Their websites promised a 'warm welcome' for George W. Bush on May 7, one day before his arrival to celebrate Victory in Europe Day with the Dutch. Their posters carried an image of the U.S. President under a 'Wanted' headline for 'crimes against humanity' and 'crimes against the planet'. Some of them petitioned Dutch courts to have him arrested as a war criminal as soon as he set foot in the Netherlands.

Regardless of the failure of Holland's leftists in all of these endeavors, their peers in the liberal press will not allow their 'permanently vegetative' cause to die a peaceful death. Moreover, those peers in the press have no problem either exaggerating or blatantly lying to prolong that much—deserved fate.
 
I was in Maastricht to witness for myself this welcoming event. From what I saw and photographed, the only truthful conclusion that can be drawn is that while we, the allies, celebrated the victory in Europe, May 1945, the victory in Europe sixty years later goes to George W. Bush.
 
The message the demonstrators wanted to get out was clear enough. The dubious wanted poster however, has contributed to the failures in both Amsterdam and Maastricht. For many people in southern Holland, and the rest of the sensible world, the truth lies in the American Cemetery in Margraten, not in the mean—spirited propaganda of dogmatic clowns.
 
For example, the posters accuse our President of crimes against humanity, and the organizers and participants say this is because he 'started a war with Iraq.' There are several problems of logic that could be pointed out here, the most ironic of these being that Britain and France (belatedly) declared war on Germany for at least some of the same reasons we fight this conflict today — and with precisely the same result: the liberation of people from the grip of a tyrant. Of course, in the case of Iraq, the people are not European. Apparently, the Arab and Kurdish people of Iraq are not worthy of the same freedoms available now to the protestors and the rest of us.
 
They call President Bush a war criminal. But it was Saddam Hussein who gassed thousands of his own people, the Kurds in the north of Iraq, and committed genocide against his own people, the Shiites, in the south. It was Hussein who invaded Kuwait with the intention of annexing his defenseless neighbor. It was Hussein who used chemical weapons against the Iranians, (the precursors of which were mostly supplied by Europeans, not the U.S., as were the vast majority of his conventional weapons). It was Hussein who defied seventeen Security Council resolutions over thirteen long years. It was Hussein who sponsored terrorist activities against Israel, then boasted about it. There are also strong indications that he was in bed with al—Qaeda. The list could go on.
 
They accuse President Bush of crimes against the planet for not signing up to the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement that uses uncertain science, would have uncertain economic consequences for our country, and all for uncertain results. Global warming happens.
 
However, it was Saddam Hussein who committed egregious acts of environmental terrorism. It was Hussein who torched the oil fields in Kuwait that created an ecological disaster. It was Hussein who drained the swamps in the south of Iraq to retaliate against the Shiites for rising up against his autocratic regime, killing wildlife and depriving human inhabitants of their livelihoods.
 
These facts are well known. But in the very small minds of these leftist ideologues, Hussein should be free and the President of the United States should be in prison.

Have there been similar calls for the arrest of anyone from Belgium or France for arming the Hutus, directly aiding the slaughter of almost one million people in Rwanda? Has anyone in Europe called for the resignation (at least) of Kofi Annan for receiving advance warning of said slaughter and doing nothing, even though that geographic area was his responsibility at the time? Other than, from the most rabid of peaceniks, were there any calls from Europeans for the arrest of Bill Clinton for bombing Serbia without UN authorization? If there were any such calls, they were quickly muted by the same voices in the press we now hear attacking Bush. Small wonder the so—called warm welcome promised by Dutch leftists was such a miserable failure.
 
Nevertheless, whatever these organizers and protestors lack in common sense or moral purpose, the leftwing press make up for in chicanery and bias in their reporting of the events.    
 
The headlines of the liberal media scream, 'Thousands Protest Bush Dutch Visit,' picked up from AP, then presented as another victory in Europe. CNN's site carries the full story as reported by the wire service.

The headline, while misleading, is not quite as bad as the flagrantly dishonest omissions of which certain other leftwing media outlets are guilty. They carry the headline, extract the elements that best suit their agenda, and then completely ignore the data that casts doubt on the level of support that actually exists for the cause they promote.

Assuming the 2000 figure for the Amsterdam rally is accurate, and that is subject to challenge as well, picture a headline that reads, '2300 protest Bush Dutch Visit.' Readers would laugh. The headline would be near incontrovertible, but it would leave the anti—Bush crowd reeling over the obvious frivolity of their cause.

Many of the perpetrators of this deception are large, influential news sources. It is not limited to obscure websites and discussion forums. Yahoo—Canada and the Edmonton Sun are two such examples. It isn't difficult to understand why many Canadians feel the way they do about the U.S. or Bush. Their press is among the worst offenders.   
Even the website of the odious Michael Moore performed better than these two. He printed the entire release.

There are several smaller outlets that carry the same story and present it in the same manner, of course. The point however, is well made by the above examples, and — as if the dangers of this practice needed to be underscored any further — have a look at the eloquent writing of Victor D. Hanson at the National Review Online site.  

He, like the rest of us, would like to believe the information we receive from the press is accurate. But he, like the rest of us, and like the integrity of a noble profession, have fallen victim to the chicanery of a leftwing media that pushes a lost cause for a nearly brain—dead group of people who call themselves communists, socialists, or just plain liberals.

Therein lies the victory for George W. Bush and the cause of conservatism in general. The left has to lie to push their ideals. We do not.

P.J. Costello is bassed in the Netherlands. He welcomes comments at feedback—pjc@hush.com