A Letter and a Prayer

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?

Comments

[Pdubya]

"religion is the opiate of the masses" marx

shopping speeds up the buzz.

[MikeDu]

I really should use Twain's prayer next month as the invocation to start Thanksgiving dinner for 'certain' relatives of mine.

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?"

[bknott]

Thanks for quoting Mark Twain. I guess things haven't changed much in a hundred years.

[zeesean]

That piece alone should earn Twain a place in
heaven; if there is a heaven...

[marleysghost]

That's us all right. Self-righteous and blood thirsty in the name of the Lord. We are not a nation of peace. We are a nation of thugs who start wars to insure the prosperity of our business interests.

[LilyMaskew]

This administration seems to think they are fighting a Holy War in the middle east. They couldn't be more wrong. This war is the most unholy ever.

[Hugo de Balsac]

my American Prayer goes like this:

"As we protect those who fart in Heaven, let us not dismiss the unforgivable stench we have crafted in Our name, Amen."

[mamelodi]

The War Prayer--is a classic as it resounds as much today as ever before--the Bob Dylan lyrics too have such an authentic resonance. I would also suggest reading Chris Hedges' War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, where he writes about war lust-super patriotic feeling-and the buying of the "myth" of war--our 9/11 frenzy which made so many feel the need to retaliate--on anybody---a war on Iraq, which had nothing to do with the event, but just seemed so convenient for the administration and its masters--and now we're trapped, with no particularly good direction to go in other than just pull the troops out. That seems fraught with dangers and doubtful positives too.

Thanks Richard Belzer for using Mark Twain to shake us up....no one better to do it.

[Lemeritus]

Sad the need to add Bob Dylan's lyrics:

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.

[Balzac]

Bush is a nazi.

[raker]

To support the continued occupation of Iraq, Americans must go even further in abandoning their humanity. Have a conversation with middle class conservative American. At some point, he'll throw up his hands and say just nuke 'em. That's while knowing the whole thing is based on lies. We're becoming less civilized.

[TomChicago]

It's great to read Mark Twain giving the lie to the "God is on our side" smokescreen. What kind of monstrous God would nod in approval to this bloodbath?

[Beckyjo]

God help us if we have become a nation that adheres to this sort of prayer. This is not what Jesus taught...we are taught to love our enemies and pray for them. This is hard to do, maybe impossible for most of us, but God will not accept hate on our part. This war has gone on for so long, and we are weary of it. We must pray that it will end soon so the innocents on all sides can return home to their families, and God willing, the men who wanted this war, and started this war, will receive their just rewards.

[maddogbitesback]

There is no god. The innocents are dead. The liars are rich.

[GoodwithWood]

"And now the whole nation -- pulpit and all -- will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.” Mark Twain

[Zentomato]

Sorry Belz, but I am just so goddamned pissed off. These current neocon chickenhawks have dragged us into another war when they had all found ways to evade the last war, Vietnam. Seeing it happen, all over again as a VN vet is painful. The Gulf of Tonkin and the premise for this war with Iraq will bear equal history as betrayals of truth. The current Administration should spend the remaining days of thier lives in cells within the Hague.

[mbaty]

I love you Mark. You were way ahead of your time.

[Gondi]

I AGREE.