PROTESTING IS FREE SPEECH, EVEN DURING WARTIME and is constitutionally sacrosanct but attacking military installations is not. In fact to do as some anti-war protestors have proposed, to vandalize installations and obstruct military operations of the United States armed forces once war with Iraq begins meets the following criterion:

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION ARTICLE III. Section 3 Clause 1.

Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

I strongly encourage those who feel so passionately against the war, the Bush administration or America in general that if they are American citizens and are considering engaging in civil disobedience, that they stick to blocking roads and occupying non-military government offices. Because if they materially interfere with military activities to prosecute the war against Iraq they are engaging in treason and should be prosecuted accordingly. In over 200 years America's treason trials have been few in number, even after the horrifying bloodletting of the Civil War the American practice has generally been to let traitors off lightly. However, today there exists militant factions of extreme-Left and Islamist ideological zealots apparently committed to harming their own country; a minority among the anti war protestors they nonetheless will only be encouraged if their actions are brushed aside as merely " normal " civil disobedience. It isn't and we are not talking about the odd, mentally disturbed poet but an organized fifth column as has not been seen since WWII. We can't afford to define deviancy down in the case of treason and expect to endure as a civil polity.  ¶ 11:48 AM