> What does everyone think about the situation in Iraq?

A lot of people who appeared on the "word from the man on the street" segments of last night's news broadcasts were smiling knowingly and saying, "It's just 'Wag the Dog'."

For these people, I have two things to say: "GET" and "REAL". This is a serious moment for America, and it isn't an appropriate time to indulge our love of titillating and scandal-laden talk show fodder. I'm none too pleased with our president's moral standards, and I'm not personally familiar enough with him to understand his character fully, but I can still say, without fear of successful contradiction, that William Jefferson Clinton did not just give the order to deploy the U.S. armed forces and bomb the heck out of Baghdad, just for political cover. Our president may be dishonest, unprincipled and lascivious, but he isn't a maniac.

Saddam Hussein is a bigger problem than our playboy president. Weapons of mass destruction will continue to concern us long after history has judged Bill Clinton's "presidential legacy". War, even technologically advanced "war by smart bomb", is a sober occasion. I'm sorry that we're bombing Baghdad. I don't know whether it is or isn't the best thing to do in terms of bringing Saddam Hussein and his country under U.N. regulation, but I am sorry for the destruction that is being inflicted on the Iraqi people. I'll be sorry if American troops have to be put in jeopardy, and I'll even be sorry if we hit Saddam's current hideout with a missile and destroy him. We might need to do it, but even if it is necessary, I feel as though we should still have a sense of regret about it, rather than seeing it as an occasion to crack Lewinsky jokes.

If this assault doesn't kill Saddam or severely weaken his political power, then I expect we can look forward to more of the same brinkmanship games that he's been playing all along. It's a pity that the Iraqi people will have to suffer through all this mostly for the sake of their leader's pride. I don't know. We can pray for them and ourselves, I suppose.

Iss