So I’m thinking.. everyone who reads here can take a moment to think of 50 words to describe how they feel about war. Not war in general, but this one. Poetic or not. Politically correct or not. I’d like to get at least 100 verses. After the responses die down, I’ll publish the full anthology on my website – with only your initials and location. What’s left there will be a patchwork quilt of voices, hopefully from every imaginable place, every imaginable walk of life.
I wanna know what the world feels like.
Didn’t Edwin Starr say it best?
“War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!”
There are a couple of ways to look at this: one, that it’s a cynical exercise in imperialism and “business as usual”, and two, where other wars have been about defending the American way of life, that it’s a noble thing to let an Iraqi way of life that’s worth defending come into being.
I waver between the two, and register the opprobrium of some commentators as they talk about the evils of the former position, yet I never hear the latter position talked about. Men and women who have no ties to Iraq are dying to bring about a new reality for a people who deserve that and more.
I couldn’t do it in 50 words.