No idea who you are, but I agree completely.

not that anything I say has any impact, evidently, and washes away as if t'were never said I am yet to meet one person trapped on this continent who wishes this war upon themselves. the pollsters are cnn are cia
it is a bought and sold deal no voice.

no voices. no shouts seem to be loud enough over the tom toms of a war waged on this plane.

violent revolution is all that remains, agreed,

who will pull the trigger(s) ?

http://www.votetoimpeach.org/
Sure, It'll have the effectiveness of most online petitions (zero). But at least it paints a different picture then you're getting from cnn or fox news. In fact, from what I hear its nearly impossible to find a man on the street in America who's gung-ho to go to war (what have Iraqis ever done to the US?). Even Bush Sr. is coming out against the war. I figure if Dubya continues on this insane tack, somebody will assassinate him (perhaps even his own staff). I just hope it happens before he causes irreparable damage...

couldn't agree more with you....and in case that worst case scenario you talk about does play out it was nice knowing you - and life was great whilst it lasted.

makes me wonder what I'm doing raising a child into a world like this sometimes...

my feelings about the Iraq crisis are like yours and at the recent peace march in queen st there were lots of us who feel the same. I heard an Iraqi woman say ' please don't kill our people in the name of liberation' and across the world there are brave and strong people stadning against this imperialistic and unjust war (there is meant to be such a thing as a just war for christs sake!) but the bombs will fall on the innocent and we are all somehow part of this horror. and we go on with our lives.

it's indeed a scary time when one of the most powerful nations built by the people, won't listen to its people anymore. the number of anti-war protests aand demestrations that are going on around the u.s that aren't getting any recognition is disgusting. Somehow "the greatest nation in the world" turned into a monarchy. with our current ignorant leader trying to finish what his father fucked up in the first place. Although all of the stereo-types that americans have come across ( no matter how many are true) this is the first time that i am truly disappointed, embarrassed and ashamed of what my goverment is doing, and more so of what it's not doing. if 20% of the country is agianst war, by LAW we cannot go to war. in this case with the over all general feeling in america, at least 50% are fully agianst it. aand i can say that with complete confidence. so why is this war going to take place? it's fucked up, no matter what the american people are saying we are being ignored.

just what I need after marching my ass off and sending letters to my representatives and fomenting discussion and argument at work and supporting passive resistance among my friends and colleagues... a preachy letter from abroad giving me an ultimatum.

well what can i say this situation is fucked

the "world" according to mr bush is on his side, we want a world with out weapons of mass destruction. we dont want these weapons in the hands of tyranical dictators, they listen to nobody but them selves, they sit around smoking hashish (and cigars lately) kill off members of their family, they are an assortment of backward races that treat their women folk bad, they wear towels on their heads, they`re certainly not christians and they sure as hell cant be trusted with the bomb! let alone the complex task of managing their natural resources, esp oil.

the similarities between bush and saddam at this present time need not be mentioned. both are threatnening to smash each other to pieces. but of course it wont be them doing the smashing or them getting killed. alas history repeats itself.

the emperors new war like the emperors new clothes is completely transparant. the "world" has demonstrated its contempt, with numerous anti war marches across the globe.

what is not transparent i guess is who is willing to play their hand first. who will pull there trump cards and what will the repucussions be? what the hell is global security any way. has mr bush ever thought to address why they are recieving so many terrorists attacks in the first place. was a motive ever articulated for the bombing of the world trade buildings?

no. becuase a reason would give the enemy a cause/ and some might think this cause "just"

Votes for Bush has only got us some ass..........

Funny, the very same people that are "pro-gun" are also "pro-war". They probably somehow see it as consistent and not contradictary. The origin of the right to bear arms was to empower the citizen to protect himself from a government gone out of control. Ironically, as the U.S. (note: I'm not saying "we") poses itself to govern the world, it's also taking the guns out of the hands of the very people that would challenge the right of the U.S. to govern.

It's depressing.

Don't believe the polls, which incidentally put support at a mere 55% and only with U.N. approval, which there isn't. I marched in a protest a week ago that mustered over 200,000 people (the fourth) with a violent splinter group of 2,000. My feeling is that the violent splinter groups are going to grow as the war starts. Of course they (we) will be labeled terrorists and traitors.

I've always wondered what it would have been like to have been in Germany in the mid 1930's and what I would have done. At what point do you leave? At what point do you sacrifice your own life to fight the obviously evil power threatening the sanity and safety of the world? Well, between the "Homeland Security Department" and the beginnings of an attempted global conquest, it seems like I now have the chance to find out first hand what I would do in those circumstances.

Interestingly, I saw a full page ad in the New York Times last week calling Bush and Blair war criminals that will be held accountable for their crimes against humanity. I find it slightly uplifting to think that someone with that much money is on my side and ultimately I hope it comes true.

Either way, the ("secretly" evil) benevolent cultural rule of the world by the U.S. is now over and it is likely just a matter of time before the fall of the latest great empire.

Hopefully [my daughter] will survive the ride down to see a saner world.

Well I don't really know what to say. Everything we do seems to be futile. We've marched (and marched and marched), we've pleaded with our politicians (congresspeople, senators, etc.). Nobody is listening. Perhaps the only thing that would make a difference is if there were more Robin Cooks around right now. Our administration doesn't give a FUCK about the ordinary citizen. I don't know ONE person who is not outraged by what is happening. NOT EVEN ONE!!! yet the "polls" state otherwise. The "polls" they take of 1000 people at a time. We are all making moves to impeach Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and Ashcroft but alas, the war will be over by then. We're all having nightmares, everybody is on the brink of tears all the time. We all feel so helpless. Not that what we feel matters in the face of killing so many people and unleashing terror around the world. I'm sick and disgusted and my entire body crawls with fear. I look at Nina at night and think of all the mothers who wonder if their children will even live till next month. I feel so ashamed at what we are doing to the world. We talk of leaving the country but in a way it feels just as offensive to take our US passports and seek exile somewhere else.

It's repulsive that today is business as usual. Today more than any other we should all be walking out of our jobs, into the streets. I think that people feel defeated. And now that we are defeated, in some sick way we have "joined". We have totally failed to make any sort of difference.

I'm absolutely GUTTED that my hard earned taxes here in Britain will soon be exchanged for a few thousand `collaterally damaged' Iraqi lives. I'm thinking about leaving, I don't want to contribute to this economy. I think everyone in Britain should refuse to work until Blair fuckin listens...this shouldn't be too tricky to organise, what with the state of the average pommy work ethic!

Hot tip for betting folk: The Saudis and / or Jordanians will be next on Bush's list. Shouldn't be too hard for him to cook up some mumbo-jumbo-in-cahoots-with-Osama that America believes (well - if it's on telly it's true isn't it?)...

Long range forecast America, in the tradition of so many other vastly powerful military empires in the past, will fall into inevitable decline and decay... their wealth squandered on weapons instead of minds

(Sigh)

True dat about hyprocrisy, your points on media and spoils of war are also quite true, (As I'm sure you know, a major platform/scheme of Hitler was to raise Germany out of a recession. He got loads of support for that. )War=Greed not morals. Who does Bush think he's fooling?

I have some thoughts on citizens of any country being "bloodthirsty".(i guess it was a rhetorical question, but many literally believe it to be true) For an insightful and indepth view on humans reactions during volatile times, i suggest reading "Wild Swans". It is an amazing, (not dry or flat) historical account written by one woman. She traces her family from Emperors China, to revolution, from loyality to persecution, and everything in between. The confusion /changing of ethics and loyalities during thoses periods boggles the mind. In fact, the writer's father lost his mind from the emotional/strategical whiplashes he endured to survive or protect his family.This book is quite humbling and opened my mind. Here's my point of view so far-

History shows us:
1. that ciitizens may openly oppose war while it is still "a threat" but when it becomes an "inevitability" those who haven't fled will "support" whatever their leader says-simply out of fear. A state of war causes unrest and panic obviously,propganda is at it's strongest, and survival instinct tells humans to stick together.

The fear is that strong dissent at such a volatile point would cause weakness in the government, and war obviously makes one feel vulnerable enough already.Therefore, people feel hellpless at that point-when ther is no turning back- so they Bite the bullet and try to support one another.

A perfect example is that citizens of Iraq are now saying they may have once adamantly opposed Sadam Hussein, but now given the circumstances are supporting him. (I say Americans/Iraqis are not supporting the war per se, no one really wants that-but are supporting theri leader in order to keep things as stable as possible during unstale times)

Generally speaking-Italians supported Mussolini, Russians supported Stalin, Germans supported Hitler. (Even though dissenters opposed or even plotted to rid the country of these leaders; the "majority" tried to protect these leaders.) America in general may be supporting Bush, but many americans believe that he is a dnagerous ill-informed leader. What can we do at this point? We protested in droves? There is nothing to do but flee or stay close together. Cool objective distance does not come easily to many during crisis.

2. Now the next historical point refers back to propaganda. The media is tightly controlled during crises like war. I personally don't believe that the vast majority of any given country support the war or dictators, at least not sincerely. How much are we allowed to hear? The media is tightly controlled right now in America. Did you know that no news is allowed to be printed without government agents reading and editing it themselves. It can only go to print directly after that, not befurther edited, or altered. The media is strong armed at the moment. Aside from that, how many simply don't speak out? It is not becasue they are bloodthirsty or stupid, just afraid.

I try to refrain from judging people (not policy)during times of war, becasue it is so easy to get swept up in it. Germans were not evil and bloodthirsty, although they "allowed" supported atrocities. Many families say they were unaware of what was happening exactly. Hard to believe, but it demonstrates how people are manipulated. I can't blame them as a whole people or country can you?

They were more likely fearful and thinking only of survival. What I would personally do in any given sitiuation might be very different from what I "think" i would do. (many of us imagine we are martyrs or fighters, but how do we know we can uhold certain beliefs at all times, and how can we judge others?

I am in complete agreement with you. I am appalled at the hypocrisy of the United States, and disturbed that a practically illiterate born again christian from Texas can plunge the world into war. I am sure that the majority of the Iraqi people do not support Saddam Hussein, in fact most of the New Zealand Iraqis I have spoken to left everything behind in Iraq and fled in fear of their lives. However, I cannot conceive of an Arab world that would be in favour of a US led military government for any period of time. The whole debacle reeks of pathetic excuses and unbelievable justifications. People will die all because a little man with a twitchy trigger finger couldn't find Osama, but at least he knew where Saddam was. And, goodness, look at that, Iraq has 1500 oil wells. My, my what a coincidence.

Leader of the free world? As far as I can see there is nothing free about being an American. 70% of the population supports him, patriotism is through the roof and the US media is tame - if anything america is closer to being a dictatorship than many countries in the world.

All we can do is hope that the actions of the US, not to mention Britain, Spain and Portugal do not destabilise the entire middle east and start a truly huge war.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Dissapointment and anger not only rises from the hypocricy that the American government is showing to the world based on its self-conscious vision as "the only super nation", but also from the pathetic attitude of the Japanese government that only knows how to follow what America says.

Japanese leaders are busy convincing themselves and its people why it's so necessary to attack Iraq at this point. Why can't the Japanese government listen to its people's voice? It's almost like Japan has become a US colony. It never says NO to US.

It leads me to think, "perhaps, Americans are happier people than Japanese" Their governmnet has at least a strong message it wants to deliver to the world, and the political will to counter the opponents. The Japanese government has none. Zero. What we see among the Japanese leaders is the absense of self-will and the total reliance on US policy.

"We have to support America's decision because US protects us from the military threat" ....? Well, we do know that this is why the Japanese government is paying a good part of our tax every year to the US military bases in Okinawa and all over Japan as "consideration budget". Yes, Japan in fact is a very generous, supportive friend of US. Well, then, based on such a strong friendship, Japan should be able to tell US frankly and honestly if it feels that it's not going right. Why, instead, the Japanese government chooses to fool its own people and tries to be loyal to US? Whose government is that after all?

i'm sick of reading the news and watching tv i still can't believe this is really happening

so much hate, so much lies, so much greed, so much unjustness, nothing but ignorance they don't even try to overcome this shit

i don't understand why this war could not be stopped, how easy it was/is for the americans to ignore the rest of the world

it seems there's nothing we can do - NOTHING! we can say this war is not a fight against terrorism, we can say it's all about oil, we can say bush is insane, we can say bush is just a puppet, we can demonstrate, we can pray, we can cry alone in the dark, we can think about it until our head hurts but we cannot keep the bombs from falling. i don't even know if it made any diffrence if it was possible for us to influence the media in the states so the people there would be able to see what's really going on. maybe it's too late for most of them, maybe they'll never ever find out how to use their brains. sometimes i'm afraid europe is heading in the same direction because politicians can do whatever they want and we do nothing about it. sometimes i feel so helpless and small. sometimes i hate everyone. sometimes i think this world is not worth existing. sometimes people say they feel the same but it's not too late, sometimes people tell me to keep fighting and sometimes i believe them. i wish i could believe them now