VHeadline.com guest commentarist Mary MacElveen writes: As President Bush walked on stage to make his case to stay the course to the American people, once again, he used the our military as a back drop very similar to when he flew on to the USS Lincoln stating, "Mission Accomplished" and as we all know it was really "Mission Unaccomplished.”

As we all noticed there was not a round of applause as he made his way onto the stage, but our soldiers stood at attention as they should.

• It wasn't until 23 minutes into the speech until any applause was heard.

After the speech, NBC's Tim Russert asked NBC news reporter Nancy O'Donnell "Were any orders given on how the soldiers should react?" and she stated that they were told to act using military protocol" meaning to show respect by standing at attention. She also stated that "it was the White House advance team that started the applause.”

In my opinion the president had to make this speech because of his sagging polling numbers. Through this speech he was basically forced to defend himself to the American people, and to the world, to gain back any lost support.

One thought came to mind as he spoke endlessly about America bringing freedom and democracy to the world was that some producer was staging this presentation to win over the American people as was done in the movie "Wag the Dog" ... I liked Hollywood's production better.

My message to anyone reading this is to stay the course of dissention ... this president failed to make the case as he painted an all too rosy picture of how Iraq really is.

Life in Iraq is not as President Bush paints it ...but more on that in a bit. There is that saying, "A lie told often enough becomes the truth" and there were many times within his speech he tied our offenses in Iraq to September 11 and, as we all know, Iraq (namely Saddam Hussein) had no connection to September 11.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi even came out against president Bush for again making this connection. Bush stated "Sending more troops would undermine the US strategy of training Iraqis to be able to as quickly as possible take over the security of their country."

• But according to Senator Joe Biden who was recently in Iraq over the Memorial Day weekend, our troops are wondering whether or not any help is coming.

So, what is life really like in Iraq?

On June 2, 2005, Buzzflash.com sent out a video feed of a bombed out Fallujah ... images are reminiscent of World War II.  You will see images of bodies being dug out from these bombed-out buildings and placed in body bags ... and I am damn angry that our media refuses to show such images. These were human beings and this was done in our name. One body showed what appeared to be a picture of this man's little girl which was found in his pocket. After viewing it, I am angry, sickened and tears were streaming from my face.

• Iraq is just not an issue; Iraq means that human lives are being lost to us all. This is what $300 billion has just bought us?

When Bush states that we are bringing democracy and liberation to that country, after seeing this video, the only thing I see we have brought them is death and destruction ... the images speak for themselves.

President Bush also stated "improvements to roads, schools, health clinics and basic services like sanitation, electricity and water" and gains in the number and quality of Iraqi security forces who "are proving their courage every day." I would like to counter that in the below paragraphs where I asked people to counter his message to stay the course.

Someone sent me the following link to read up on how even the foreign press is being censored in their reporting on Iraq.

I was upset at reading this passage: “Near the city of Buhrez, 5 kilometers south of Baquba, two Humvees of American soldiers were destroyed recently. American and Iraqi soldiers came to the city afterwards and cut all the phones, cut the water, cut medicine from arriving in the city and told them that until the people of the city bring the “terrorists” to them, the embargo will continue.”

But, it is this passage that extremely angers me as Bush is trying to again sell this war in Iraq to the American people since his polling numbers are in a free fall ... "Our doctors need urgent help there. Please, this is an URGENT humanitarian request from the hospitals in the west of the country. We have big proof on how the American troops destroyed one of our hospitals, how they burned the whole store of medication of the west area of Iraq and how they killed a patient in the ward…how they prevented us from helping the people in al-Qa’im. This is an URGENT Humanitarian request. The hospitals in the west of Iraq ask for urgent help…we are in a big humanitarian medical disaster…”

This is NOT LIBERATION AND TRYING TO BRING DEMOCRACY to this country, my fellow Americans.

What it clearly shows is how this 'war president' will USE our military where people are screaming out for humanitarian help. It makes me sick knowing our soldiers are given orders by the top to do this. Our soldiers are human beings and ordering them to do this is wrong. Carrying out acts such as this will haunt many of these soldiers for the rest of their life if they are lucky enough to make it out of Iraq alive. This is 'ERRING ON THE SIDE OF LIFE, PRESIDENT BUSH?"

If after reading those passages did not make me sick to my stomach, I went to the images section of this website. By going to the above images link, you will see boxes that state, "Warning: Graphic Images" and the warning should be paid attention to. If you have children, DO NOT LET THEM SEE THESE IMAGES. Before viewing these images by clicking on these gray boxes I took a deep breath and to my horror; I have never seen such images before in my life. I will not interject my emotions here, but let yours be front and center as you view each frame by frame. I have also seen images of dead and injured Iraqi children and present them to anyone willing to listen to me.

So, there you have it ... are we willing to back this president as Senator John Warner asked us to after Bush's speech?

I know that in good conscience I can not ... and hopefully after you have read this piece, you will send a resounding voice back to president Bush: "Enough is enough and we have had it with being lied to and where the end result are the deaths of innocent soldiers and innocent Iraqi citizens including children."

I will leave you with this quote made by Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif. whose son Army Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan is now among the 1,700 and still counting war dead.

Concerning Bush, she said "we're watching you very carefully and we're going to do everything in our power to have you impeached for misleading the American people ... beating a political stake in your black heart will be the fulfillment of my life..."

Mary MacElveen
xmjmac@optonline.net