As fire-breathing subversives, Ardeth Platte, Jackie Hudson and Carole Gilbert hardly qualify as Mohamed Atta wanna-bes - unless, of course, the Dominican Order of nuns has evolved from the teachings of Christ to the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Yet for simply engaging in an antiwar act of civil disobedience last fall, the three sisters now face tens of thousands of dollars in fines and as much as eight years in prison. That's a potential death sentence for Platte, 66, and Hudson, 68, who have health problems. Gilbert is a relatively chipper 55.

Whoa! What could these desperado clerics have done to be regarded as such a serious national security threat by the Bush White House?

Anthrax in the holy water? Replacing Satan's head with Dick Cheney's on a stained-glass window? Flashing John Ashcroft, who seems to get more puckered over nudity than David Caton, even if it's a statue?

Nope, none of the above.

It seems the three middle-age evildoers belong to the Plowshares Movement, an international group promoting disarmament, and they broke a chain to a fence surrounding a Minuteman III missile silo in broad daylight Oct. 6.

Two soldiers watched from nearby, obviously not feeling any particular undue threat. Perhaps they were products of a Catholic school education who knew it generally isn't a good idea to annoy a nun, much less three of them, even if you're armed with an M-16.

Big Trouble

Anyway, according to news accounts of the invasion, during their brief stay inside the silo fence, the trio of Fifth Columnists tapped the 110-ton Minute Man III lid with a ball- peen hammer, poured some of their blood on the ground, sang a song, and then - in an apparent act of treason - prayed for world peace, which had to be the last straw.

Clearly the Dominican Order's answer to al-Qaida was in big trouble.

The nuns saw this merely as a protest against nuclear weapons. The federal government saw it differently and charged them with interference and obstruction of national defense as well as damaging government property in excess of $1,000 - or in other words, sabotage, reported The Washington Post.

Uh, if three nuns wielding a ball- peen hammer can render a 110-ton concrete nuclear missile silo inoperable, maybe it's the defense contractor who ought to be charged with some kind of nefariousness.

Tried in the wake of the nation's Sept. 11 hysteria, and while the United States was at the zenith of its war in Iraq, the nuns were found guilty by a Colorado jury.

Look, did the nuns trespass on government property? Sure. Did they destroy government property when they cut the chain to the fence? Absolutely.

But good grief, there are people serving less time for armed robbery, car theft and drug dealing in this country than the eight years in the slammer three women of faith are facing simply for engaging in political dissent.

If there truly were a concept such as ``compassionate conservatism,'' extending beyond a bumper sticker, cooler heads at the U.S. Attorney's Office might conclude that a sentence involving house arrest, perhaps, and/or a fine and/or probation might be more appropriate for the Sisters of the Blessed Ball-Peen.

Just Asking

Could the harshness of the treatment of three nuns who dared to demonstrate against their government have a chilling effect on protest?

Chilling? Try nuclear winter.

Just a week ago the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was used to interfere with an act of POLITICAL dissent by a group of rebellious Texas House Democrats. And now the Texas Department of Public Safety has ordered all the records of the incident destroyed in violation of the state's open records laws.

Nuns facing stiff jail terms. The feds being used as political bounty hunters. Public records laws blithely treated like so many chad in the wind.

One more time: What was it we were supposed to be fighting for over in Iraq? What was it we were supposed to have won?

Just asking. That is, if it's still OK to do that.