Robert Fantina, author of Desertion and the American Soldier: 1776-2007, recently wrote a letter to the New York Times. His heartfelt eloquence and outrage bears repeating: "It is incomprehensible that President Bush and his neo-con cohorts have somehow convinced congress that 'supporting the troops' means sending them into an unnecessary war without the lifesaving equipment they desperately need; continuing to keep them in constant, mortal danger; and now preventing them from spending as much time with their loved ones, whom they may never see again, as they spend in that danger. What further evidence is needed that this administration cares nothing for the soldiers it sends to fight its wars?"
With this in mind it would be salient to contemplate Mark Twain's reaction to the Philippine-American war (1899-1902), which Twain opposed. After hearing various clergy lead prayers in support of the war, Twain penned what he thought was the unspoken subtext of these preachers' sermons, "The War Prayer":
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen".
What do you think America: is this our current subtext?
shopping speeds up the buzz.
There was also a famous political cartoon from the Spanish American war. It depicted Uncle Sam throwing soldiers at a bulls-eye target with a grinning native face in the middle - smashed soldiers littering the ground around the target. The caption read "Is the game worth the penny?"
heaven; if there is a heaven...
"As we protect those who fart in Heaven, let us not dismiss the unforgivable stench we have crafted in Our name, Amen."
Thanks Richard Belzer for using Mark Twain to shake us up....no one better to do it.
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And the land that I live in
Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.
The Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns on their hands
And God on their side.
The First World War, boys
It came and it went
The reason for fighting
I never did get
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.
When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And then we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.