VeryVeryHappy's Definitive Position on War in Iraq
--The Obligatory Post-Protest Comments--

7,512,100.

That's the number of protestors out yesterday throughout the world, and it doesn't even include a lot of the lesser protests (for example: Lansing, Michigan, where 1,500 people turned out).

As all my longtime (read: since Wednesday) readers know, I am undecided as to my position on the coming war. I have heard good arguments from both sides of the aisle, as have all of you. I have not made a final decision, but there are some things I know for sure.

In sum:

I am not for war.

I am not against war.

I am not against anti-war protestors.

I am not against pro-war protestors (note the distinction between "pro-war" and "anti-anti-war")

What I am against are the people who feel that anti-war opinion should be suppressed.

What I am against are people who feel they can dismiss anyone who is anti-war as a communist, a traitor, an idiot, or a coward.

What I am against are people who don't acknowledge the fact that this administration has very little credibility with a large portion of the electorate, or dismiss that portion as communists, traitors, idiots, and cowards.

What I am against is the way this administration has represented me and my country to the world. There is a substantial part of the world that sees us as tough-talking bullies who have no regard for our friends and very little grasp of the consequences of our actions, and, considering our words and actions in the last two years, this is not an unfair opinion.

And what I am absolutely against is being lied to, about facts, motivations, and intentions. And this administration has done so at least once per category.

So what am I taking away from these protests? The hope that that number, seven million five hundred twelve thousand and one hundred, if it doesn't actually stop war, will at least go a little way towards stopping those things that I am so against.

Today, I am allowing myself some optimism.