01 Mar 2003 Peace Activists Don’t Know Jack, by Jerry Brooks

A New Visions Commentary paper published March 2003 by The National Center for Public Policy Research, 501 Capitol Ct., N.E., Washington, DC 20002, 202/543-4110, Fax 202-543-5975, E-Mail [email protected], Web https://nationalcenter.org. Reprints permitted provided source is credited.

The vast majority of people don’t know Jack Frazier.

Frazier now lives in Nevada, but he knows first-hand the painful truth about how the Iraqi government operates. Last week, he appeared on the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity and Colmes” to tell his story.

Frazier was working for an American company building oil refineries in Iraq when the Gulf War started in 1991. He was held prisoner for four months by the Iraqi government. By the time he was released, his life was essentially ruined.

Jack Frazier is a diabetic. While in Iraqi custody, he lost access to his much-needed medication. His Iraqi captors refused to treat his illness. Because of this neglect, Frazier became extremely ill.

Frazier came out of his ordeal with the Hussein regime blind in one eye and with a host of other medical complications. Today, he suffers from a mysterious disease that is slowly but surely robbing him of his very life. He has no feeling in his hands and feet, no sense of equilibrium and must live in a nursing home.

In no small part due to his suffering under the “hospitality” of the Iraqi government, Frazier is strongly supportive of President George W. Bush’s Iraq policy. During his interview, Frazier told co-host Sean Hannity: “I feel that President Bush took office at a very precarious time. He is trying to pick up and take care of the mistakes in the prior administration, and see if he can’t get this country back on its feet. There are going to be things done that people aren’t going to like. But, there’s nothing that’s 100 percent.”

Frazier is critical of American peace activists volunteering to be “human shields” in Iraq. He summed up his feelings about the peace movement in another portion of his interview: “They will be the main characters in a horror movie because they think they’re gonna go over there… and Saddam is going to treat them with generosity and thank them. For, in my view… these people are actually going to Iraq to defend Iraq. And, in my mind, they’re fighting against this country. I think they should have their citizenship revoked. There’s no need for it. It’s stupid.”

Jack Frazier’s story should serve as an example all that Saddam Hussein is somone who needs to be stopped and replaced as Iraq’s leader. The Martin Sheens, Susan Sarandons and others who seem to have an air of moral superiority need to brought down to earth for a while and look at the results of Saddam Hussein’s handiwork in the personification of Jack Frazier.

Instead of expending energy slamming President Bush, these activists should try something new and revolutionary. They should protest against the human rights abuses of Iraq. Liberals have protested against human rights abuses for years, haven’t they? They’re supposed to care about the treatment of people, aren’t they? So where are the anti-Saddam protests? I’ve missed them so far. I’d pay real money to see one.

By their own actions, so-called “peace activists” have shown their true colors. Anti-war protests are really nothing of the sort. They’re just a media-glorified outlet for venting hatred of President Bush.

If these protesters truly cared about people and about peace, then Jack Frazier and numerous Iraqi defectors would be the perfect ammunition for protesting Iraq’s human rights record.

Maybe reality might take hold of these good folks someday. Yeah, and I can also sell you some beachfront property in Kansas.