With their protest marches, TV interviews and petition drives (not to mention Ramsey Clark's claim that he is going to have President Bush impeached), they are telling Sad- dam Hussein that he is facing a fragmented, uncertain opponent.

If these people really want peace, as do I, they would stop condemning President Bush's preparations for war, and instead start showing a unified front of support. If they can't support the President, they can at least show support for the men and women in our Armed Forces. In most foreign lands, the military and the government are the same thing, giving the impression that they are for the war, even if they are only for their neighbors who will soon be caught up in it.

Many years ago, Sun Tzu told us to appear strong when we are weak, appear weak where we are strong, thus to destroy the enemy's confidence in victory. The most certain way to avoid war is to convince Hussein that, whatever else happens, he will die if war begins, but, if he steps down, he will be embraced as a visionary who places his nation and people above his own selfish interests. This has worked for incompetents, crooks, and dictators throughout history. Heck, he might even get the Nobel Prize!

Of course, he may be smart enough to know that the Nobel Prize no longer really means anything. But just in case, don't anyone tell him.

If you, my friend, know someone who has been protesting against the impending war with Iraq, tell them to spread the word that they are behind our military. Tell them to tell others that Hussein is like a playground bully who will play nicely only if he thinks that he is about to get pounded by a bigger kid. By putting our support behind the bigger kids who are about to be sent to the sandbox, perhaps Hussein will start listening to his neighbors, who are telling him that it's time to step down.

For that matter, his neighbors just might solve the issue for us. They have long since run out of patience with the Iraqi leader, and they really don't want a war in their backyard. So, it's possible that one of them will remove Saddam from power (and perhaps from his head).

The first President Bush, in the Persian Gulf War, put a leash on the dogs of war before they got the job done. Whatever other stupid things the second and current President Bush might do, this won't be one of them. Hussein's only chance to survive this time around is to give up power now. Like tic-tac-toe, the only way to win is for him to not play at all.

Protests and shows of support for Iraq only muddy the waters. Each sign carried on the Mall in Washington, D.C. is the death warrant for another innocent Iraqi civilian. Every condemning word on "Meet the Press" buys a bullet to be fired into Baghdad. Every time someone says that "it's just about oil," they push us closer to fueling up the F-15s for that first bombing run against an Iraqi presidential palace. Every "human shield" is just another reason for Saddam to believe that he is safe and doesn't have to worry about attack.

Look, people, we KNOW that Saddam HAD these weapons of mass destruction, be- cause he has bragged about them, and used them on his subjects, women and children that you think you're protecting. Weapons don't go away on their own. They must be used or destroyed. If Iraq had destroyed them, spokesmen and propagandists for Sad- dam's regime would be flooding the world with the records proving it.

By the way, there are some people in Utah who can tell you how much trouble it is to destroy weapons of mass destruction, since they have spent years developing ways to do just that. With millions of dollars in funding, they are still not through with the job. Iraq doesn't have the funding, they don't have the hardware, and they haven't got the people to do it. So, all of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are sitting somewhere. All it will take is one human error, one inadequate seal, one chemical reaction, and we will have the proof, in the bodies of those innocents who were unfortunate enough to live downwind.

Hussein's successor will help us package these weapons more securely, thus saving countless lives. If necessary, we can keep sifting through successors, until we find one who will do this. Millions of lives depend on it.

Worse than the risk of mass destruction is the fact that terrorists around the world are watching to see what will happen. Okay, so we shoveled the Taliban out of Kabul, but what will we do in the Philippines, or Africa, or Libya? Pakistan and India are trying to figure out how determined we are that they not toss nukes at each other, and will gauge their actions later on our actions now. China, forced (temporarily) out of the Number One Enemy box by the Islamic terrorist attacks of September 11,2001, is wondering whether the American eagle still is willing to use his claws to preserve peace.

This is about much more than two men, Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush, but what those two men do will mark the 21st Century as a time of peace or a time of war. We must do everything that we can to work for peace, and that means that we must prepare for war.

"Oh, thus be it ever,
When Free Men shall stand
Between their loved homes
And the war's desolation!"

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