Pioneers in space, pioneers of peace? (Up front: news and opinion from independent minds).

President Bush has ignored the largest peace movement in world history, consisting of individuals who still believe that the United Nations' inspectors should have been given more time to disarm Iraq or, in the case of continued noncompliance, allowed to proceed to coerced disarmament assisted by UN military units. My recent experiences with people in all walks of life in ordinary places suggest that a vast number of Americans, though supportive of U.S. troops, are still with the rest of the world in rejecting the U.S. foreign policy. On March 19, 2003, four days after the start of the United States' invasion of Iraq, I watched several people--including one policeman--at a Starbucks coffee shop in Houston, Texas, add their names to a petition calling for Bush's impeachment.

In another instance, waiting in line at a supermarket, the mother of a marine who is in Iraq asked me what would happen if her son were exposed to the depleted uranium--essentially dirty bomb material--that U.S. forces used all over the Basra, Iraq, area during the first Gulf War and may be using again. I told her the truth: he would be at increased risk for cancer and other diseases based on the incidences that have increased over the last ten years among the people of southern Iraq. The woman responded that she'd regretted not attending the peace march that had taken place in mid-February 2003 in Houston, or others around the world, and that she would surely attend the next one.

As worldwide protests continue, virtually everybody with whom I have spoken since the start of the war has echoed this mother's comments, saying things such as, "Had I known about last month's marches in advance, I'd have joined." While the demonstrations didn't prevent the war and while the long term effects of this crisis will remain unknown for some time, it seems clear that the global peace movement is here to stay and that Americans will remain an important part of it. However, given our leading role in space exploration, this should come as no surprise. From the unique cosmic perspective of outer space, astronauts see our planet as one and speak of peace. The crew of the Columbia was particularly articulate in this regard.

On the morning of February 1, 2003, I was waiting with other scientists along the runway at the Kennedy Space Center, expecting the safe return of the STS-107 crew and samples from three biology experiments that we had sent with them. Given the unifying nature of space flight, it makes sense that one of these three experiments had been created through the combined efforts of a Palestinian student, Tariq Adwan, and an Israeli student, Yuval Landau. It is also fitting that, two nights earlier, Columbia pilot Willie McCool, speaking on NASA television, told his fellow soldiers in his hometown that he hoped we wouldn't go to war against Iraq. This was when Bush had just said that time was up for Iraq and Commander McCool surely knew this.

Also from the Columbia, Colonel Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, e-mailed the following words to Israeli President Moshe Katsav:

   In our mission we have a variety
   of international scientific
   experiments and scientists,
   including scientists from Arab
   states. We are all working this
   mission for the benefit of all
   mankind, and from space our
   world looks as one unity with
   no borders. So let me call
   from up here in space--let's
   work our way for peace and a
   better life for every one on
   Earth.

Not all of this, however, means that brutal dictators of the variety of Saddam Hussein don't pose a serious problem for humanity. Such people are a threat to peace, perhaps partly because they have never had the benefit of the cosmic perspective that the Columbia astronauts achieved. But we need to remember that a successful military victory in Iraq is no guarantee that the Middle East will soon emerge as a region of justice and peace. Looming over Bush's head is a state department report, recently leaked to the Los Angeles Times, which concludes that the U.S. plan to install democracy in Iraq is unworkable and naive.

I don't know how the United States will regain the respect of the global community and achieve its former status. Although, I think the United States can make a good start at patching things up by condemning publicly those members of Bush's own administration who helped arm Iraq during the 1980s and backed Hussein's use of chemical weapons.

The view of Earth from space against the background of the stars made it clear to the crew of the Columbia that the differences which divide human beings are smaller than the similarities which unite us. The best memorial that Americans can give to the late astronauts is to hold on to that perspective and live by it. From now on, the United States needs to take the side of honesty and international cooperation--treating its allies' opinions with respect, not arrogance. In the long run, this strategy is what will lead people of all countries to end war on Earth and to move peacefully together into deep space.

David Warmflash, MD., is a National Astrobiology Institute postdoctoral associate at the National Aeronautical and Space Administration's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.