Tokyo Ted
By Jennifer King
February 4, 2005
As the destroyer made her way up "The Slot" the sultry voice rang out over the radio: "Hello, boys - you orphans of the Pacific. How do you feel now that your ships have been sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy? How do you like it that while you are fighting and dying your wives and sweethearts are running around on you at home with the 4 Fs?"
Despite the enduring myth, "Tokyo Rose" was never a real person. Troops in the Pacific came up with the appellation, which was used to describe a variety of female radio propagandists during WWII. Nevertheless, "Tokyo Rose" became American shorthand for "traitor". Iva Ikuro Toguri - an American UCLA graduate accused of being "Tokyo Rose" - was prosecuted and convicted of treason in 1948.
On the eve of Sunday's historic elections in Iraq, Senator Ted Kennedy took to the podium in order to stage a stunning display of defeatism, pessimism and vicious anti-Americanism. Kennedy issued a variety of outrageous statements, saying that the American military presence in Iraq was "the problem, not the solution" and that Iraq "had to live under Ottoman occupation in the twentieth century, and is now living under American occupation in the twenty-first." The malignantly magniloquent Massachusettsan further insisted that Iraq be "given back to the Iraqis" and that American troops should leave forthwith.
Senator Kennedy is a bloviating blowhard whose most outrageous libels are nevertheless overlooked by most of the media. Kennedy has called the war in Iraq, "A war made up for political gain", "George Bush's Vietnam" and - of course - the favored "quagmire". His Johns Hopkins speech, timed to play prominently before the elections, was meant to dampen morale and optimism in Iraqi citizens, the Iraqi police forces, American troops and our allies. It received prominent attention on Al Jazeera.
Nevertheless, on Sunday, the Iraqi people stuck a bright purple finger in the face of Ted Kennedy and all the liberal, pessimistic naysayers. Determined Iraqis were photographed, by the thousands, walking miles to the polling places. The handicapped and the elderly were pushed, dragged and carried to the polls. The Iraqis exhibited a resolute bravery - some parents split up, with one parent at a time staying with the children while the other voted, in order to minimalize potential casualties. At one voting station, policeman Abdul Amir Al-Shuwayli threw himself on a suicide bomber before he could detonate his bombs among the crowd. At another, the line of those waiting to vote swelled after a suicide bombing attempt. Iraqis spit on the face of the bomber as they made their way through the queue and one woman placed a shoe on his face - a grave insult.
Despite the death threats, dire warnings from the media and personal intimidation, Iraqis nevertheless gathered to exult in outbreaks of spontaneous joy. Many showed off their newly purpled fingers in victory signs. One man, draped in the Iraqi flag, held a picture of George W. Bush. Another waved U.S. and Iraqi flags. Men danced in the streets. At IraqtheModel.com, a blogger named Fadhil described his feelings thusly; "I walked to my station and cast my vote...then, as I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep, as if poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants." Another blogger, Ali, wrote, "Thanks again for all your care and may God bless you all and give you a hundred times what you have given Iraq." Baghdad's recently installed mayor (the prior was one assassinated) stated, "We will build a statue for Bush. He is the symbol of freedom."
Someone might want to inform our friends on the Left. The highly successful election and the visible and vivid exuberance of the Iraqis who participated in them has left them wholly flummoxed. Leftwingers have only now valiantly rallied in order to darkly mutter about conspiracies and the "60 plus percent participation" figure. A couple of lefties have also complained, in a chilling bit of unintended irony, that "Saddam Hussein did not get to vote."
Iva Ikuko Toguri was undoubtedly unjustly pilloried as "Tokyo Rose" and unfairly jailed. Other women radio propagandists like "Madame Tojo" and the "Nightengale of Nanking" were far more sinister. However, Toguri was an American citizen who was perceived to be working against her country and giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy at a time of war. Americans in 1948 were in no mood to sanction that behavior.
Unfortunately, political correctness and moral relativism has taken its toll. 21st century Democrats and radical liberals see no downside in airing their unbelievably convoluted theories, rabid anti-Americanism and loutish rants. It is to be hoped that their success at the ballot box will follow the current trend, as Americans get more progressively tired of hearing their country, their troops and their motives impugned.
Tokyo Rose got ten years in prison. It would be great if Tokyo Ted could get at least one.
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.