I am posting this because c.l.l. has been more than just a newsgroup
for me.  It has been a community.  I feel like I know and am known by
many people here despite the fact that we have never met.  Indeed, in
many cases we have no idea what we look like, or what nationality we
are.

I was born in what was at the time West Germany, and am now a
naturalized citizen of the United States.  My country is about to go
to war, and I wanted this community and the world to know where I
stand.

Just about everything Geroge Bush has done since before he came to
office has made me ashamed to call myself an American.  No President
has ever shown more contempt for the bedrock principle of Democracy,
which is that what other people think matters.  George Bush has
repeatedly demonstrated (and even explicitly stated) that he doesn't
give a damn what anyone else thinks.  He is a dictator who dons the
trappings of Democracy but does not embrace its substance.  When he
launches his war against Iraq he will be in my mind little different
from Osama bin Laden.  The next time terrorists strike the United
States it will no longer be true that we did nothing to deserve it.

The stupidity and tragedy of this situation boggles my mind.  Yes,
Saddam Hussein is an evil man.  Yes, the world will be better off
without him.  But Saddam is hardly unique in this regard, and solving
this problem by starting a war sets a horrible precedent.  What is to
stop any country from launching a war against anyone that they judge
to be evil?

Robert Bolt said it best in "A Man for all Seasons":

 Roper:  So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!

 More: Yes, what would you do?  Cut a great road through the law to
get after the Devil?

 Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that.

 More: Oh?  And when the last law was down and the Devil turned round
on you - where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?  The
country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast - man's law, not
God's - and if you cut them down - and you're the man to do it - d'you
really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow
then?  Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's
sake.

I stand with Thomas More on this occasion.

Thank you for your forbearance on this decidedly off-topic post.  When
the bombs start to fly I wanted everyone to know that they do so
without the consent of this American.

OK, I've said my peace.  You can come get me now, John Ashcroft.  You
know where I live.