I don't know exactly what traumatic stress disorder feels like but I think I may have experienced it recently while I was watching the Oprah Winfrey Show. An appearance by NY Times political opinion columnist and author Frank Rich on Oprah triggered a flood of emotions and visceral memories. Rich and Winfrey discussed his latest book, "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" a detailed examination of the Bush administration's initiation and subsequent mishandling of the war in Iraq. Rich took the media to task for failing to ask tough questions during the run-up to the war and ignoring the need for a balanced debate and detailed discussion on the urgent need for pre-emptive war against Iraq. Oprah took issue with the decline in critical thinking among Americans and our obsession with materialistic goods and the lives of celebrities. During the discussion Oprah mentioned something that brought back some very unpleasant memories for me personally.

The talk show hostess said after she hosted a program entitled "Is war the only answer?" prior to the start of the Iraq war, she received the nastiest most hateful letters and e-mails from viewers she had ever received in the history of her career. Included among the missives were statements like, "You are a traitor," "If you don't agree with our President and his decisions you should take your hairy, black ass back to Africa." I immediately flashed back to the winter and spring of 2003, when I was regularly called a traitor, a communist, an idiot, stupid, disloyal and on and on and on for my critical comments about the rush to war. As the co-host of a morning radio show it had been my job to make critical comments about topical and political issues and never in my 20 plus years in broadcasting had I ever been subjected to the hatred, vitriol and rage that surrounded the run up to the Iraq war in early 2003.

When the video of the fall of the statue of Saddam was replayed I was immediately taken back to the morning in early April 2003, after that incident took place. During an on-air discussion I was asked my opinion of the invasion and my reaction to the video of U.S. soldiers pulling down the statue of Saddam and later wrapping the American flag round the face of Saddam Hussein. My sentiments were later echoed by General Tommy Franks, who reprimanded the soldiers for using the American flag in this way. I said the entire incident smacked of occupation not liberation, that if the Iraqi people chose to tear down statues of their fallen leader, that was their right but it was not our place to tear down public statues and wrap our flag around them. My comments provoked a torrent of sheer hatred by listeners. I was called a moron, a traitor, ignorant, un-patriotic etc. I retreated to my office in tears. I was filled with foreboding and regret that I was unable to contain my heartfelt opinions and I remember thinking I had never felt more alone in my entire life. The next morning I was fired and I haven't worked in radio since that day. I filed a lawsuit against my former employer Clear Channel over my dismissal and mediated a settlement to the suit in April 2005. After the lawsuit was filed in July 2003, I was interviewed nationwide on television and radio and spoke to other radio personalities that told me their anti-war views were muzzled by their employers. Those that managed to contain and conceal their anti-war views were allowed to keep their jobs in most cases.

President Bush and his administration did such an effective job of frightening Americans and linking Iraq to terrorism and Al Qaeda that virtually no one publicly questioned the need or the urgency to remove Saddam at any cost. Critical intelligence and factual information that disputed the stories pumped out by the Bush administration were swept aside or buried in the back pages of the NY Times and other publications to make way for the sexier material that was in line with the pro-war line of reasoning. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the decision to go to war was made long before Congress signed off on it. I couldn't have been the only one who understood that the Bush Administration was rolling out the Iraq war like Kraft rolls out a new product line. I watched every moment of Colin Powell's presentation before the United Nations security panel and thought it was a joke. Grainy satellite photos of supposed mobile weapons labs and a vial of anthrax were waved around like proof positive of Iraq's determination to destroy the United States. I'm no weapons expert but even then I thought creating chemical weapons in the back of an 18 wheeler had to be a little more complicated than the examples Powell was laying out that day. All I could think of at the time was that none of it made any sense. Why on earth would our government choose to pre-emptively strike against another country unless they had already struck at us or we had eye witness evidence that they did indeed possess the technology and the weaponry to be a real threat to the most powerful country on earth. Why was it so urgent that we strike immediately? Why weren't Hans Blix and his team of experts allowed to continue their efforts to locate the weapons of mass destruction? What the public wasn't told then was that Saddam Hussein had actually begun to cooperate with Blix and the U.N weapons inspectors were being given more access than had been made available to them in years.

It frightens me that I was so alone in my doubts and my fears. It proves to me that a sophisticated and all encompassing mass media campaign coupled with the fear instilled by the attacks on September 11th can persuade people to believe stories that have no basis in truth.

But today is a new day and like Oprah says "If you know better-you do better." So here's what you can do to make the world a better place and right the wrongs of this administration. First, plan on attending an Anti-War Demonstration to be held Saturday, November 4th in Bergamo Square in downtown Greenville beginning at 5:30PM, pre-event preparations will take place in Falls Park. The Greenville Antiwar Society staged a similar candle light vigil on March 19th and on October 26, 2005 to memorialize the war dead. The demonstration on March 19th, marking the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq War was one of the most beautiful and emotional ceremonies I have ever been part of. People sang or were silent while volunteers lit votive candles with the name and age of each and every soldier killed in the war. If 60% of the American public opposes the Iraq war, 60% of Greenville residents should attend Peace Out '06. Click on www.greenvilleantiwarsociety.com for more details. If you can't attend the vigil on November 4th and you want to know more about peace efforts click on www.declarationofpeace.org for more information on how you can get involved.

Secondly and most importantly vote on Tuesday, November 6th. Do more than just vote, drive someone elderly or home-bound to the polls, put up yards signs, and get involved! Call the Democratic Party Headquarters at 232-5531 and ask what you can do to help Democratic candidates or by working at the polls. So many have died, so many of our constitutional rights have been compromised but we have the power to reverse this trend, the future begins on November 7th.