You fight the good fight, MA. One of the ironies of being pretty much on the same side of the issues is that we rarely get to talk--our attention is focused on the opponents. As if we're individual warriors in one of those medieval swarms who often fight alone, and only get to chat after the battlefield's gone quiet and we can relax by the fire.

See how easily those military images come to mind these days?

There's irony in this debate over who's the bigger villain, and how Saddam's transgressions make our smaller transgressions acceptable: It's that moral relativism so despised by the Right. Saddam's treatment of his own people does not make it good to harm Iraqis ourselves. I think it would be more morally honest to accept that our own souls are tarnished to some degree too. The lesser evil, perhaps, but an evil nonetheless. We can't pretend to be purely good, and such self-deception will damage us in the long run. Each small rationalization makes the next rationalization easier, as we take baby steps down the slippery slope to, perhaps, becoming genuinely evil ourselves.

That's why you're being "more of an American" by yelling. You're standing higher up the slope and being an anchor to slow the descent down that slope. There's no hope today that speaking out against the war will stop it; but taking a moral stand early might deflect America's future course away from future debacles. That's something that I despair of the Right from ever understanding. They're caught up in the moment, flushed with success and and tumescent with righteousness now, but they don't see where it all could lead. They'll settle for winning.

It's been a rare treat to chat, Mary Anne. Take care of yourself, watch your back, and be kind to the berserkers with broadswords whom you vanquish with your rapier wit.

Regards to you,

--Robert