?I want the world to see my son. I want America to see his face. Maybe then they will stop this madness. What crime has he done? We did not attack the United States; why do they attack our children? Is this liberation? Is this democracy? We are brothers and sisters to the American people. Ask them why they are killing our children. Tell them this is invasion, not democracy. Tell them if this is liberation, we do not want it.?

These are the words of an Iraqi father, whose son was severely injured in the first wave of attacks during ?Operation Iraqi Freedom,? as recorded by Shane Claiborne, a member of the Iraq Peace Team (iraqpeaceteam.org), a group committed to living alongside the Iraqi people and reporting their experiences. We have all been exposed to a lot of statements, statistics and analyses in the past week, but I hope that this quote is especially resonant.

Through all of the politics and propaganda, it can be easy to look at this war as an ?issue? whether for or against it. This is not an ?issue? for the Iraqi people; it is life. We can watch footage of buildings explode, but we cannot see inside of them. We cannot see how many lives are destroyed in the name of deliverance. And we cannot see five, 10 years from now what Iraq will be like. They are having their destiny, for better or worse, forced upon them.

I sincerely hope that people like me are wrong and that the Iraqi people gain the freedom and safety that they so deserve. But if history (U.S. interventions in Chile, Iran, El Salvador, Angola, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc.) is any teacher … well, here?s to hoping.

Unless this war drags on for an unreasonable amount of time, there will be no stopping it. In reality, there may have never been any stopping it. That is not meant to sound fatalistic; quite the opposite. It only means that we must analyze and adapt. They did not listen. We must make them listen. The movement must grow in numbers, strength and confidence if it is to survive. Responsible U.S. citizens must take it upon themselves to discover the truth by exposing themselves not only to the mainstream media but to all sources available.

Now more than ever, we cannot simply fall into line as our senators and representatives have, stating that dissent must be pushed aside in order to ?support the troops.? That phrase will be used, as it has been in the past, to squash anti-war sentiment, as if speaking out against an unjust war means that one is somehow disrespecting the men and women in uniform.

?Supporting the troops? does not mean listening to Toby Keith, eating ?freedom fries? and blindly following our president down the path of endless imperialist war. It should mean being genuinely concerned for their well-being and speaking out when you feel that they are being put into harm?s way unnecessarily.

I have quite a few friends in the military. A lot of students on this campus do. They are some of the most thoughtful and intelligent people that I know. Many have their doubts about this war but do what they are told to do when it becomes necessary.

They understand that anti-war actions are not in any way about the soldiers themselves, many of whom are working-class kids simply trying to pay for college. Demonstrations and other activities are directed at the hypocrisy of our leaders, at the unfairness of the system and at those who need to understand what the people feel. If anyone disrespects an individual soldier under the flag of this anti-war movement, they are missing the point and have no place among the real anti-war activists.

But always keep in mind: Supporting the troops never meant supporting the war.

So do not be afraid to speak out and act. If ?patriotism? means supporting a country that has no regard for human rights, don?t be a patriot; be a moral human being. U.N. estimates for the amount of damage that this war will cause are staggering: 500,000 civilian casualties, 10 million with inadequate food, 18 million without access to clean water; Baghdad is a city of five million — smart bombs or not, a lot of its citizens have been and will be hurt. All in the name of liberation.

And what of the future? Damage to the already-frail electrical grid, water system and basic infrastructure is bound to have some effect on the populace. Before the war, 65 percent of the people depended on food aid. As the war starts, that aid stops. This is a situation that demands action. This is history; let our children judge us for the actions that we take now. If we cannot stop this war, then let us stop the next one. Let us fight the system that creates war. Let us do whatever the hell we can.

This is not as bad as it can get. Even if we cannot stop this war, for the sake of the future, we cannot afford to be silent.

Kyle Myhre ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in English.