Aye--a thousand young men and women gone---the FIRST thousand, it tragically seems. If the American public are, indeed so evenly divided between G.W.B. and his challenger, Kerry, then the world is in deadly danger of careering to continuing and increasing catastrophe. Many thousands more are bound to die in this "war on terror". If Bush should win, continuing slaughter seems inevitable. The great pity is that his opponent is playing up his own part in an old--and equally pointless---war. Pity the Americans [and the World] that this most powerful nation can only bring forward two such unworthy and dangerous men to represent them on the World stage. In the absence of a truly viable and decent alternative, I am hoping for a Kerry victory; but he is the lesser of two evils as far as I can see. I hope, for the sake of the world and its children, that I am misjudging the man.