I don't usually say much about war or politics, either here or in email or on usenet. But I don't think this would be a real weblog if I didn't say something now.

Once the shooting starts (and it may have already started by the time you read this), the anti-war folks may as well go home and start working on your signs and slogans for the next big crisis. If protesting didn't do anything to prevent the war (and it didn't), then it sure isn't going to end the war or bring our troops home one day sooner. In the event that the war goes badly (however you define that), no "I told you so!" smart-assed-ness will accomplish anything except to make you look like pseudo-traitors who enjoy seeing the U.S. fail in every way possible.

On the other side, making a spectacle of pouring French wine down the drain and boycotting the Dixie Chicks doesn't accomplish anything except to make the people doing these things look like a bunch of ignorant medieval peasants burning some hated person in effigy. In the event that the war goes well (however you define that), no "I told you so!" smart-assed-ness will accomplish anything except to make you look like bloodthirsty hooligans who enjoy watching your military smash and destroy other countries as if it were all some kind of spectator sport.

If the Iraqis surrender quickly, this could be a short and relatively bloodless war. If they put up a fight, it may or may not be short, but it will certainly not be bloodless. I don't know which of these is going to happen. I do know that the war itself is out of my hands and its out of yours, too. What is still very much in our hands is how we behave towards each other during and after.
me