When I was in the military I spent some time learning a fascinating martial art called "Aikido". This is a passive, and very devastating method of self-defense, so effective that there are never competitions in it because, 1. In Aikido you never attack and, 2. The damage done to the attacker generally requires hospitalization.

In the class we were taught to respond to various types of attacks. If someone swings at you, comes at you with a club, or a knife, we were shown how to disarm and disable that attacker.

One student asked, "What do we do if the attacker just stands there and doesn't try to hurt you?" He was serious, and then we all started to chuckle at him. Obviously, you can just walk away and leave him there.

Now, my thinly-veiled parallel deals with our current situation with Iraq. They are not attacking us, don't have the capacity to attack us, and aren't "standing" close to us. Why do WE have to attack them?

In spite of Colin Powell's efforts at the U.N., I don't feel threatened. If with all the intelligence capability of the U.S., that is all the "evidence" we can come up with, who are we trying to kid?

Let's bring the troops home and get on with ferreting out and destroying our REAL enemy -- Al Qaida.

Kenneth Turner Blackshaw

Captain, United States Air Force (Ret.)