We have a busy Forum. On it today was a post to me, asking that I pull all posts relating to the war with Iraq—a war which started in earnest today with the commencement of the "Shock & Awe" campaign. The Forum poster reasoned, not unreasonably, "...these threads serve to divide an otherwise fairly united community of tri people. My politics don't have a damn thing to do with my tri-life." So true.

Yes, it's my Forum, and I could pull and ban posts and posters regarding this war. But to be honest I haven't read any of the posts on this topic. I guess I felt that it was fine with me if people in this community wrote what they thought, especially because our Forum seemed to be a place of shelter and reflection on and after September 11th. But I haven't been led to participate.

This war is different than 9-1-1, because the assault on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and those trapped in the hijacked airplanes uniquely touched an American audience. It would've been a glaring omission for us just to ignore it. This war doesn't touch us in that same way, except for those who're over there fighting, and for their loved ones. Those who are most deeply touched by this war are the innocents living in Iraq. It's different when it's occuring to you, on your soil.

I have my opinions about this war, and they are definite. I am an ardent student of history, and in what it ought to teach us. I think history has taught me, and I'm glad for my background in history so that I have lessons on which I can draw in forming my opinion. But I don't see any value in sharing those opinions here.

I will comment, however, on my "continuing education." I did not think it enough to simply rely on the history of the Western World in forming my opinion. I thought it useful to investigate the history and lessons of the Muslim world as well. Some of this I knew already, especially about the formidable Arab civilization that flourished during what are often called the West's Dark Ages (you can't be a student of the history of science, which I am, and be unaware of the Arabs). But I didn't know enough about more recent Muslim and Arab history.

It was important to me to learn more. I'm just finishing "What Went Wrong," by Bernard Lewis, a leading Western scholar on the Muslim World. It's not a long book, and gives an important—I think—view on why those in the Muslim world feel about us the way they do. Interestingly, it was written before 9-1-1. Here's a guy who knew how big a problem existed between Islam and the West well before most of the rest of us did.

I respect the view that we ought to be going to war with Iraq, and I respect the view that we ought not. What I don't respect is ignorance. I believe if you are going to lend your voice in support of a war you ought to know why. In detail. If you are going to support the idea of peace you need to know the history of appeasement and you need to explain why that history doesn't apply here.

What worries me is that few of us really have taken the time to learn the issues—even those to whom we listen, those who ought to know. I watch a reasonably high-brow set of news reporters and commentators every morning. Included in this show are questions and comments emailed in by viewers. One such viewer wrote—prior to the start of hostilities—that we ought to "learn the lesson of Munich." The news commentator explained that this referred to the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. What the viewer clearly alluded to (evident from the context of the subject discussed that day) was the 1938 accord in which England's Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich proclaiming, "Peace in our Time!" This, after he gave the Nazis the Sudetenland, a chunk of Czechoslovakia (without consulting the Czechs on what they thought of this).

Nobody on this famous news network caught this glaring display of ignorance. It was stunning. And it was just a little bit worrisome, when you consider that this network is the one on which we'll rely for our coverage of this war.

You can write what you want on our Forum, about this war or just about anything else (our Forum's readers know the sorts of posts I tend to pull). I just have one request. Somebody please email me if there's anything posted on the Forum on the war worth reading, so I can go over there and check it out.