Shock, Awe, and Surrender
Copyright 2003 Stan Lyness
It's not that it will be hard
-'though "peace" - the occupation - will.
It's not the bloody death
- 'though that's not a feature either.
For there have been
bloody hard undertakings worth
the undertaking.
It's America I fear for,
not the borders, but the concepts:
America, benign empire,
America, model to former colonies,
America, blind to creed and tribe,
America, sowing peace through trade.
Cherished concepts, waves of ideals,
our waving flags mere material reflection.
Suspect from the start, for sure -
born addicted to enslavement,
suckled in conquest,
but weren't we doing better?
We bask in memories:
Good War I (World War II)
Good War II (Gulf War I).
Those other tiny wars, the odd
dropped bomb, the odd
engineered coup, the odd
fuel poured on brushfire, the odd
million dead in Vietnam, all
nearly too small to remember.
And weren't we doing better?
And didn't war require reasons?
And weren't the reasons few?
Defense.
Defense of others.
to name the only two?
Preemption is defense, we know -
if you squint real hard,
then squint a little more,
'til eyes are shut to
190 nations,
190 potential rogues breeding
36000 possible preemptions, or
just 18000 wars.
Doing better or not
- keeping score or not -
we seem to have surrendered.
Our rulers have dismantled
our leadership.
