What Rosie O'Donnell Was Really Saying About Our Troops

Every time I see the replay of the on-air squabble between Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, I marvel at the unwillingness of people to hear what Rosie was really saying. Ms. O'Donnell did not say our troops were terrorists. She said that the people of Iraq might view our troops as terrorists. Quite a distinction.

Why might Iraq view our troops as terrorists and the United States as a predatory nation? Like it or not, we did invade their country, and our bombs that looked so stunning on TV during "shock and awe," killed hundreds of thousands of their civilians. Civilians, you know, those people that make up families with moms, dads, grandparents and children and babies.

The President and many war supporters rationalize the civilian losses, saying, "It is us or them!" Can we for a second imagine how we would feel if they had killed 500,000 of our civilians? How would we feel lying in bed at night to the sound of jets roaring overhead dropping bunker-buster bombs day after day? How would we feel if Uncle Joe and Aunt Sally were burned to a crisp in their beds as they slept? Wouldn't our heart break to see our baby sister with her arm blown off. And after five years of explosions, death and fear might we be just a little ticked off?

Would we be a little deaf to the assurances that things would eventually be terrific because we would have a democracy and be free? Might, instead, we feel terrorized by the "shock and awe" that haunts our dreams? Might we feel more "victimized" than saved?

America is a good country and it is full of good people, both democrats and republicans. Nevertheless, it is still beholding to the rules of perception that plague all conflicts. And it was perception, rather than fact, that Rosie O'Donnell was trying to explain before Elisabeth Hasselbeck went banshee on her.