I very much appreciate the dialogue taking place as a reaction to the antiwar T-shirt I wore on Good Morning America and would like to take this opportunity to explain my intentions so that there are no discrepancies as to how I feel about my country and the direction we are being lead in. Please keep in mind, these are just my thoughts and beliefs and not everyone will agree with my stance.

I'd like to begin by saying, I don't believe anyone who knows me who would argue that I love my country. I have spent so much of my personal and public life working for the betterment of our future. I have played for the troops overseas. I have done immense amounts of work and given tremendous energy to causes that pertain to the environment and to the freedoms we share such as free speech and our right to vote. I believe my music is deeply steeped in Americana and speaks to the opportunities here in America and the pride I feel about where I'm from.

I feel very proud and blessed to be American. My stance against entering a war that I believe is based on greed has nothing to do with how I feel about my beloved country.

In my mind, there are two motivators for action and those are Love and Fear. Any action stemming from Fear will never set anyone on a positive and truthful course. It is my belief that our desire to democratize countries such as Iraq, Iran, etc., is imperialistic and based on greed.

Why are there no discussions taking place regarding the possibility of using alternative means to fuel our cars, (our SUVs), alleviating us from having to be slaves to the oil industry? Is it because the automobile industry is a monstrous moneymaking presence in this country?

Why are there no discussions on shrinking the size of tires so that our cars use less gasoline, thus lessening our dependency on outsiders oil? Not only are we threatening our environment in real and tangible ways, we are being slaves to the mentality of greed.

I believe everything in this life, in this realm, is based on intention.

I have to question the intentions of those considering taking our young men and women into a war based on fear and greed. There will be no positive outcome from this. We will live through tremendous loss of life with the outcome being comparable to Vietnam, where we wake up as a nation and ask why did we allow ourselves to get dragged into a political war that could never be won, if won is even an applicable term.

We, as a people, are being bullied by fear tactics into believing this has anything to do with protecting our country from attack. I have to leave it up to you as intelligent people to dig for your own information on that subject because it is wide and deep and you will not be able to come to sound conclusions unless you are open-minded enough to go outside of the norm of the controlled press we are fed everyday.

NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GO TO SLEEP. Our culture is choosing to do just that because the issues are too much to comprehend. The attacks on 9-11 were forewarned. They had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein. And while Saddam is an evil person, the strategy of "Let's hit him before he hits us" is not a viable solution to anything. Terrorist attacks will continue as a reaction to the hate felt for our country. Why is no one discussing solutions to the very real feelings of hate and distrust felt for our great country and it's policies? One has only to read European newspapers to get a glimpse into how our policies are perceived. I believe the only answer to not having enemies is to start living as allies...not as bullies who need to control the economies of other countries. Ridding Iraq of Saddam will not solve the problem of hate for America.

And I believe America is full of good people who are not being given all of the information needed to truly understand the stance being taken on our behalf otherwise we would not support entering such a heinous exchange.

It is my desire for all of us seeking understanding to find truth, and through truth, peace. It is not okay to believe in the bill of goods we are being sold just because it is masked under the definition of "patriotism." This is not that. This is greed and we, as a nation, are better than that.

If a nuclear strike takes place, the devastation of the world's environment will suffer catastrophically. We are taunting Saddam by making statements, such as the front page headline in the New York Post last week saying "WE WILL NUKE YOU." This is not a game. This will be war like we've never known it.

I sometimes have to wonder if this urgency to get into a war has anything to do with what is going on in our own backyard with regard to the highest government leaders' involvement in such big business scandals as Enron and Worldcom or with the lack of interest in campaign promises made such as health reform and senior citizens' bill of rights. Are we not effected everyday by our dropping employment rate and our dismal economy or the fact that gasoline prices are skyrocketing? Do we not care that the government who is so preoccupied with engaging in war with Iraq is able to pass legislation that undoes any environmental protections as logging and wetland protection? Does it not demoralize anyone that our educational system is suffering more than ever? Does it not aggravate anyone that the mentality of government being bought and paid for is what gets the wheel greased therefore big business reigns and the environment and those who can't afford health care suffer and that our illiteracy rate is racing toward embarrassment?

It is my right, as it is yours, to question the way we are going about entering into this war. Can we not allow the weapons inspectors to do their job without unleashing such threatening statements through our media? I do believe Saddam is a real threat to the world but it is only right that we allow the process that we have been insisting on to take place.

I love America deeply, but all other souls that exist outside of this country I love as a citizen of the world. Our lives, our actions, our deeds are all based on intention. We must investigate what those are. Really investigate. This is not about seeking revenge for 9-11. This is not about protecting our country from terrorism. (Terrorism is based on inciting fear. Is our government not doing a good enough job at that by keeping us only slightly informed, i.e., the color code system of threat without telling us what the actual threat is.)

I wish you all the best and I say all of this, not out of ego for my own stance but for the desire that we all not be lead blindly into something we don't really understand. I just refuse to believe that war is the answer to anything.

Peace.

Sheryl Crow