Happy Independence Day.

The Tribune today ran this column by Ellen Goodman, about the "silenced majority." Her faulty premise is that people with yellow ribbon "Support our Troops" magnets on their vehicles are unwitting agents for President Bush in his malevolent plot to silence those who would dissent from his Iraq War policy.

How interesting for her to suggest on the 4th of July that those who advocate supporting our troops are really the unpatriotic ones. We all know the left believes that free speech means that they cannot be criticized for their speech. That point has been re-hashed again and again.

My problem with Goodman's column is that her entire premise is false. Type "Iraq War" into Google, and what do you get? Let's see:

• The Shadowy War.
• Web site on Bush drive to Iraq War pressures media.
• Cost of War.
• Iraq Coalition Casualties.
• Iraq Body Count.
• VAIW: Veterans Against the Iraq War.

The first site listed is National Public Radio's site on the war. What do they have to say? Here you go:

• A Marine Family Mourns a Lost Brother.
• Top Egyptian Envoy Kidnapped in Iraq.
• Attack Leaves Western Baghdad Short on Water.

In other words, it is hardly as though opponents of the War lack a forum. I am in ways ambivalent about the Iraq War; I don't like the thought of my neighbors getting killed or hurt. But I do not know how anyone could assert in good faith that the "truth" about Iraq is being buried by contrived, positive news stories. In fact, I find that I have to seek out positive news about Iraq, and it is out there.

Goodman merely demonstrates a favorite tactic of the left these days. Assume a defensive injured posture (which is, frankly, reflective of their recent political fortunes), claim that most people agree with you, and then blame your 'injuries' on the vast, right-wing conspiracy.

Happy 4th of July from the American Left.