After the President's speech last night, Tom and I were listening to a radio program on the net with an Iraqi immigrant that had escaped Saddam's brutality and a "peacenik" woman. He kept saying one thing over and over to her, that if she could answer his question, he would be satisfied. His statement was (I am paraphrasing) that yes, some innocent lives will be lost in the war against his regime, but it will be short term and it will come to an end, where as leaving Saddam in power would GUARANTEE more civlilian deaths and tortures, for as long as he and his sons and their regime continues. So how could she say that the world would be more peaceful by leaving Saddam in power? She could not answer the question, she just kept saying that "people like her" don't believe that other people should be killed and bombed by our country when we could be using more diplomacy. He kept frustratedly telling her that she didn't get it, and didn't want to grow up and face reality. He was saying that he may lose family, his cousins and aunts/uncles are still there and they could be killed, but that was a risk that they were willing to take because ultimately, living under the tyranny of a man like Saddam isn't really "living" at all. That is the bottom line, nobody believes that innocent people should be put in harm's way except as a last resort. There are just people that are willing to see reality, and are willing to be brave in spite of their fear, and this is what is dividing the country now as far as I can tell. It is masked in "peace movements" but reallly, it is fear. These people don't want war because it is easier not to face the stark realities. They will see any attack as being brought on by Bush's policy, they will not understand that the long term devestation could far outweigh the short term. At the end of this interview the moderator/DJ announced that he was in the reserves, and that he had been called up to report today, so last night was his last broadcast. The Iraqi man told him that if he was in his country, Allah would bless him, and he thanked him. It was very moving, and the perfect example of why we are doing what we are doing. 35 hours and counting........