The speech, I thought, was well crafted, and delivered well. The speech scared my 14 year old daughter moreso than the events of last Tuesday. When she asked, "What's he trying to do - look tough? start a war?", I explained that it is perceived that a war has already been declared on America, and our country's leader is responding. Yes, it seemed to me that Bush is preparing the people for the beginning of WWIII. As for the choice of being for us or against us that each and every country must now decide, the dichotomy is remeniscent of bin Laden. Polls are taken of the American people - are you for or against taking military action in response to the attack against America? and people are saying yes moreso than no. To what are we saying yes? How will the events of military engagement effect the lives of those people being polled? No more silk stockings? Gas vouchers? Electricity rations? What are we in for?

I appreciated Bush making the distinction between people of the Middle East and terrorists, between true Islams and those who would distort religious beliefs. It was good to hear those words from this country's leader.

As did so many others, I condemned the Taliban several years ago when they began inflicting human rights violations on the people of Afghanistan. It took an act of terrorism directed at us of this caliber for America to take a stand against a regime so horrific.

I pray that our world's leaders will look back and learn from history, and stop repeating the same mistakes.

rose