Taking steps to prevent war

For those who believe the United States and its allies were wrong to invade Iraq there has been little good news, other than comparatively low numbers of casualties.

But one possibly overlooked positive has been the reaction against the war, particularly before it began. Perhaps we're getting closer to a time where the citizens of involved nations will demand that their governments find a peaceful solution.

How will that happen? Perhaps through demonstrations, though that may not be enough. Maybe it also will take lobbying efforts that point out the high costs of war borne by civilians through taxes, property loss and a death toll surpassing that of the military.

Or perhaps, women will need to draw upon the ancient Greek play Lysistrata written in 411 BC by Aristophanes. In this comedy, set after 20 years of nearly non-stop fighting in the Peloponnesian War, the women refuse to have sex with their husbands until the men give up war.

Taken together such measures might turn the phrase "preventive war" from an oxymoron into a way of truly preventing war.