ThePresident of the United States of America plans to attack Iraq. War may seem likean easy answer, but it's not. I have never been in a war, but I have been nearthe site of one. Two years ago I travelled through Europe and went to Bosnia. Iwill always remember those days, but not because they were fun - they were themost depressing days I've ever experienced.

When I got to Bosnia, thepeople said the country was recovering quite well, but to my eyes (and probablyto most Americans') it looked as though the war had just ended. Not long ago,Bosnia was part of a country called Yugoslavia. Its people lived just like we doand its capital even hosted the Olympics in 1984. In the early '90s, the countrywas torn apart by a civil war that began because some thought war could solvetheir problems.

The building we stayed in still had bullet holes in theelevator. A building nearby was close to collapse. Not many people smiled.Wherever we went, there were bullet holes or craters from mines on sidewalks,streets and buildings. There were memorials everywhere, especially where food andwater were distributed during the war; snipers would lie in wait and then shootthe people waiting in line for supplies.

Some of the people we weretraveling with had lived in Sarajevo which was the reason we went to Bosnia. Theyhad lived there until the war started, but were lucky to get the last bus out.They had to leave their father and didn't see him for three years. They couldn'teven look at their home as they drove away because they had to keep their headsdown so they wouldn't be hit by bullets. Just take a minute and think aboutgetting on a bus one day and leaving everything behind, even your friends andfamily.

See, most Americans have no idea what war is really like. It'snothing like the movies or even the news. It's completely different to see it inperson. I feel lucky never to have experienced war; the little I saw of Sarajevo- that was supposedly recovering - was very depressing. We have this false senseof security. September 11 was a flash of reality for Americans, allowing us tosee what it's like all around the world.

Saddam Hussein is a terribleperson, but if we invade his sovereign nation, it might end up like the firstGulf War, where we failed to assassinate him but ended up killing hundreds ofthousands of Iraqis with bombs and sanctions. Bosnia appears long forgotten, andeven Afghanistan has slipped the minds of many. Will it be good for the Iraqis ifwe bomb their country and then forget about them too because we're off to ournext target? Bush thinks he can end problems with war, just like people inYugoslavia thought it would end their problems. But war doesn't solve problems,it only creates more.

So think the next time you hear our president saythat attacking Iraq will be good for the world, for stopping terror, and allthose other questionable things he says - does war really sound like the answer?