In the very near future America is going to go to war with Iraq. Many Americans are asking why we need to start a war with a country that is on the other side of the world and has no way of reaching the United States, they have no nuclear weapons, no submarines, no aircraft carriers, no long-range missiles, and no air force that is a threat to our land. Many Americans are asking, what threat is Iraq to us, that would justify sending our husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters around the world to face the risk of death.

War is such a horrible prospect that we have to ask if there is any possible way to resolve our conflict with Iraq peaceably. Americans should always cry with loud united voices for diplomacy and peaceful solutions to world crises. Before we fire one bullet we should be convinced that we have done all we could do for peace and we should shed many tears of regret that we could find no other solution. Iraqi people and American solders are going to die. Mothers and fathers will cry dreadful moans of grief over their loses. It is going to be horrible.

Have Americans done all they could do to avoid war? Until just a few weeks ago I did not think so. I was convinced that we were going to war for the oil in Iraq. I was convinced that President Bush was a big oilman that had conspired with big oil interests in the U.S. and they were going after it. I have never been sold on the idea that this war is about our liberty or freedom. I do not necessarily believe that bombing Iraq is going to be a deterrent for terrorism. However, I am convinced more than ever that we must go to war with Iraq soon and without delay.

Saddam Hussein is the reason we should not delay. The proof of his insanity is in his actions. The world is in crises over one man. He has the power to end all the threats of war with just one decision. If he would just walk away he could save the lives of hundreds possibly thousands of Iraqi people. He could take asylum with enough money to live, more than comfortably, for the rest of his life. His wives and children could be set. Instead he chooses to put himself, his family, and the Iraqi people in grave danger, even to the point of using innocent people as human shields. Why?

Saddam Hussein is mad with power. He thrives on the control he has over his people, and now over the world. He wants all life to revolve around him. He is convinced that he is the giver and protector of life. He is a god unto himself. Every home in Iraq must have a picture of him hanging on a wall. Death is the price that is paid for those who stand against his commands.

It is not our liberty and freedom that we need to be concerned about. It is the liberty and freedom of the Iraqi people. We need to help them obtain, with the resolve, determination, and tenacity of the early American revolutionists, the freedom and liberties we that we so often take for granted in our own country. They are a people with no capability of achieving freedom on their own. They have watched those who have voiced their opinions or betrayed Saddam Hussein, be tortured and killed in the most violent and unthinkable ways possible. Their children have been tortured and killed in front of the parents. Hangings, beatings, acid dips, maiming, blinding, tongues removed, rapes, and chemical testing are just a few of the appalling means of control that Saddam uses on his people. The Iraqi people live in constant fear of their tyrannical leader. They dare not be a voice for regime change, for that is a sentence of unbearable punishment from Saddam. To quietly submit is the only hope of protection that an Iraqi has for himself and his family. The Iraqi knows that if he lifts his voice in opposition to Saddam he may be allowed to live but his family may be tortured in front of him. They desperately need our help.

We Americans should never forget that we did not defeat England on our own to gain our liberty and freedom. Without the willingness of the French to send their sailors and solders to die for our cause, we most likely would have never won the revolutionary war or the war of 1812. Let us be as willing to help the Iraqi people in their fight for the same liberty and freedom.

I do not criticize those who stand against this upcoming war and strongly voice their opinions; rather I am thankful that they remind me how horrible war is. Let them stand on the mountains and scream of the injustice war. Let them never stop telling us that war is a horrible event. We most desperately need them. But let those who raise their voice never forget that they need those who are willing to fight to preserve their right to speak their thoughts. The freedom to such speech was not given to us from a wonderful king who put the peoples desires above his own, but rather it was won through war and those willing to die for that very same liberty. We need one another.

Saddam Hussein reminds us that there is evil in this world. We, as citizens of this world, should always strive for a peaceful planet on which to live. Imagine how wonderful the earth could be if men would resist evil.