Today...

is Veterans Day in the United States. It's the day where we remember those who died in military service, whether liberating villages from Nazi grip or defending oil pipelines during the first Gulf War.

I can feel cynicism creeping around my throat, trying to form words to express the dread I feel about this impending, inevitable war with Iraq. The reasons for it shift as much as the sands of the Iraqi desert, making one's head swim to find the best argument at the moment, the right history to compare events with, and correct outrage to bear.

Perhaps its the rush to war by those who never fought that gets me the most. Today, backed by the arrogance of superior technology and firepower, Team Bush seems eager to go to war without understanding what the costs will be. Lives undoubtedly will be lost, whether it be soldiers or civilians. A city will lie in rubble and all of our futures will sit in doubt.

I've been struggling with just what to say. I think I feel defeated lately by this slow plodding to destruction in Iraq. I'm tired of the slick Army commercials on television. The fetishization of military duty is turning my stomach (recent National Guard billboard: Wears body armor, manages an office). I'm tired from collectively mourning the dead from previous stupid battles over ideology or resources. We gather at memorials, we say a few terse prayers, we lay a wreath and then we go off and do backroom deals with other nations which will end up involving a U.S. invasion. The result...more veterans, more military dead, the need for more soldiers, the request and approval for more Pentagon funding, and teary-weary country ballads featuring sad yodels about how daddy served this nation and how the grandchildren (which he never got to see) will salute him every Nov. 11.

Veterans Day and Memorial Day, our two days scheduled for Two Minutes of Love and Respect for the military, promotes this romantic notion of killing another human being for national security. Maybe wars have to be fought sometimes, but we should always look upon these days with dread and sadness, pledging to find some other way to solve a global crisis instead of using a barrel of a gun.

Is peace so hard?