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The Forsyth County News Opinion This is a page of opinions ours, yours and others. Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writers and artists and may not reflect our views. On your payroll CITY COUNCIL Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt PO. Box 3177, Cumming, GA 30028: (770) 8874342 Mayor Pro-Tern, Lewis Ledbetter 205 Mountain Brook Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3019 Ralph Perry 1420 Pilgrim Rd., Cumming. GA 30040; (770) 887-7474 Quincy Holton 103 Hickory Ridge Dr.. Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-5279 Rupert Sexton 705 Pine Lake Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-4332 John Pugh 108 13th St., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3342 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Charles Laughinghouse, Post 1 3550 Rosewicke Dr.. Cumming, GA 30040 (770) 886-7937: office, (770) 886-2810 David “A. J.” Pritchett, Post 2 4840 Chesterfield Court, Suwanee, GA 30024 (404) 392-6983: office, (770) 886-2809 John A. "Jack” Conway, Post 3 6130 Polo Club Dr., Cumming, GA 30040 (770) 886-9226; (770) 886-2807 Marcie Kreager, Post 4 9810 Kings Rd.. Gainesville, GA 30506 office. (770) 886-2806 Eddie Taylor, Post 5 4195 Morningside Dr.. Cumming. GA 30041 (770) 886-2802 BOARD OF EDUCATION Ann Crow 96 Barker Rd.. Cumming. GA 30040 (770) 887-9640: acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us Paul Kreager 9810 Kings Rd.. Gainesville. GA 30506 (770) 889-9971: pkreager@forsyth.kl2.ga.us Nancy Roche 7840 Chestnut Hill Rd.. Cumming. GA 30041 (770) 889-0229; nroche@forsyth.kl2.ga.us Rebecca K. Dowell 2030 Commonwealth Place. Cumming. GA 30041 (770) 844-0830: rdowell@forsyth.kl2.ga.us Chairman Jeffrey Stephens PO. Box 169. Cumming. GA 30028 (770) 889-1470; jstephens@forsyth.kl2.ga.us NATIONAL LEGISLATORS U.S. Sen. Zell Miller Russell Senate Office Building. Room C-3 Washington. DC. 20510 (202) 224-3643; Fax: (202) 228-2090 U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss 1019 Longworth House Office Building Washington. DC. 20515 (202)224-3521 U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, 10th District 2437 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington. DO. 20515 Gainesville: RO. Box 1015, Gainesville, GA 30503 Gainesville. (770) 535-2592 Washington: (202) 225-5211; Fax: (202) 225-8272 f a kJ U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District 1727 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC. 20515-1011 Washington: (202) 2254272; Fax: (202) 225-4696 STATE LEGISLATORS Sen. David Shafer, 48th District 109 State Capitol Atlanta. GA 30334 (404) 651-7738 i sJK Sen. Casey Cagle, 49th District 421 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334 (404) 656-6578; (fax) (404) 651-6768 Sen. Dan Moody, 27th District (770) 695-3127; Office (404) 463-8055 Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th District (770) 466-1507; Office (404)463-1368 Rep. Tom Knox, 14th District Legislative Office Building, Room 504 18 Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA 30334 (404) 656-0188, (770) 887-0400, law office r '■ i r <»■ Rep. Jan Jones, 38th District 412 Legislative Office Building, Atlanta GA 30334 (404) 656-0137 Rep. Jack Murphy, 14th District Legislative Office Building, Room 612, Atlanta GA 30334 (404) 656-0325 (770) 781-9319, home I 1 I a ■ Ji fl aft V AV-Ffr*. V.tACcKi ——— Woodward book being distorted WASHINGTON Did President Bush really brief Prince Bandar on his Iraq war plans before he informed Colin Powell? Did the Saudi ambassador really cut a deal with the Bush administration to increase oil production in time for the presidential elec tion? The answer to both questions is no. but those alle gations entered the election year bloodstream thanks to distortion of Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack." The crack investigative reporter's latest blockbuster does not make those allega tions. but still became instant Democratic talking points, employed by presidential can didate John Kerry himself. In contrast. Woodward’s revela tion of Saudi Arabia's support for the Iraq invasion went vir tually unmentioned. Judging by published excerpts, news accounts and even some of Woodward's comments on television. "Plan of Attack" is of a piece with kiss-and-tell anti-Bush memoirs on the best-seller list. The full 443-page text, however, portrays George W. Bush as a conscientious, well informed leader presiding over a military team that devised an ingenious attack plan. Whether Bush made the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein by force, he does not come across as the Destruction of unborn not Just a nothing’ Beautiful young actress Ashley Judd went to Washington last weekend wearing a crucifix and a trendy little T-shirt that boast ed: "THIS IS WHAT A FEMI NIST LOOKS LIKE " The Associated Press snapped a photo of Ashley, honored guest of the "March for Women's Lives," which has been widely disseminated on the Internet. Pro-abortion leaders must be ecstatic. In a sea of angry (Hillary Rodham Clinton), haggard (Cybill Shepherd) and ghoulish (Whoopi Goldberg) women shaking their fists and waving coat hangers, Ashley's pretty smile helped put a softer, gen tler and more glamorous spin on the morbid march for "reproductive rights." Ashley's message to mil lions of young American women and girls: Opposing the partial-birth abortion ban is fun! Morning-after pills are cool! Sex without conse quences rules! One wonders what Ashley's mom, beloved coun try singer Naomi Judd, must have thought of her daughter traipsing around with abortion rights' militants. Naomi has spoken eloquently for years about how she firmly rejected abortion as an unwed teen and repeatedly witnessed the mira cle of life as a labor and deliv ery nurse. "I've seen ultra- n ' I BK ™ --z Robert Novak ■EEESSBL—— nitwit portrayed by Dem ocrats. Publicity about the book has overlooked Woodward's account of the Saudi connec tion. While the Israeli govern ment and its ardent American supporters have waged a dis information campaign against the kingdom. Prince Bandar bin Sultan —a senior mem ber of the Washington diplo matic corps actively col laborated in preparing for war. Early in 2003, he went to Paris to try to bring around an obdurate French President Jacques Chirac. Woodward reveals that war planning always included sending U.S. Special Operations Forces through and from Saudi Arabia into Iraq. Last Sunday, amid the anti-Saudi buzz inadvertently spawned by Woodward's book, the Associated Press reported "Saudi Arabia secret ly helped the United States far more than has been acknowl edged." U.S. and Saudi offi cials told the AP not only about special operations but also that the kingdom provid ed the U.S. with at least three air bases on Saudi soil, plus Michelle ' w Malkin tL sounds . . . you know that those babies are real," she told TV talk show host Sally Jesse Raphael in 1998. A few years later. Naomi faced off against Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., on ABCs "Politically Incorrect" and argued for an eminently rea sonable 24-hour waiting period before abortions. Drawing on her nursing experience, Naomi advocated full disclosure of the risks and consequences of abortion including the use of ultrasound to give women the "whole picture." Sen. Mikulski growled that it was an "insult" to think that women didn't know what they were doing. Naomi responded that famous abortionist Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League, only dis avowed his profession after witnessing abortion procedures filmed through ultrasound technology. "Oh, my God in heaven, this is a living human being in its mother's womb," Naomi quoted Nathanson confessing. "(H)e was devastated at what he had done." FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, April 30,2004 - cheap fuel. In return. Bandar wanted ironclad assurances that this time the U.S. was intent on removing Saddam Hussein. On Jan. 11. 2003. Woodward reports, the Saudi ambassador met with Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Sec retary Donald Rumsfeld and was shown a war-planning map. On Jan. 13. Bandar received confirmation of war plans from Bush himself, according to the book. At this point. Woodward writes. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice advised the president that "you need to call (Secretary of State) Colin (Powell) in and talk to him." He did so on Jan. 13. a few hours after meeting with Bandar. The widely speculated notion in anti-Bush circles that Bandar was in on war plans well before Powell is nonsense. Woodward writes of Powell learning in May 2002 of detailed planning for war with Iraq. The secretary of state's misgivings were no secret, but Powell knew what was going on and clearly conveyed his apprehensions to the presi dent. As for the price of oil. Woodward quotes Bandar as telling Bush on Feb. 24. 2003. that the Saudis hoped to fine tune oil prices over 10 months to prime the economy for Needless to say. neither Naomi nor Dr. Nathanson was welcomed on the dais with Ashley. Whoopi and Cybill. Neither was Democratic presi dential candidate John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, who committed the shocking sin of letting the truth about abortion slip out in a recent Newsweek interview. The procedure, she said, is about "stopping the process of life ... I don't view abortion as just a nothing." One wonders at the candid conversation Mrs. Heinz Kerry might have had with Rebecca Porter. Florida direc tor of Operation Outcry Silent No More, who recently attended a Kerry campaign event in Tampa. Fla. Porter quietly held a sign that read, "My abortion hurt me." Candidate John Kerry stared at Porter's sign while working a handshake line, but did not address her. Instead, a Kerry campaign staffer grabbed the sign and tore it to pieces. Emulating the Democratic Party strategy (remember, this is the party that banned pro life Democrat Bob Casey, the late governor of Pennsylvania, from speaking at its 1992 pres idential convention), the free speech fanatics of the Left did their best to stifle pro-life dis sent and voices of conscience at last weekend's march. They shouted down counter-protest ers and tried to hide pro-life PAGE 11A 2004." The Democratic cam paign machine expanded that into something sinister. Sen. Kerry himself, questioning whether there was "a deal" or a "secret pledge," asserted "the American people are get ting a bad deal." When Woodward appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" April 19, Bandar made an unsolicited telephone call to the program. King brought up "the story that Mr. Woodward has about the promise to lower the oil prices by the election." Woodward inter rupted: "That's not my story. What 1 say in the book is that the Saudis . . . hoped that oil prices will stay low because that's good for America's economy." Bandar agreed: "I think the way that Bob said it now is accurate." "Plan of Attack" is the end product of massive research and reporting, from which many conclusions can be drawn but not many are by the author. In television appearances since publica tion. Woodward has tried not to go beyond what is in the book and has mostly succeed ed. The accounts used in the continuing defamation of both George W. Bush and Saudi Arabia were not written by Bob Woodward. Robert Novak is a nation ally syndicated columnist and a television commentator. protest signs by covering them with their profanity-laced plac ards. The abortionistas got unexpected help from the Bush administration's National Park Service, which forbade many pro-lifers from displaying graphic posters on adjacent sidewalks. Nonetheless, the truth keeps slipping out. In Britain, a ground-breaking documen tary by filmmaker Julia Black titled "My Foetus" aired last week. Black is pro-choice, but says she "wanted to kick-start debate by allowing both sides ... to actually look at what an abortion is." Her film showed a four-week-old fetus being vacuumed from its mother's womb as well as images of the broken limbs of 10, II and 21-week-old aborted children. Pro-choice journalist Lauren Booth described her response to the documentary this way: "My hand flew to my mouth in shock. I swal lowed. I didn't want to say it, but the word 'murder' came to my lips." This is the true face of abortion, Ashley. Multiply it by 40 million. The mass destruction of unborn life in the name of feminist rights is not "just a nothing." Go ask your mom. Michelle Malkin is a nationally syndicated colum nist. Her e-mail address is malkin @ Comcast, net.