After the September 11th attacks, our nation wanted to do anything necessary to protect itself. Congress gave President Bush the legal means to take all actions against any and all enemies of the United States of America. Just like after the Pearl Harbor attack, our nation was resolute to fight back. Other nations of the world were all with us; now the world understood the danger that was awaiting us.

The support lasted a short time, through the quick victory in Afghanistan. Then came talk of Iraq and Saddam Hussein. At that point the support started to back off as the images of 9/11 faded. There are some very important things to remember and here are just a few of the facts. Saddam Hussein was absolutely humiliated during the Persian Gulf War. The Mother of all Battles had turned into The Mother of all Surrenders.

Now we have the Mother of all Political Nightmares. A war against Iraq would not be a preemptive strike; it would be a continuation of hostilities after Saddam refused to follow the surrender orders he had signed to save his own hide. Saddam hates us with all of his life force and he would help anyone who would launch an attack against us. We know he has the chemical and biological weapons. A couple of small canisters delivered to a man in a neighboring country, passed to another, moved to a ship, then to our coasts. Guess what comes next. If you think that is impossible, look at the New York skyline and ask yourself if you ever thought the Twin Towers would be gone. The next attack could be more brutal and devastating.

Now we look at the United Nations, who also authorized military action months ago with resolution 1441. Now they are backing off. I can cite two recent examples of UN failures that should be looked at before we let the UN plot our strategy on Iraq. The United Nations sat by in Somalia while 300,000 civilians died of starvation. The “fire only if fired upon” rule for engagement with the enemy had our troops watching as the fighters of the Warlord Aidid slaughtered more innocents. Their forces knew that our hands were tied and did as they wished. In Rwanda hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered as the United Nations and President Clinton stood by and watched. The main roadblock to helping the Rwandans was the debate as to if it was genocide happening or civil war. How can we respect what this organization has to say?

What ever is my point? Many of our “allies” are now turning against us and pandering to a man that they do business with under the table. The French are the premier example. They are intervening in a civil war in Africa. They have been fighting there for months, attempting to help the side that will keep their ties with a former colony. They are not working with the United Nations on this effort, yet they feel we must have approval to go into Iraq. They have a billion and a half dollars worth of oil contracts with Saddam himself. Do you wonder why they are holding things up? Germany and France have also sold Iraq military equipment that is for the weapons of mass destruction programs. I know that they do not want this proven.

In many ways, the tide has turned from support to disdain for the disarmament of Iraq. It seems as though everyone is jumping on the anti- war bandwagon, using, for the most part, uneducated arguments to avoid this necessary action. Nowhere is this more apparent than Hollywood