"Vulnerability is a fact of life. And the stress of living in fear should be reduced by true prevention--arms control, disarmament, negotiations, confidence-building measures, and the development of international law."--Neta C. Crawford, associate professor (research) at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies

We are living in a dangerous world which is getting more dangerous as a mad president Bush is posing his armed forces to attack Iraq. Who is right and who is wrong?

This is an important question in the mind of any citizen of the world, and this important question becomes obfuscated as the war against the Iraqi people has been simplified as a war between good, being president Bush, and evil, being Saddam Hussein.

I am still perplexed on the way I write about how to best convey my truths of life, capitalism and war through these pages of Ensign. However, I hold the opinion that, after a few years of writing, the best way to write, for me, is to be brief, to be assisted by the editorial artistic images of Timothy Shire, to make references for any assertion I state, and to make sure above all that all my writings are possibly consistent so that an emergent common truth can be learned.

Again, I will be brief in suggesting the truth that president Bush is waging a wrong war. There is a shared understanding in the United States that president Bush is telling the truth, that he is guided by God, that he is a uniter, that he has the authority to save the world and wage a just war against Iraq.

If Bush is telling the truth, why does he want to attack Iraq in the absence of an imminent threat to the United States?

If president Bush is guided by God, why does he want to attack Iraq against the pleas of compassionate religious leaders, including pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama, and Bishop Desmond Tutu, and most of the American clergy?

If president Bush is a uniter, why France, Germany, Russia, China, India, Mexico, Indonesia, and the United Nations Security Council don't approve of this war against Iraq?

In last Monday's speech president Bush stated "This is not a question of authority, it is a question of will" and this make me question the legality of this war against Iraq as the Coalition of the Willing has been rounded up not by a 'legitimate' authority but by the will of the Bush's Coalition of the Willing made up by the gamblers President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. And a civil government has no place for gamblers.

References

Pertinent articles published in Ensign

White House President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours March 17, 2003 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html

Crawford, Neta THE BEST DEFENSE: The problem with Bush's "preemptive" war doctrine February/March 2003 issue of Boston Review http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR28.1/crawford.html

Duncan, Mike Lies, Damned Lies, and Ultimatums March 17, 2003 The Weekly Lowdown, http://www.weeklylowdown.com/031703spec.shtml

TheocracyWatch at Cornell University The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party: A New Leader of the Religious Right: Bush Last Update March 4, 2003 http://www.4religious-right.info/religious_right_new_leader_bush2.html

Ostling, Richard American Churches' Clergy-Laity Split on War With Iraq Highlights a Frequent Pattern (PDF) March 18, 2003 The Associated Press http://www.ftlcomm.com:16080/ensign/desantisArticles/2002_700/desantis768/churches.pdf 

Simpson, Jeffrey Washington's first collateral damage: its allies (PDF) March 18, 2003 The Globe and Mail http://www.ftlcomm.com:16080/ensign/desantisArticles/2002_700/desantis768/collateraildamage.pdf

Newsday, Inc Gambler-in-Chief (PDF) http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-currents0209,0,3917254.story?coll=ny-nationworld-world-utility

Times Online Blair to MPs: 'Back me on Iraq or I quit' (PDF) March 18, 2003 http://www.ftlcomm.com:16080/ensign/desantisArticles/2002_700/desantis768/blair.pdf