I am curious - Where were the protesters when the Twin Towers were hit? Where were they when the USS Cole was hit? Where were they when the Marines in Beirut were murdered? And many of the other acts committed against the US?

We are the big guys beating up on the little guys? I'm glad France and the rest of Europe remember how many thousands of us (US) died to gain their freedom from the Nazis. Wasn't Hitler another of the ones that the British tried to appease with more time for weapons inspections? And the Euro community tried to ignore? And let's see - how many did that criminal murder? And it was just a poor little country.

In my opinion we have shown an incredible amount of restraint. We've asked time and again that Iraq cooperate with the process. And they have not. What they have done is known as passive-agressive behavior. They've lied, been deceitful, and coopted good people into believing they are just this poor little country that needs someone to stand up for them. The same country that rocketed the Israelis indiscriminantly (read civilians and innocent children being killed), gassed their own people causing a mass murder by ethnicity, terrorized their own people, are the epitomy of racist, sexist, bigoted, insular killers of anything or anyone who does not follow the party line.

I feel sorry for the folks who have volunteered to be human sheilds. Their good intentions are just that. Good intentions. Saddam Hussein will let them be killed for his own advancement. That's sad. Marching for Peace is a good thing. But how about a march to hold everyone accountable. Hussein needs to be removed. And all of his inner circle with him. The other Muslim country's leaders aren't being supportive because in order for them to accept his removal means they would have to accept something other than a dictatorship in its place. And that means they would have to stop plundering their people and ending their own genocidal actions. Not a happy bunch of campers there for sure.

And lastly - I strenuously object to the blaming of President Bush for the state of affairs in this world. It goes much further back than anyone on this board has memory of. It has fallen to this time and place to begin to seriously resolve the problems of the Middle East. I don't know if war is the answer - but I'm damned tired of what the peace process has netted this country. Jimmy Carter may have been the last of those who really worked for peace. Iraq either complys immediately or faces the consequences.

I realize this is not likely to change anyone's opinion. But I've listened about all I can stand. I've watched this country kneel before the world and grant the wishes of others. And for no gain that I know of. I'm proud to have been a part of the United States military. I'm proud of my service to country - during and after the war to the present. I'm not a war monger. I am simply an individual with opinions and a belief system.

Semper Fi
Steve