Mark Twain's War Poem

[Linda]

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 the 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 their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord...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

Mark Twain

[Linda]

I have gotten a few emails from people I sent the above to, who thought the poem was literal. PLEASE, it is to be read as the reverse of the stated words. It is an indictment of the mindset wishing death and destruction on another nation.

I've been receiving a lot of junk mail demonizing Iraqis. I am very disturbed by the mindset of some people in this country. I had to say something. I don't want to be one of those people who did and said and saw nothing.

[CoheeLady]

Dear Linda,
I wasn't bothered by the poem, as poetry & music remain to be timeless. I was bothered & shocked by the picture. As I clicked on the thread, thinking I was about to only read a poem. I'm sorry to hear that people are sending you emails full of hate, regarding all Iraqi people.

The people that are sending you the hateful junk emails , don't understand that the War is in fact a way to liberate the Iraqi people from a vicious dictator, that has murdered his own people & even members of his family. I am not trying to start a debate regarding the War.

Sincerely,
CoheeLady

[Patty]

Linda,

I was shocked by the picture. If I'm "seeing" it correctly, it's a child, bleeding both blood and oil from a horrible head injury. Not a pretty site, but a pretty graphic illustration of this war, IMO......

[Linda]

There's no blood. The red is a blanket. His forehead is crushed. This happened in the first few days of the war. I remember thinking a week ago, just before it started, maybe it will all be over quickly, with nothing but "surgical" strikes. At that point in time, this beautiful little guy was still out playing.

[Patty]

I just read on another site that 50% of Iraq's population is under the age of 15.

[-cr21-]

I'm please asking if you can take that picture off the site. What none of you know is that I am Muslim and would rather not see a young brother in that state. Thanks

[Patty]

Me too Dennis.

[Linda]

I removed the picture since it is felt it disrespects this dead child. I still think, however, that this is the true face of war. I hope nobody who has seen it does ever forget it.

I have a little boy with big ears just as beautiful, the same age. Nothing is more important than him.

[Dan Akin]

Linda and all;
I want to say that although I do not ever desire to see war that I am very greatfull that it is being waged to bring an end to the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein and his maniacal fellow socialist party members. The atrocities obviuosly being committed by these people on the Iraqi people will mercifully soon come to an end. I believe they have litterally held a gun to the heads of most of the Iraqi citizenry.
I have marvelled at the oppulence and number of presidential palaces and government facilities and remembered reports of the numbers of starving children.
I have been shocked at the reports of the extreme brutallity of the Hussein family on their own people and I beleive that even more gruesome reports wil be forthcoming.
Not one of you has to agree with me, but I feel on humanitarian issues alone it is a just cause for war. I believe this regardless of any argument about the real reason why our government is in this war.
One of the bodies of American soldiers found during the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch was that of the first American woman killed in this war, Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of Tuba City, Ariz. a HOPI INDIAN.
I honor her ultimate sacrifice.
Dan.

[Patty]

I respect and support our troops and I deeply honor their willingness to put their lives on the line to defend our country.

I also feel that releasing the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein is just a side benefit in our leaders' quest for cheap oil and financial global dominance.

The royal family of Saudi Arabia (the Sa'ud's) treat their people abysmally. There is tremendous poverty, and women are held to a different standard under the law than men. A woman can (and frequently is) stoned to death for allowing a man to see her bare face, even accidentally, while a man will have no consequences for rape.

The royal family is wealthy to a degree that is mind boggling and their people live in poverty. Without the backing of the US, the Sa'ud family would not be in power in Saudi Arabia.

Our government supports them because they are willing to sell us cheap oil. Our governmnet wages war on Iraq because they will not sell us cheap oil.

I am happy if this war releases the people of Iraq from the oppression they have been living under, but after the war the US will support in power whomever agrees to play by our rules, and that will have little to do with how the people are treated. Specifically, how women and children are treated. I do not consider ANY country to be "humanitarian" where the women and children are legal possessions and have no rights under the law, or have unequal protection under the law. Even given cultural differences, women have the inalienable right to enforceable rights under the law.

All that being said, my deepest hope is that the people of Iraq do not suffer too greatly in this war, and that their lives are better afterwards, in spite of my cynisim about my leaders' reasons for waging war.

[CoheeLady]

Dear Dan & everyone else,
First I want to say that I do agree with you Dan, & I also mourn the loss of Pfc. Lori Piestewa, a Hopi Indian, & all other soliders killed in the war. Below I have made a list of reasons why we went to war with Saddam. This list is from UN & Amnesty International, facts.
1. He attacked Iran, leading to over half a million Iraqi Muslim deaths. (UN)
2. He hasn't returned Kuwaiti & third Country POW's & Missing persons (UNSCRs 686 & 687). 605 Kuwaiti Muslim POW/MIAs and 34 Saudi Muslims remain unaccounted for. (UN)
3. He hasn't returned Kuwaiti property (UNSCR 686).
4. Iraq's 1988-89 Anfal campain subjected the Kurdish people in Northern Iraq, to the most widespread attack of chemical weapons ever used against a civilian population. The Iraqi military attacked a number of towns in Northern Iraq with chemical weapons. In the town of Halabja alone, an estimated 5,000 people were killed, & more than 10,000 wounded. (UN)
5. On March 20, 2003, Hans Blix stated that Saddam has consistently, through his negotiations & his documentation, denied having ANY SCUD MISSILES, or warheads. On March 19th & 20th, his forcees fired (imaginary?) SCUD MISSILES at Kuwait City & coalition forces.
6. He has attacked 6 of his Neighbors.
7. July 1988, Iraq seized from the hands of UNSCOM inspectors, an Iraqi Air Force document indicating that Iraq had misrepresented the expenditure of over 6,000 bombs which may have contained up to 700 tons of chemical agents. Iraq continues to refuse to provide this document to the UN. (UN document)
8. The use of poison gas & other war crimes against Iran & Iranian people during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was extensive. Iraq executed thousands of Iranian prisoners of war. (Amnesty International)
9. He cared out a campain to murder all Iraqis of Egyptian descent. At one time there were 3 caskets a day arriving in Cario. (UN)
10. Before going to Kuwait, Saddam had 100 high ranking officials killed by firing squad, as these officials advised him against going into Kuwait.
11. UNSCOM has found VX nerve agent residue in Iraqi scud missiles, even though Saddam denies it. (UN team)
12. Iraq has refused to credibly account for 500 tons of scud propellant, over 40 scud biological & conventional warheads, 7 Iraqi-produced SCUD's & truckloads of scud components. (UN)
13. In 1995, Iraqi's who conducted field trials of R-400 bombs filled with biological agents. These trials were reflected in Iraq's June 1996 biological weapons declaration. Yet, Iraq now denies that any such trials ever occured. (UN)
14. In September 1995, Iraq finally declared the existense of two projects to disseminate biological agents from Mirage F-1 & MIG-21 aircraft, yet there is no evidence that the prototype was ever destroyed. (UN)
15. The Iraqis has repeatedly changed their story about biological weapons. The movement of concealed warheads prior to unilateral destruction, claimed by Iraq, have been proven false. (UN)
16. Apart from one document referring to a single year, no Iraqi biological weapon production records have been give nto the UN.
17. "Just regarding the Kurd minority the Special Rapporteur for Iraq of the UN human Rights Commission reports that tens of thousands of people have 'disappeared', with Amnesty International estimating more than 10,000 & Human Rights Watch up to 150,000. The Special Rapporteur concluded that "The mear suggestion that someone isn't a supportor of Saddam carries the prospect of the death penalty".
18. Crimes against humanity & possible genocide against Marsh Arabs & Shi'a Arabs in southern Iraq. Entire populations of villages have been expelled. Government forces have burned homes, fields, demolished houses with bulldozers, & undertaken a deliberate campain to drain & poisin marshes. Thousands of civilians have been summarily executed. (Amnesty International)
19. Periodically, Saddam sends his son Qusay out to "cleanse" the prisons of thousands of political prisoners. From an eye witness account: "THERE WAS A MACHINE MADE FOR SHREDDING PLASTIC. MEN WERE DROPPED INTO IT & WE WERE AGAIN MADE TO WATCH. SOMETIMES THEY WENT IN FEET FIRST & DIED SCREAMING. IT WAS HORRIBLE. I SAW 30 PEOPLE DIE LIKE THIS. THEIR REMAINS WOULD BE PLACED IN PLASTIC BAGS & WE WERE TOLD THEY WOULD BE USED AS FISH FOOD... ON ONE OCCASION, I SAW QUSAY PERSONALLY SUPERVISE THESE MURDERS." (Amnesty International)
20. From testimony: "Rapes, by Hussein's Special forces, kidnapping & mass killings, & displacements. Daily executions, secretly carried out, at the whim of Hussein. "In Iraq, not a day passes without us hearing that someone from a family we know has been executed," one refugee is quoted as saying.
21. Kenneth Pollock, former Director for Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council, during the Clinton administration, reports in his recent book the following: 200,000 Iraqis have disappeared into Saddam's prisons. Reported tortures of men, women, & children. Some victims were immersed into vats of acid. (Amnesty International & UN sources)
22. Iraq shelters known, wanted terrorists, & allows terrorists groups to maintain offices within it's borders. One such terrorist training camp (was ;) ) at Salman Pak, complete with the fuselage of an airliner for practicing hijacking.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have much more information, however I think you get the picture. Have a nice day.
Sincerely,
CoheeLady

[Linda]

I'm glad we are all going forward expressing our views in a civil way, since it's so important we can all think clearly, this issue is so complex and fraught with dangers, political, moral, physical. I appreciate the facts you've brought forward, CoheeLady. I had not heard a lot of that before.

I still have a big problem with the issue that there have been, and are, many other disgusting regimes that we have done nothing about. For me, the self-interest that Patti pointed out, can't be dismissed. The other major concern I have is the precedence of a "pre-emptive" strike. Even in Viet Nam, we just kind of EASED into it. Have we ever before just flat out, full scale, invaded another small country that had not overtly attacked us? I can't remember us ever being this bold before. It's got the whole world up in arms and I'm very uneasy about it.

I hope that the reports about how alienated with Saddam the Iraqi population is are true. That would be the only thing that would save us from a country full of people hating our guts well into the future, and a world full or people thinking we're shameless bullies.

[CoheeLady]

Dear Linda,
Your welcome, regarding the info. I provided in my previous post. Even though we don't all agree 100% on the war, we are able to discuss it in a very diplomatic way, & with respect for the each other's views. :)

I deliberately left out the facts on the atrocities committed against women & children, by Saddam's Regime. As I couldn't bear to type the horror that has occured. If you wish to read it I can send it to you via email.
Sincerely,
CoheeLady

[vance hawkins]

Dennis & others, American Indians are the most patriotic Americans that there are regardless of the past.

I can agree with the war or disagree with it, but I can not dishonor the soldiers who are willing to give their lives.

Personally I think it is a Bush father and son obsession for Oil and that is all. But they find convenient excuses for invading the lands of one dictator and ignore other dictators (those who don't have any oil). I very well could be wrong, I don't know many more things than I know. I have a natural bias for trusting Democrats while I mistrust the motives of Republicans. I can't help it.

But I'd like to think I'd do anything I could to help the soldiers involved. That's a totally different thing.

vance

[Linda]

Yes, I'd be willing to look at it. Send it on.