Those who lead us so bravely into war never seem to carry
any weapons
Those forced to do the dying never had a quarrel with those
they are told to kill
Merchants profiting, go dressed as patriots and keep their
children safe at home
Society must fill the youth who might refuse them with the
guilt of cowardly traitors
Politicians call upon the lord to bless us in our righteous
struggle with the heathen
Mothers sigh and shake their heads as they wipe away their
bitter tears
Propaganda tells of our great victories and of enemies who
would eat our children
Crippled soldiers return lost and mortally embittered by the
pursuit of duty’s glory
The military is instructed to keep the flag-draped coffins
away from the public’s eyes
Thus does every small town come to realize, that only its
heroes come home in caskets
Leaders demand support for their false causes so that our
fallen sons do not die in vain
The alienated lament the sacrifices made for the mere vanity
of those in charge
Younger brothers eagerly await the day they can proudly join
the elder sons
A father’s cautionary tale cannot be heard for the media’s
call to explosive glory
Unquestioned annual increases pile upon already utterly
unimaginable military spending
Unlike welfare, only the unpatriotic ask for a reckoning as
to where dEfense money goes
Complicit religious leaders praise our cause and lead us in
sponsored prayer for our troops
A pitifully small minority foolishly appeal to mercy, love,
reason and understanding
Conservative elected officials abhor the gloom and doom
claptrap of that liberal media
Their own hand-crafted stories are, however, often exposed
as clumsy pre-fabrications
We are told of vast, loose but well-organized networks of
highly-trained enemies
We see only a few dirty bearded men in tire sandals dragged
from 3rd world slums and caves
Our path is foolish, arrogant, badly-planned and stubbornly
incorrect
They preach that we cannot afford the just consequences of
their own immoral stupidity
We are told dissent over ill-conceived and shortsighted
policies gives aid to our enemies
But, that our self-anointed exceptionism provides us a
strong moral armor going forward
Squishy, feminine calls for peace have been marginalized
into the ridiculous
They have finally sown a hardy hatred and disrespect for us,
throughout the entire world
But you’ll be better fathers and husbands for having seen
terrified children maimed
They’ll ask if you killed terrorists and you’ll see their
frightened faces once again
You won’t talk much about it because others wouldn’t
understand
Why
you’ll probably even work hard to end this vile practice of war, I am quite
sure
