This country seems to be heating up with pro and con discussions about war with Iraq. Not too many politicians in the middle; liberals against a war and conservatives worried about waiting too long to stifle Sadamn. All agree he cannot be trusted, has lied and killed many times before. Most are afraid he will strike when ready without regard for the consequence, which he knows would be swift and deadly. Even more likely is that he would pass his most dreadful weapons to terrorists who would use them everywhere against American interests. One little suitcase bomb going off in America and the liberals will wake up again. Bush appears to be getting ready for battle and willing to wave the start flag no matter what Sadamn says, or inspectors find or don’t find. But many think Bush is merely pushing the envelope to instill fear in Sadamn so he will provide the world with the truth about his military strength. Then Bush would back off invasion plans so as not to upset the gathering force of peaceniks here and abroad.

It would be easy to bomb selectively and take out Iraq’s necessary facilities. We took out radar before, and bridges, certain factories, air defenses, military barracks, airfields, radio and television, water plants, etc. But this only makes life even more miserable for the people who already suffer plenty. I suspect most of Iraq’s citizens are just like us, merely wanting a chance to live, eat and have a family. Obviously they don’t expect much more under that cruel dictatorship. I didn’t feel very good when I saw what war did to innocent civilians throughout Europe. They bled, lost limbs and loved ones, saw their homes shattered, their jobs lost, their neighborhoods devastated. They were punished for what?

If there is one man responsible for Iraq being dangerous and a threat to the world, let’s take the war to just him, hurt him, humble him, embarrass him, and if we are lucky eliminate him. He has innumerable palaces, perhaps hundreds. These are testimonials to the &uot;love and affection&uot; of his people, show places, costing millions of dollars. So we test out our new weaponry on them, one palace at a time with no indication which one is next. Reduce one to rubble, give him a day or two to think about it, and then hit another. He never sleeps in the same place two nights in a row and his bed better not be in a palace unless he likes to play roulette with his life. Our generals get military practice, Sadamn gets worked up, angry, frightened, maybe gets the point, the people cheer, and we may get lucky. He can’t stack civilians in all of them and once they catch on to our plan he couldn’t force them to stay in one. He couldn’t even force the guards to hang around because palaces are so far apart he wouldn’t know. If Sadamn has hidden weapons of mass destruction in his palaces, so much the better – poof. I’ve sent my war plan to the Pentagon and fully expect to be called back into military service.

Of course Mary McCoury is merely a puppet on strings of the City Manager and has scruples equal to Assistant City Manager Herbert, but she did make the phone calls needed to chisel Andy Damiani out of owning the Phoenix bank on East Washington.

To me it’s just one more example of government against the people. If I were black and they turned that relic into a museum representing, my ethnic group, I’d be insulted. If the city can’t do better than that for those representing half the population, they shouldn’t do anything. The Dismal Swamp promoters wouldn’t sit still for so uninspiring a building. The $608,000 railroad station representing much more recent and less interesting history is far more impressive. I see it as throwing black citizens a bone nobody else wants and Mr. Brown should get no feathers in his bonnet for that crowning &uot;achievement.&uot; And there better be some Indians on that black museum task force, Mr. Brown, remember? A black museum should be located down in what we now call our Historical Section and I will be surprised if a black citizen task force accepts this pitiful token of little esteem. Do you suppose Mary sleeps soundly at night?

I hate to do this but I must come down on the side of the city in regards to Matanock Town. Chief Bass has asked for a lot and got a lot. Now is not the time to quibble over details that won’t mean a thing a year from now. If the Chief gets his back up, city gets its back up and the task force gets it back up it’s stall time. It’s not Bass versus Custer, just give them what they want, if you have it, and you better have it because a lot of us would like to know now that we are willing to back you with our tax dollars. It’s not that we are nosy, just curious how the place will be managed and by whom. It’s a fair question.

Robert Pocklington is a resident of Suffolk and a regular columnist for the News-Herald.