The defiant have wrapped the globe in a banner that says, “This is not our war.” A banner only to be ripped from underneath and trampled on by Bush and friends. We have exercised our freedom of speech to rally against what we know is wrong, but still we have been ignored. Soon, the world will change. Humanity and diplomacy will take the back seat to American foreign policy. And a small nation will die.

Our president will declare a war if he hasn’t already that will severely alter the future of our world. And while he has made the case against a tyrant whose ruthlessness is unparalleled, he hasn’t brought forth evidence compelling enough to engage in a war of this degree.

Iraq may acquire nuclear weapons when time permits. However, North Korea already harbors missiles capable of reaching the western United States, and Iran is revamping its nuclear program.

But still we ruminate on Iraq.

Bush will act without the United Nations’ consent — completely undermining its purpose — and simultaneously eat away at the international coalition against terror that took heaps of diplomacy to establish. This offensive will counter any gains we may have made concerning international relations. It will be one more item on a laundry list of reasons to rebel against the mighty “Satan of the West.”

But still Bush pushes for war.

He has virtually ignored the issue of post-war Iraq. It is one thing to make the building fall, but it’s quite another to make it stand. Iraq will be a fallen nation in need of structure, leadership and resources. The people of Iraq do not want American occupation masked in American aid. The people want to be self-governed, not colonized.

But still we persist.

We will kill the tyrant. Do not mistake that. But is one man worth the blood of so many others? Is our government willing to jeopardize the future security of our nation to win one more battle?

This war is wrong. It is brash, hasty and hotheaded. But, unfortunately, it is what will be.

So move over Afghanistan, make way for the next war-torn, left-for-dead forgotten country. Its shifting borders and ambiguous map lines forming the word “reconstruction.” Iraq will be the new spout of refugees and, for decades to come, one more project left undone.

University Wire — California State U.