Just why is it that no one is mentioning that a war may start on 
March 17,2003???????

I know we all try to pretend that life is the same... but come on??
I dunno... but I am scared to death not just for me but for my family
& loved ones... in USA...and here in Canada.
Am I overeacting??? Thats my question I guess...
Any other comments are welcome............

steph53...

Overreacting? No, I don't think so. You're probably feeling what
most of the world is feeling. It's downright frightening to know
that one man, or a handful of men can set in motion a devastating,
destructive process which threatens to have continued repercussions
on into the future. Of course, I could be speaking about either of
the perceived 'sides'. Such behaviors can only spring from the
belief that fear is justified, and the results of the belief are
the behaviors which justify and perpetuate it. Silly, huh?

To end this foolishness, it is necessary to arrive within yourself
at a place where fear is not justified, and ceases to affect you.
When the vast majority have accomplished this, war will never be
considered as an option. Arriving at this place within you is, of
course, the goal of all the paths to enlightenment, and is a path
we must ultimately travel alone. One of the major and final blocks
on this path is overcoming the fear of death, which is, after all,
the biggest threat that war can muster. There are many ideas about
the unreality of death as a final end, however, actually facing
the fear of it is, perhaps, the best way to overcome it.

Stephen Levine has written an excellent discussion of this in
'Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying'
This book offers not only a thorough examination of the topic,
but a series of exercises which assist in the process of looking
death in the face, and arriving at peace with it.

The book is at Amazon.com, here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385262213/102-3754974-8098550?vi=glance

An excerpt from the book is available on TheBody.com:
http://www.thebody.com/double/levine.html

Another excerpt is on the Cygnus Books site:
http://www.cygnus-books.co.uk/features/who_dies_stephen_levine.htm


Short of pursuing that ultimate goal, you may wish to channel
the energy you are feeling into constructive efforts to stop,
or at least postpone the conflict. MoveOn.org offers many
options and useful links:
http://www.moveon.org/


And, finally, I'd offer you the chance to perceive what has
happened, thus far, in a more hopeful light.

I received an email recently, forwarding the content of a 
hope-filled speech by Dr. Robert Muller, former assistant
secretary general of the United Nations. The email did a
poor job, however, of making clear what was directly quoted
and what was not, so I went to Google news to look for a
cleaner copy of the speech. Much to my surprise, it was not
cited online anywhere. I finally tracked it down in one
solitary entry in a newsgroup. Happily, since then, it has
found its way onto a website or two, such as this one, at
GlobalMeditations.com:

"Dr. Muller proceeded to say, 'Never before in the history
 of the world has there been a global, visible, public,
 viable, open dialogue and conversation about the very
 legitimacy of war'."

"The whole world is in now having this critical and historic
 dialogue--listening to all kinds of points of view and
 positions about going to war or not going to war. In a huge
 global public conversation the world is asking - 'Is war
 legitimate? Is it illegitimate? Is there enough evidence
 to warrant an attack? Is there not enough evidence to
 warrant an attack? What will be the consequences? The costs?
 What will happen after a war? How will this set off other
 conflicts? What might be peaceful alternatives? What kind
 of negotiations are we not thinking of? What are the real
 intentions for declaring war?'"
Be sure to read the whole speech:
http://www.globalmeditations.com/Rmuller.htm


Please do not rate this answer until you are satisfied that
the answer cannot be improved upon by means of a dialog
established through the "Request for Clarification" process.

sublime1-ga


Searches done, via Google:

"who dies" levine
://www.google.com/search?q=%22who+dies%22+levine

moveon
://www.google.com/search?q=moveon

"surprised, even stunned, many in the audience that day with"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22surprised%2C+even+stunned%2C+many+in+the+audience+that+day+with%22

Thanks sublime1...great thought provocking answer and exactly what I
was looking for :)

pinkfreud: yes I am old enough to remember the Gulf War in 1991..and
although lots of people are comparing the two, I tend to disagree with
any similarities.

jbf777 and mathtalk: although the actual war  will be a great distance
from the US, I do not believe that there will be no " damages " to the
US. I do hope that you are right and I am wrong though.

Anyways, thanks all!!!

Steph,

There's quite a bit of mentioning going on here:

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=176963

I saw that Pink,

However, the answer is not there...
I guess I am  playing the "devils advocate" here.............
Whatever our world may look like in a few days time......... Who knows?

Steph,

Are you old enough to remember the Gulf War of 1991?

I think the number one reason people don't worry too much about it is
because it's not a war on our turf.  This a war we're fighting on
someone else's land, quite a ways away.  Granted, they have limited
capability in attacking us, but Iraq is ~168,000 square miles.  North
America is ~9,500,000, not to mention the UK and other allies.  We're
big.  They're small.  Real small -- in many ways.  We saw no backlash
on our homeland from the gulf war.  I wouldn't expect anything
different here, although there is the chance for suicide attacks. 
Fear, like loneliness and other emotions, are perceptions that you
must overcome.  You can die any day.  You don't need a war to die. 
You've got a greater chance dying in your car tomorrow than by dying
in some way from this war.

Yes, jbf777-ga, nothing to see here.  Everyone move along now, just a
small war against a small country, quite unable to defend itself.  We
never took that vote in the Security Council, so it really is
perfectly legal to do this sort of thing, right?  No one gets hurt,
well no one we necessarily know or care about... we are the great
Americans after all, the world loves to hate us for all the wonderful
things we do for them that no one else could do or would have the
nerve to do.  Things are great, great, great.  I was getting really
tired of having that Bill of Rights and stuff about Congress having
the power to declare war.  I'm sure very few people will need to be
held indefinitely without trials, and again, no one we necessarily
know or care about... hey, what's with those handcuffs... HEY NOT ME
I'M A GOOD AMERICAN, IIayaaahhhh....

Heheh.. hey math, don't get me wrong -- I'm not "war-monger"... but I
am in direct favor of proactively attacking any terrorist nations. 
Iraq included.  A continuation of the war on terrorism requires us to
do so.  Bush originally stated, "We will make no distinction between
terrorists and the nations that harbor them."   This questioner seemed
like he/she wanted his/her fears allayed in terms of the U.S. being
"damaged" by such an attack.  I don't think there's anything to worry
about in terms of *us*.  Civilians in Iraq?  Yes.  It's not a pretty
picture.  I hope the war is as cleanly fought as possible, with an
absolute minimum of civiilian casualties.  I view it as a defensive
move.  War is never pretty.

Hello Steph53,

I do not want scare you or anyone else out there.  But I presume that
we are all mature adults, and that it's better to know the possible
consequences than to believe in well-meant words of comfort.  If we
know what might happen, we can work collectively to try to prevent it
from happening.  At least we have to try.

Here is one set of possible worst-case scenarios, from a trustworthy
source: the personal briefing officer for Norman Schwarzkopf during
the Gulf War.  This is one set of reasons why I oppose the war. 
(Note: The commentator has left out the possibility that Pakistan
could fall to supporters of Al-Qaeda.)

"Commentary: Possible Worst-Case Scenarios If War With Iraq Occurs"
(orning Edition: March 11, 2003)
National Public Radio (NPR)
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/transcripts/2003/mar/030311.turner.html

Of course, the citation should say "Morning Edition", not "orning
Edition".  I don't know what happened to the "M" ... perhaps it was
required at that moment for those exclaiming "Madness", when they
think about what is going on today.

Thanks justaskscott: 

 I agree that yes, there can be very real dangers here in North
America and so very few people will admit to this.
Scarey? Oh yes......... but now its out of everyones' hands save for
the political bigwigs...and it now appears that war is inevitable....
I have just had an eerie feeling about this since the inception of it
all..
Mabe a sense of the future? I dunno... but what I DO know is that we
will all find out very shortly.
Although I am not religious in any sense, there is a biblical quote
about a 3rd world war that would end life as we know it. We thought ,
in 1991, that it would be the Gulf War....but no...

You may also be interested to read the thoughtful answer provided by
snapanswer-ga to a question six months ago:

"How to stop Bush?"
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=70660