I am having a little bit of a problem with the elite media today, the elite media and the liberal left. I know, when don’t I have a problem with them, right? But today I believe even the most pro-media/pro-liberal among us would have to agree that there is a massive contradiction playing out in the headlines. I am talking about the retreat of a few of the more pusillanimous countries that have made up the coalition of the willing to date and the response to it.

With the Dominican Republic’s announced withdrawal of their contribution to the coalition forces now serving in Iraq we are seeing the mainstream media and the liberal elite talking about a collapse of the international coalition. Let me say that again in case you missed it, "a collapse of the international coalition.”

Now, I might be mistaken but haven’t the elite media and the liberal left in this country been insisting the Bush Administration has been "going it alone” in Iraq? Haven’t those affiliated with the Democratic Party, and especially their presidential candidates, remained steadfast to the assertion the Bush Administration needed to internationalize the effort in Iraq? Well, pardon me for asking, but if there is currently a "collapse of the international coalition” wouldn’t there have had to been an international coalition in the first place? And if there was an international coalition in the first place wouldn’t that mean the effort in Iraq was internationalized from the beginning?

(Insert the sound of flip-flopping here.)

The fact is, and always has been, that there is quite an international membership in the coalition that forms the forces currently serving in Iraq. While there may be some that bear a more substantial burden in the area of troop numbers the question begs to be asked, who among us can invalidate the sacrifice of even a single soldier from any other country? Isn’t the life of a soldier from a country that has only sent 300 soldiers just as precious as the life of an American soldier? Aren’t the injuries to a soldier from Palau just as debilitating as the injuries incurred by a soldier from Great Britain? Is the death of a soldier from a newly democratized Eastern Bloc country not just as tragic as the death of a boy from Sydney?

It would seem that the liberal elite in this country, the people who repeatedly dismiss the contributions from the other members of the international coalition assembled in Iraq, have forgotten their precious ideal of multiculturalism. While they scream from the rooftops about and bring suit to court over the need for diversity and multiculturalism in our educational system, our workplaces and just about every other aspect of our day to day lives, they themselves are guilty of dismissing it and even making it inconsequential at a moment when it should most be appreciated. They ignore the very existence of the multicultural and international effort being employed in Iraq simply because it doesn’t suit their political agenda at the moment. A more two-faced group of people the world has never witnessed than the American liberal elite.

John Kerry preaches loudest from the mount of hypocrisy. He has continually promised that if he were in charge there would be an international coalition, an international consensus. He has consistently stated that George W. Bush has chosen to "go it alone in Iraq.” In contrast, he has declared that he would broker goodwill and be a more effective leader by creating an international coalition through the United Nations. Now I don’t mean to suggest something that may be considered thinking outside the box, but isn’t it time someone tapped Kerry on the shoulder and whispered in his ear that there are a few more countries involved in the Iraqi effort than just the United States, 49 to be exact? Is it correct to invalidate an international effort because three countries that could very well have been in collusion with the Hussein regime didn’t sign on to the validity of the mission?

The idea that there isn’t an international effort taking place in Iraq is quite simply a fallacy, a pipedream created by the liberally biased elite media, the Democratic Party and the Kerry campaign in particular. In a continuing effort to maintain the internationalization of the efforts in Iraq and in the War on Terror, President Bush has requested the UN’s assistance in the forming of the new Iraqi government, an idea that I am wary of considering the UN has very dirty hands with respect to Iraq. Further, his administration has effectively courted NATO to engage in the military aspect of the operation in hopes that the coalition currently deployed – the coalition that brought freedom to the people of Iraq, brought a genocidal tyrant to justice and that is winning a crucial battle in the War on Terror – might complete their mission and return to their families, families that are located in 49 countries throughout the world.

To Mr. Kerry, the elite media and the rest of the liberal left, I say there is and always has been an international coalition in place where Iraq has been concerned. But now, thanks to your subversive efforts to undermine the effectiveness of the coalition’s management, the terrorists have bombed there way into the stability of that coalition. Thanks to your utilization of deceitful politicking and Vietnam Era styled anti-war rhetoric – and that is the only thing Vietnam about what is going on in Iraq – we are seeing some of the less committed members of that international coalition withdraw from participation.

Yes, Mr. Kerry, to say the least, I am sure Jane Fonda and Ramsey Clark are tickled that you are once again spouting your anti-war rhetoric, even though you misled the American people the first time around. To say the very least, al Qaeda’s hierarchy, no matter how disrupted, has to be happy with your achievements. Good going.

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He served as an editor and is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch. He writes regularly for GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.