There's a heated discussion on at the 500 Citizens Network on Ryze - with people taking strong stances for or against war. 

My views :

9/11 was perhaps one of the worst days in modern history ... the horror shook the  whole world.  Yet, India has witnessed terrorism of the worst kind - we have experienced the horrors of terrorism for far too many years, and on a frighteningly prolonged and regular basis. You might say that India should have wiped out Pakistan ... to rid the world of terrorism, just as the US, along with some others is aiming to do.   

Is this the only solution ... when history has proved time and again that war begets war - or retaliation of the worst kind ?  Will our kids grow up on the wings of hatred and force ? With a certain callous disregard for human life ? Is this the freedom we so desire?

There are some who share this fear, like Rob Gordon and Eric Pederson : 

"The world was very relieved that India did not attack Pakistan. I think you're right though- it would have been morally equivalant to what we (the U.S.) are doing. Earlier today I heard that Turkey was sending troops into Northern Iraq (against U.S. wishes) and one of the reasons they gave was that it was to prevent Kurdish terrorism (I'm told that the Turks and the Kurds hate each other so this could be a rear situation). Hopefully this will be defused quickly but I fear this is just one of many genies that Bush has let out of the bottle."

And there are some who argue :

"If the common complaint on this board is that the USA is a big, powerful country with a enoroumous global presence - it we don't become proactive in fighting the despots, dictators and terrorist .... who should? With power comes responsibiity.

We tried many times in the past 100 years to stay out of the world's affairs, only to be asked to come in and help.

How many other countries have such vast humanitarian Aid programs? ... how many countries lend a helping hand to both our allies and enemies?

I don't see too many other countries rushing in to feed Africa (or by risking the lives of our soldiers to make sure that the food gets to the people), or spend money on Aids in countries other than their own, or to prevent Genocide in I don't know how many countries ... but we do it often.. and WHEN we do it .. it is just never enough for most people ...

It must be pretty easy to criticize our motives in Iraq when ignoring all the good we do in the world. I guess when you ignore those facts - we do look pretty evil" 
 

I appreciate there are views and views on this - maybe in this debate there is some hope :):):):)

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