If you're still questioning the motives for U.S. involvement in the gulf, you're not alone. The cynical assumption is that we are in it for oil. But our own oil interests there are minimal. Are we there to protect our allies' interests -- the Europeans and Japanese who are buying our war bonds and loaning us money to defend them? Are we acting as the rent-a-cops of the world without pay?

As was stated in Congress, we have to show Hussein we mean business. This type of reasoning is in line with what we have seen from Bush in the past. The "kick butt" rhetoric of the Bush administration may appeal to a generation weaned on Rambo, as well as those who subscribe to the "nuke 'em" philosophy of American military superiority. This is the new world order Bush is talking about -- an era of peace dictated on U.S. terms, brought about by threats and intimidation, not diplomacy and understanding.

Initially, we were told the sanctions would take up to a year to work; now six months later, we rushed to war. The sanctions were working. The Iraqi gross national product has been cut by 50 percent. Hussein is growing weaker, not stronger. There are some who say sanctions are starving the children of Iraq. Where will these opponents of the sanctions be when it is time to rebuild Iraq?

A war in the Middle East will inflict untold suffering on this country as well as the entire Middle Eastern region. Bush is telling us this will not be another Vietnam. It will not be. Kuwait is a tiny region with no place to hide. With over 1 million troops in the region, a ground war will be much more bloody.