Financial Aid and Comfort

It is said that those who oppose war with Iraq are "objectively pro-Saddam." They are "fifth-columnists," giving moral support and comfort to the Iraqi regime. They hate America. They should be prosecuted for treason. The only way these folks could be more traitorous is if they actually gave huge sums of money to Saddam, like, say, the FOX News Channel does:

The networks don�t like to talk about how much they actually spend, but one veteran of the media scene here estimated the cost for a major TV network at about $100,000 a month. Others say that is a low estimate. Almost all of this cash (except a few �tips� here and there) goes directly to the Iraqi government. Once you add up the bill for the TV networks alone, we�re talking perhaps millions of dollars in revenue a month for the government.

....It is particularly ironic that while Rupert Murdoch�s �troops� from FOX News Network rally for the war, dismissing antiwar activists as dupes of the Iraqi regime, the �network America trusts� is paying �Saddam� (as they refer to Iraq) hand over fist tens of thousands of dollars every month. But stroll down the halls of the press center and you�ll see that Rupert�s troops have multiple battalions. He also owns Sky News (the British version of FOX), as well as the Times of London. A bit of research would probably find that Murdoch owns other publications operating here as well.

FOX News reporters (and others as well) like to say �for the benefit of the viewers� that their broadcasts are being monitored by the Iraqi government. Fair enough. But perhaps the Murdoch Empire should begin each of its reports or dispatches from Baghdad by disclosing how much money they paid �Saddam� today.

My hands are clean, Roger, how about yours?