By Patricia L Johnson

Do you feel the same way about our Flag that you did before this administration took office? 

I wish I could say I do, but that would be a lie.  I used to have the utmost love and respect for our flag, what it stood for and what our country represented, not only to me but what it represented to people in other countries. 

It was a source of immense pride and honor and when you saw it waving in the wind it would tug at your heart strings because you knew it was made of more than just stars and stripes – it was representative of all the blood, sweat and tears of service men and women that have fought for it so gallantly all through the years.

After the 9/11 attack there were flags everywhere and I felt honored to have one on my front door, my back door, and one hanging outside Mike’s shop.  I bought flag decals and placed them everywhere.  I was PROUD to be an American and wanted everyone to know it. 

You could only describe that period as a coming together or Americans – no matter what we thought about anything else, whether we were black, white, yellow or purple with pink polka dots, we agreed  we were united in the war on terror, and in support of our troops, by displaying our flags everywhere. 

Then we attacked Iraq and approximately 45 days later, May 1, 2003, President Bush was standing on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln declaring ‘Mission Accomplished’. 

I remember writing an article approximately two years later.  By that time we knew, for sure, that Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction and all we were seeing was the casualty reports coming out on our troops and the articles coming out about the dismal living conditions in Iraq. 

We could compare the conditions and assistance we were providing to these people against the assistance we were providing in getting and keeping the oil flowing at a higher rate than it had been while Saddam Hussein was in office.

While there was no stone left unturned to protect the oil, there was virtually no help for the people  I remember stating in the article that the Mayor of Baghdad, Alaa Mahmoud al-Timimi was threatening to resign due to the daily suffering of the then, 6.45 million people residing in Baghdad.  These people were still suffering bombings, kidnapping and serious shortages of basic services like water, electricity and fuel.  In some neighborhoods the water was foul because of the fact sewage was mixed in with the water.

The day I wrote the article new warnings were released from the U.S. State Department advising against travel to Iraq.  There was virtually no place in Iraq that wasn’t considered "dangerous".  This was approximately six months after the joint Johns-Hopkins study on the 100,000 civilians killed by coalition troops, was published in the Lancet.  This was a full two years after "Mission Accomplished".

The stories turned my stomach and made me look at the flag in a different light.  It was no longer a source of pride – it became an icon for all the pain and suffering this country had brought upon innocents in other countries.  The innocents were the men women and children of Iraq, along with the men and women in our military that have given life and limb for their mission.

Someday this administration will be out of office and the new administration can start putting the pieces of America back together again.  The new administration will hopefully begin to reach out to those in foreign countries in an attempt to rebuild the coalition of countries that were once honored to be our allies.  The new administration will offer support and assistance to countries and people in need, instead of acting like the schoolyard bully and placing unreasonable demands on countries and people.

Someday this country, and the people in it, will once again be loved and respected as it was under the Clinton administration and the American flag will once again be the symbol of liberty and justice for all.