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I haven�t been around D-land as much as usual lately, so yesterday I went trolling, catching up on entries I have missed over the past several days.

Now, ya�ll know that I love SaveCraig. He�s hilarious and if you haven�t checked out his witticisms yet, I highly suggest you do so. A few days ago, he strayed away from the humor to ask what I think is a valid question. In addition to his question, my sister (who is almost as Liberal in her politics as I, but not quite so) was voicing her frustrations with the whole anti-war movement and some of the wackadoos involved. She is against the war, but doesn�t really want to be lumped in with people who appear to be speaking from some orifice other than their brains.

Both SaveCraig and Bobbi brought up some valid points and got me thinking. In the midst of the emotions which understandably surround the anti-war movement, a lot of logic and law gets lost in the translation. Both sides have this problem, in my estimation. Therefore, although I do not presume to speak for everyone involved in the peace movement, here is my position (and I will make every attempt to keep emotions out of it, although if you read through the emotional tirades in my previous entries on this topic, you will have read much of this before):

I think we can all agree that war is bad.

I think we can all also agree that Saddam Hussein is not a nice guy. I don�t trust him; I don�t think he should have nukes or any biological or chemical weapons (but then I don�t think any of us should have them). I agree with George Dubya that by all appearances Saddam is evil and I would like nothing more than for him to step down. In fact, although I hate to say it, I would be really happy if someone up and killed the dude, because I don�t trust that if he steps down (or is forced in to exile) we will have heard the last from him. In fact, I wish someone had done him in a long time ago. It is not my assertion (nor is it anyone�s that I know of, Liberal or no) that Saddam is the �good guy� in this scenario. It is only in HOW to get him out of power that my opinions diverge from the current US Administration�s. It is in what steps we have the right to take that our roads diverge.

I do not disagree with George Dubya�s position in regard to Iraq because I think he is an evil war-monger. Don�t get me wrong, I have little-to-no respect for the man and his lack of wattage in the cerebral area, but I don�t necessarily think he is the �bad guy�. My opinion is that he�s basically a decent person who wants to do the right thing, but he�s stupid and is letting other people in his cabinet do his thinking for him. Well, that and he just can�t seem to keep his cowboy mouth shut, no matter how stupid the words that are spewing from it. And though I do find him to be �less than truthful� I am not so ignorant as to think he is the only politician to whom this applies, or even that Democrats are immune to the dishonesty disease. Such is the state of politics, sadly. Show me a Democrat who�s a liar and I�ll say he/she is one, just as I have in the past and just as I now say George is one (although frankly, half the time I just think he has a hard time keeping track of the facts and when we think he�s lying he may have just�lost his way�)

My opinion of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney is not nearly so generous, by the way.

I think we can all agree that if a peaceable solution to our current crisis with Iraq is to be found, it would be better than going to war. What I do not believe is that we are looking hard enough for a peaceable solution. We seem determined to go to war and why is that, precisely?

I do not believe that we have been provided with sufficient proof that Iraq is hording the weapons we assert them to be. Sure, they probably are. But when we�re talking about blowing a country and its people to bits, we�d better be damn sure. And that means � show me the money.

And yes, you�re damn right I feel I deserve to be shown. I do not believe it is right for American Presidents to do whatever the hell they want to do once voted in to office. I believe that they still answer to us, the people (and not just because they want to be re-elected). I believe that they still answer to the world at large. So, as I said before: Show Me The Money.

Assuming that Iraq does have the weapons, I do not believe that this alone is a reason to go to war. In fact, it would be more of a reason to do everything we can to avoid one because if anyone is going to use a nuke or some other �weapon of mass destruction� it�s Saddam Hussein. Our Administration loves to talk about how evil and insane he is. By doing so, they prove my point. If we attack and he kills thousands of innocent people, his own or not, aren't we just as responsible for those deaths since we knew it was going to happen and dropped our bombs anyway, without doing everything we possibly could to avoid doing so? Yeah, he�s evil. He has used chemical and probably biological weapons before. You think he�s not going to use them now, when under this kind of pressure and possible attack? If he's got a nuke, you don't think he'd use it? He�s wacko! He obviously doesn�t care about his own people and he sure as hell doesn�t care about anyone else. Even if you do not care about the people living in that region, our military is going to be there, folks. Ask the people that were there before. An astonishing percentage of our vets from the first Gulf War are on disability right now. Sadly, I do not recall the exact figure, but it hovers somewhere around 62% (the exact figure is probably noted somewhere in my past rants). They suffer mysterious diseases and nobody can figure out how they got them (and if you really believe that our military doctors don�t know, I�ve got some nice swamp land you may be interested in). It�s only going to be worse this time; I think we can all agree on that.

I do not believe our Administration is plotting this war based on humanitarian issues. I�ve said it before � there are a number of Dictators on this planet who are as bad if not worse than Saddam and we just plain don�t give a flying fuck. When we use as much military might in an effort to defend the innocent in Africa and South America, I will buy this argument. Until then, do not insult my intelligence. While I think this is a valid reason for we as citizens to support the war effort (those of you who do), I do not believe that in reality it has anything to do with why we as a country are willing to go to war.

If it is our assertion that Saddam�s Human Rights abuses are in part the reason we are eager to go to war, then we need to practice what we preach. In contrast, I believe that we have adopted unlawful and unethical procedures when dealing with our �Prisoners of War� as we like to call them, whether in Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere.

I believe that the current Administration took full advantage of what is/was a terrifying and heartbreaking national tragedy, namely the terrorist attacks against us on Sept. 11, 2001, to justify a number of actions which are patently un-American. They took advantage of our justifiable fears to make it easier to spy on everybody via "an increase in security" everywhere you look, wiretaps, internet eavesdropping, etc. These days, one is unable to even attend a Peace Rally without having your picture taken and a file set up at the offices of the FBI. If you think I�m talking out of my ass or being paranoid, then you are just wrong. For God�s sake, don�t take my word for it. Look in to it. Prove me wrong, please. Because even though I�m harmless and mean nothing in the great vast scheme of things, I feel somewhat certain that activities I have partaken in recently have raised some red flags at our nation�s capital. It�s happened to others who are just as innocuous as I. The laws that once protected our civil liberties have been changed and Dubya and his flunkies want to change more of them. This is not America. At least, it�s not the one I was raised to love and respect and that is the one I want back. Again � you think I�m wrong, then prove it to me and I�ll be the first to write a rebuttal. I WANT to be wrong about these things.

I don�t think Dubya even expected the flack he�s getting about this. Since everyone was so willing to give up their rights, one by one, right after 9/11 (how many times have you heard "If it means my safety, then I'm willing to give up some of my personal freedoms"?); since most people at that time just thought Dubya could do no wrong; since everyone was all gung-ho to go out and get revenge for the violence inflicted on us, he just thought he had the green light to sound the cavalry call and get the guns rolling.

And this brings me to the main thrust of my position, which has been all along: I do not believe that America should become what we are fighting against.

I do not believe that we have the legal right to attack a sovereign nation who has not attacked us. Period. Even if you ignore everything else � we are about to break international law. Why is it you think so many countries have an issue with our attacking Iraq? You think the Germans, the Russians and the French are all in love with Saddam? Bullshit. Since when is it right to launch a full-on military attack against a country because of what you fear may happen in the future, somewhere down the line?

Iraq did not attack us on Sept. 11, 2001. Even Dubya has said that he has no proof that Iraq is supporting Al Qaeda (the ones who were actually behind the attack, remember?). Well, he admits that, depending on what day it is and who coached him on today's comments...So how are we justified in attacking them and not the dozens of other countries who have "weapons of mass destruction"? Oh yeah, we skirted this issue by declaring that the first Gulf War never ended. Which was news to me. And probably news to the Clinton Administration who were apparently involved in a war for eight years, unbeknownst to them. I do not believe any of it. I believe we made that up so that we would appear not to be breaking international law when we let the bombs fly.

I believe we are acting like arrogant sons of bitches when we say things like, �Fuck the rest of the world, we are Americans and therefore inherently right. We�re gonna do whatever the hell we want to do and bomb whoever the hell we want to bomb and if the rest of you don�t like it, well that�s just tough shit. Because we helped you out of WWII or because we assisted you when you had that flood fifty years ago or whatever other excuse we can come up with, we think we have the right to now act like tyrants and we also think you should support us because, you know, if it wasn�t for us you�d all be speaking German right now.� And yet we say it every f�n day. Ot at least Donald Rumsfeld does.

And let me also remind everybody, since we're on the whole "You all would be speaking German, if not for us" subject, that if we're so intent on drudging up history in this manner we should also remember that we wouldn't even have a country without the assistance of the French during the Revolution.

People should not support us just because we�re America. "America" does not automatically equal "right". Actions do. And wouldn�t you rather they support us because we are RIGHT?

I believe that some Iraqis and a whole lot of Muslims think we are just as wrong as we think they are. I believe that they think we are just as evil as we think they are. I believe that they believe WE are the �Axis of Evil�.

So who is right?

Who is it that right now is so willing to break international law?

Who is it that right now is publicly planning an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation?

Who is it that right now is torturing political prisoners?

Who is it that right now is spying on its citizens who have the balls to stand up and say, �Hey � stop the insanity already!�?

Who is it that is lying to its citizens in an effort to gain their support?

Who is it that doesn�t feel the need to dispose of any of its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons?

Who is it that feels they have the right to militarily take over another country and tell its people who should be placed in office?

Is it Iraq? Probably � at least to most of these questions.

But it most certainly is the United States of America. And I say again - this is not America. This is the type of tyranny that we, in theory, are supposed to oppose.

I am an American. In the words of Little Steven, "I am a patriot and I love my country". I also expect it to live up to its laws, its Bill of Rights, its Constitution; the very principles on which it was founded.

I believe that if we insist on presenting ourselves to the world in all our moral superiority, then we should start walking the walk, instead of just talking the talk. I believe that we can not allow our fear of terrorists to entice us into slipping in to terrorist behaviors. We can not become the hate that we fear. Replacing one form of terror with another solves nothing.

I hope this clears up the matter of why I am opposed to this war at this time. It has nothing to do with being Liberal, Democrat, Conservative, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Jehovah�s Witness or anything of that nature. It has nothing to do with picking flowers, smoking pot and attempting to live on a commune in some hippie-nirvana, eating nothing but granola and organic vegetables. It has to do with the law; with logic. It has to do with being a human being.

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