I don’t want to lightly brush aside the observations, ideas, and insights of virtually the entire rest of the world.

Not only is that an arrogant and offensive way to behave, it’s inherently dangerous. While sometimes it may prove necessary in the end to disregard the prevailing consensus of opinion, that consensus should at least be understood and carefully evaluated.

I don’t think we’re at that stage right now.

For his part, President Bush has also left me unsatisfied with his explanation and accounting of his administration’s plans. Maybe certain evidence can’t be presented without compromising key intelligence sources, or otherwise jeopardizing our security. Maybe certain coldly rational geopolitical calculations don’t translate well into the strong emotions needed for popular support of a war in a democracy. But so far, he hasn’t effectively sold his program to me.

That means I’m left to choose blindly, based ultimately on little more than fear or faith.

Fear can, of course, be healthy. My primary current fear is that today’s hawks could prove to be as misinformed as the hawkish General Curtis LeMay was during the Cuban missile crisis. Not knowing the full range of armaments the Soviets had already established in Cuba, LeMay advocated an outright invasion of the island, whose results would have been catastrophic.

Then again, a certain amount of faith is also necessary and healthy. If I see some dangerous character with a history of violence about to pick up a machine gun, and a cop rushes in with his own gun drawn to stop him, I don’t want to step into the cop’s way and demand such a detailed explanation of the safety of his approach that by the time I’m done with all my nattering, the bad guy has picked up the gun, and the danger level has ratcheted up five notches.