THE ranks of the anti-war protesters are manned by people from all walks of life and with diverse reasons for wanting their voices to be heard.

The minority who can't resist calling radio phone-ins, we suggest, are those who drag the great majority in to the realms of ridicule.

They're the kind who tell us that the killing of innocent civilians was always a reason for the coalition to stop the military campaign before it started.

But setting aside, for the moment, the issue of weapons of mass destruction, they can't - or won't - explain why the rest of the world should have found it acceptable to stand by and allow Saddam to slaughter his own people.

A couple of thousand tragic victims of allied bombing, or two million summarily tried and executed? The two hardly stand comparison.

That's not to say the protest movement doesn't have a role to play in a contentious issue coloured by so many opinions. It does.

At some point, we fear, America will either stumble or deliberately and flagrantly step over the line which separates imperial ambition from doing the right thing.

The collective conscience of the world anti-war coalition will be a vital part of stopping that happening.

Until then, doing the right thing is no better demonstrated than by the actions of Christine and Deborah Allen.

They've put down their placards and thrown themselves into fund-raising for the children of war-torn Iraq.

A few more people could do with looking up from their navels and following suit.