have added a sinister twist to American tele-journalism. They are not content to simply report the news; they always add their own spin to it. For example, when Hollywood celebrities joined massive anti-war demonstrations earlier this year, Fox channel reported the news, adding derisively that Hollywood was always well known for anti-American activities. When the French opposed the war, the Fox people reported that France was afraid that once in Iraq, America would discover that France was in collusion with Saddam in all his evil endeavours! President Bush and the conservatives have adopted the Deputy Defence Secretary Dr. Paul Wolfowitz's Doctrine, that America should not only exercise its power all over the world, it should also not allow any other nation to challenge its undisputed power. The "Wolfowitz Doctrine" mandates the exercise of US power solely for the benefit of the US, and total disregard for alliances, international treaties and international organisations, such as the UN. That is why President Bush said on June 18, that America would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, regardless of what the rest of the world or the UN thinks.

Having failed to discover a single weapon of mass destruction in Iraq, the Bush administration and their conservative amen corner have changed their tune. "Isn't the world better off without Saddam Hussein?" they counter. Yes, but... As The New York Times pointed out in its June 8 editorial: "The United States now cannot simply erase from the record the Bush administration's dire warnings about the Iraqi weapons threat. The good word of the United States is too central to America's leadership abroad -- and to President Bush's dubious doctrine of pre-emptive warfare -- to be treated so cavalierly. It is fair to wonder if intelligence analysts might have misread the available data, played down ambiguities or even pushed their findings too far to stay square with Bush policy on Iraq. It is also reasonable to ask if the administration's fixation on Iraq influenced the way the intelligence reports were used by top officials intent on making the case for war. The issue goes to the heart of American leadership. Mr. Bush's belief that the United States has the right to use force against nations that it believes may threaten American security is based on the assumption that Washington can make accurate judgments about how serious such danger is. If the intelligence is wrong, or the government distorts it, the United States will squander its credibility. Even worse, it will lose the ability to rally the world, and the American people, to the defence of the country when real threats materialise." After all, one can "cry Wolfowitz!" only so many times!

Americans have a natural tendency to believe their President. If the President says that Iraq is an imminent threat to the security of the United States, why should a man or woman from Middle America doubt it? Not all Americans are being misled, however. The letter writers in The New York Times are becoming more vociferous in their criticism of the President; many are beginning to call him a liar. With the caption "MISLEADER" under a photograph of Bush, a full page ad in The New York Times on June 19 by the "MoveOn" organisation quoted some of President Bush's recent statements: "Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons" (September 12, 2002). "The Iraqi regime has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons. It is rebuilding the facilities used to make those weapons" (October 2, 2002). "Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent" (January 28, 2003). "We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemicals weapons" (February 8, 2003). "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised" (March 17, 2003). (In his state of the Union address in January 2003, Mr. Bush claimed that Iraq was purchasing uranium for its nuclear programme from Africa, which, it now turns out, was based on forged documents!)

Of course, none of the above statements have been substantiated after the US victory in Iraq. The ad concludes: "America rallied around a President who warned of the imminent danger of weapons of mass destruction, who promised the evidence for such weapons was incontrovertible. Now, months later, no weapons have been found. Worse, the evidence suggests that intelligence reports were deliberately misread, that the American people were deliberately misled. It would be a tragedy if young men and women were sent to die for a lie."

Postscript: It is worth quoting from Richard Corliss's excellent June 23 TIME magazine tribute to the late Gregory Peck: "Tolerance ripening into empathy: that was Peck's gift in playing an elevated species of American, the man of strength and compassion. Peck revealed pacifism at the heart of heroism. Today that species has nearly vanished." In Harper Lee's Pulitzer prizewinning novel, "To kill a Mocking Bird," Peck plays the nearly saintly figure of Atticus Finch: "Atticus has taken on the case of a black man accused (wrongly) of raping a white woman -- a perilous assignment in an Alabama town in the 1930s. He argues his case brilliantly, demolishes the opposition -- and loses. The white woman's racist father sees Peck with some blacks and spits on his face. Peck, with ferocious dignity, takes out a handkerchief, wipes off the insult and walks away -- the victor by not fighting back. Good man to lead; tough act to follow."

At a time when America seems to have embraced violence at home and abroad, and consequently, America's stock is way down in the rest of the world, America sorely needs American heroes like Peck, who the world loved. (Although President Johnson awarded Peck the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, President Nixon put him on his Enemies List.) Recluse Harper Lee believes that the "reel and real" Gregory Peck were the same. Hearing of Peck's death, she paid the ultimate tribute: "Gregory Peck was a beautiful man. Atticus Finch gave him an opportunity to play himself." As Atticus (Peck) was leaving the court room, a black preacher attending the trial in "To Kill a Mocking Bird" whispered to Atticus' 6-year old daughter:

"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin." Corliss exhorts his fellow countrymen: "America, stand up. Gregory Peck has passed on."