[WOODPIE]

I hope the upcoming battle in Iraq will be a terrible and swift one. I hope no American or English or Australian families are saddened by the loss of someone dear to them, and I feel the same for Iraqi families whose only involvement in this conflict is the now unfortunate happenstance of where they were born.

I fear that this battle, along with the one the U.S. of A. is still fighting in Afganistan, is going to fuel the machine of terrorism. It is terrorism we are fighting a war against, isn't it? I don't see how keeping WMD out of the hands of terrorists is a winning stategy in this war. The trade center was brought down with boarding passes and box cutters.

I believe Americans are on the road to surrendering many, if not most, of their personal freedoms and privacy. Some will surrender grudgingly, others happily, for the false promise of safety and security. And that, my friend, will be when we have lost the war.

Ed