From Hollywood to Norwood, the media have managed to find and interview every anti-war protester in America. But something is missing.

There's a squall of anti-war stories, but hardly a raindrop of opinion from anyone in Iraq.

"Until recently, they were so terrorized that talking about politics was completely and utterly out of bounds," said Adeed Dawisha, an Iraqi-born political science professor at Miami University. He said he talks to friends in Iraq almost daily.

"But over the last week or 10 days, my friends in Iraq are now more forthcoming than I was. They want to know, `When is it going to happen?'"

`Please shut up'

And here's a surprise: The protesters who pretend to speak for the people of Iraq? They don't.

"I'm sure that every Iraqi here feels great relief that we are finally liberating Iraq," said Dawisha. "Then you won't even need to find out what the Iraqis here say because the people in the heart of Iraq will tell about the hell they have been living."

I asked if our troops could be greeted with celebrations, as in Afghanistan. He laughed. "Of course. This is the most tyrannical regime in the 20th century. The day they get rid of Saddam is their salvation. It will be the happiest day of their lives."

Gee, that's not what we hear on the network news.

But whom do we trust? Peter Jennings? Or someone from Iraq?

I trust the Iraqis who are speaking out.

As one Iraqi said in a March 10 Weekly Standard story, "If you want to protest that it's not OK to send your kids to fight, that's OK. But please, don't claim to speak for the Iraqis. We've seen 5 million people protesting, but none of them were Iraqis. They don't know what's going on inside Iraq. France and whoever else, please shut up."

Dawisha agreed. "I see people holding effigies of George Bush. But I don't see a single picture of someone holding an effigy of Saddam Hussein."

Bring it on

Yes, that is odd. Saddam is the one who has butchered, gassed and terrorized his own people. He's the one who is said to feed prisoners to man-eating dogs and torture children in front of their parents.

It should be easy to identify the evil bad guy in this picture. But some people still get it all wrong.

When 300 Iraqi-Americans recently met with a Bush administration official in Dearborn, Mich., there were 20 TV cameras in the room, the Standard reported. But there were no TV reports of the emotional cheers and support for war on Iraq. Go figure.

Dawisha hopes Iraqis will refuse to follow Saddam's orders to unleash any biological or chemical weapons, but he's sure Saddam will not hesitate to use them - even if he kills thousands of Iraqis.

Like all Iraqis, Dawisha worries about civilian casualties. "This is war. But the greatest part, thank God, is finally this nightmare will be lifted."

It looks like the Iraqis who have the most to lose have more courage than some Americans.

President Bush says the liberation of Iraq is about to begin. And the Iraqis say, "Bring it on." Sounds like a story to me.

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.