Fate in War...read if you wish?

Question:It felt like I was watching a movie,
As it was an out of body experience
As I viewed this scene, or reality
It was, but my mind had no sense
That this was real, seeing death
In such a way; innocent, a child
With a hole in the forehead, eyes
Closed, sleeping; sleeping that
Beautiful sleep, slumped over in
The wild night in a bullet riddled
Car; holes, and holes; the child
Lay over with a blood trail
On the seat; so young, and mild;
Sleeping, just sleeping, please be
Asleep. I saw with my eyes,
My flashlight telling me the truth
That this movie will haunt me; the
Actors told me these were bad people;
Liars, and lies, and lies, and sleep,
Forever. Then I asked one actor "Why?"
And yet another I asked, "Why?" No answer
I received, neither truth nor a lie, not a lie;
When the mother approached me
In my speech, and asked me "Why?".

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It felt like I was watching a movie,
As it was an out of body experience
As I viewed this scene, or reality
It was, but my mind had no sense
That this was real, seeing death
In such a way; innocent, a child
With a hole in the forehead, eyes
Closed, sleeping; sleeping that
Beautiful sleep, slumped over in
The wild night in a bullet riddled
Car; holes, and holes; the child
Lay over with a blood trail
On the seat; so young, and mild;
Sleeping, just sleeping, please be
Asleep. I saw with my eyes,
My flashlight telling me the truth
That this movie will haunt me; the
Actors told me these were bad people;
Liars, and lies, and lies, and sleep,
Forever. Then I asked one actor "Why?"
And yet another I asked, "Why?" No answer
I received, neither truth nor a lie, not a lie;
When the mother approached me
In my speech, and asked me "Why?".

"Why?" seems to be the question we are all asking, and the poem-- portraying the senseless tragedy of war-- wipes out easy answers.

The contradiction between the utter senselessness of war and its seeming inevitability can't be resolved by intellectuals and moralists. They can point out what is in the best interests of all people everywhere, but they can't stop charismatic fanatics from winning the hearts and the minds of the people--- including people who, under their sway, seem to become heartless and mindless, such as the people who suicide-bombed the World Trade Center.

Another tragic contradiction lies in the fact that, while "disarmament" is an unarguably worth-while goal, to enforce "disarmament" would require that somebody have a monopoly on force-- that is, force of military arms, the ability to wage "war against evil" through "police action". To root out evil, in other words, we need Captain Marvel or Superman to battle for "truth, justice, and the American Way". The costumes have been designed, for so far no hero has emerged who can fill them all that adequately.

Contractions or gaps in what we might expect, compared with what actually materalizes, seem normal and usual, but, in some of this country's recent wars, the gap between expectation and reality has been mind-boggling. Politicians trying to stay "current" while also trying to justify past stances sometimes leads to an absurd spectacle. "Double-talk" has become the norm among our politicians of both parties.

The idiocy of blowing up the World Trade Center-- the idiocy of the very idea!--- stands in contradiction, also, to the craftiness and shrewdness with which it was carried out. And to what viable strategic end? Perhaps it was intended as a "wild card", and, if so, it must be conceded that it changed the direction of the whole game. The American response to Bin Laden's play-- I think an over-reaction aimed at the wrong country-- opened the way for many new recruits to his cause. I think he had something like that in mind.

We have viewed the spectacle of our country attacking the wrong country with too small a force, and the war effort crippled by half-measures and politics as usual-- here, observe another contradiction: the contradiction between intentions and outcomes that occurs when too small a force is sent in to do too great a task. The troops, reassigned again and again, are being pushed beyond all human limitations. Surely the biggest war critics must have some human feelings for our over-burdened troops.

We lined up at the polls during the primaries-- the line in my precinct was blocks long-- hoping somebody will figure out what to do to get us out of this mess. I think we will be out of the mess when everybody, or people in general, at least, see fully the absolute folly of force in resolving international issues.

But as long as some see the folly of force, while others, such as the terrorists, rely on force and destruction as their primary strategy, war will never end.

Let us hope that future use of force to enforce law and order against terrorists will at least resemble a lawman-like bringing of malefactors to justice, with all civilized nations cooperating in the effort--- not the U.S., or any other nation, going it alone, targeting an obnoxious little dictator who, for all of his absolute evilness, had nothing to do with the terrorist bombings!

Here's hoping that the Iraq war is America's last "gunfight at the OK Corral", but, even more than that, Muslim, Jew and Christian alike will fall back on the principles that all agree were set forth by the Almighty, recognizing our impotency to bring about a righteous world by unrighteous means.

I am not saying that we were particularly "unrighteous" to get rid of Saddam Hussein by any means we could, but the "Blazing Saddles" approach used by Bush (with the collaboration of Democrats as well as Republicans, we should never forget!) has left us stuck in the mire of what now looks like an endless war-- a war in which our under-manned troops keep being re-assigned for longer and longer duty and have no relief!

How can the people who use this war to play political football look our troops in the eye?

As in the fabled O.K. Corral gunfight, this war seems to be a story of much bloodshed with no lesson learned. Perhaps that is the story of all wars, but, if America has not learned from this, then it is impervious to any lesson.

That's pretty sad. It expresses the violence of war and what it does to people. Couldn't we just realize that peace is the only GOOD way? The best way?

wicked....i like it.... very deep

Extremely visual, and you keep the emotional impact througout the poem. The last two lines are gold plated!

Publish. This is today's world.