I agree with this comment posted on the BBCforum on the war in Iraq:

"May God forgive America for the crimes of its demented rulers."--Dr. Zeljko Cipris, United States

I keep hearing in the news how peace proponents could not possibly understand the complexities of this situation. I point you to the resignation letter of John Brady Kiesling, who was a senior US diplomat with twenty years' service. I think it should be safe to say that Mr Kiesling has a better understanding than most.

I have to admit, I did feel the president set a somber tone last night in his speech, and the start of the war as a very targeted attack rather than some form of blitzkrieg was a little hopeful. But I think that was just due to opportunity. The war in all its fury will bloom soon, I'm sure.

I hope this time they really do "take out" Saddam Hussein. I always felt that the Gulf War should have done so, although I realise the objective at the time was to push Iraq back from Kuwait. And certainly, we helped build up Saddam Hussein, so it's only right that we help "take him down". But I still believe that we should have the rest of the world behind us before we go violating someone else's sovereignty. This cowboy justice thing has a big potential for destablising the world peace effort and sets some very disturbing precedents. I know it's sneakier, but I always rather thought that taking down dictators was one of the things the CIA has traditionally been there for. Maybe that's just as arrogant, but it means a lot less casualties, too, and less innocent blood.

Only time will tell how things will go. But I know one thing--I'm going to look very hard at the votes for and against this war when election time comes, and I really hope we can get another leader in the White House in 2004.