These must be good times for the people who have believed all along that war is the just and proper course of action. It must be comforting to see it finally about to happen. Now the rest of us will see, right? All the protesters all over the world, all the nay-sayers, all the French — they'll find out how wrong they were. In a few weeks (maybe a few days), we'll be thanking you, praising Bush and Blair, rejoicing in the liberation of the people of Iraq.

It was always going to come to this. It was clear from the start, or should have been, that there was no obstacle to war that could prevent it, sooner or later. It would have been nice to have swayed more of the public, I suppose, and it would have been easier with more international cooperation. But lack of consensus was never going to keep the war from happening, and so now they don't care. Decisions were made by those with the power to implement them, whatever opposition they might encounter.

Now it's come to this. Lying down in front of a tank is just going to get you crushed, so don't bother. We can be alarmed, dismayed, saddened - but we will support our troops no matter what.

We've sent thousands of our people halfway across the world to fight a battle. The battle may be just or unjust; history will decide, and by that time it won't matter. The deed will have been done. Soldiers are asked to make the sacrifice whether they believe in the cause or not. They will do their job because they believe in the judgment of their leaders. Probably for many other reasons, too, but it all comes back to faith and loyalty. We respect that, even if we take a different view of things.

Individual human beings will be on both ends of the bombs and bullets. Few of them will be presidents or prime ministers or oil executives. Most will be people who struggle to get by, day by day. This was true before the war, and it will still be true in the long, uncertain aftermath, for those who survive.

Some people, apparently, have a clear vision of the world ahead of us. They know, or believe strongly enough that it seems inevitable, how much better off we'll all be once this is over. The rest of us, the doubters and dissenters, will rejoice just as strongly if you the true believers are proven right. Forgive us if we don't rejoice until then.

Anyone who claims to be able to peer into the future is lying. President Bush has his vision, and he's willing to risk a lot on the belief that this vision will prevail. He's risking lives, security, alliances, our money and his own political future. The stability of the entire world depends on the questionable concept that he's right, and that everyone around the world who opposes him is wrong. I pray that I'm one of those who are wrong this time.