A poem of a soldier's mother

by Lewis 7 Replies latest members politics

• 

  Lewis

  Twas the night before Baghdad

  Cynthia Anderson
  Mother of a soldier

  Twas the night before Baghdad
  And all through the base
  Not a heartbeat was silent
  Not a smile on one face
  
  The soldiers at attention
  Fists raised in the air
  Saddam is a monster!
  We must all go there!
  
  So we loaded our planes
  With our guns and our tanks
  And we sent all the soldiers
  To Kuwait's outer banks
  
  From Kuwait, from Turkey
  From Saudi and more
  With battering rams
  We knocked on his door
  
  The Fedayin heard
  All the military clatter
  And ran to Saddam
  To ask what was the matter
  
  Don't worry he said
  With a heartening ring
  They financed my reign
  They won't do this thing

  We bombed all the buildings
  Til the fires were glowing
  While Baby Bush yelled
  Keep the oil pipes flowing!
  
  He should be a magician
  Our Baby Bush, cuz you see
  He created the biggest illusion
  The WMD's
  
  He lied to us all
  About terror and pain
  When all that he's after
  Is monetary gain
  
  For Daddy, and Barbara
  And Baby Bush too
  There is no such thing
  As too much oil revenue
  
  Some people believe
  That it's for our own good
  To bomb and to kill
  To shed innocent blood
  
  They sleep in their beds
  Oblivious to lies
  While we who have wakened
  Hear bloodcurdling cries
  
  Cries of our fathers,

  Our brothers and sons
  Sent to fight in a war
  That cannot be won
  
  We liberated them!
  Our Baby Bush chimes
  That is why they attack us
  Time after time
  
  With Christmas upon us
  He steps up his work
  Of campaigning again
  The self serving jerk!
  
  He?ll don his flight suit
  He?ll have all his fun
  Wishing "Merry Christmas! Keep fighting!"
  And to all....Duck and Run!
  
  ###
• 

  blondie

  Well, I thought the poem could express the feelings of any soldier's mother. I grew up in a military family. I know what it is like to have a family member go off to war. I also knew what it was like to grow up during the cold war and know that somewhere in the Soviet Union there was a missile with my name on it. Twice I knew what it felt like to know that the world teetered on the brink of WW3; once, when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and second, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Unless you too were in the military or a dependent living on base, how could you now that our phones were shut off, schools were closed, and we could not leave the base nor could anyone come on....you just sat and wondered when the missiles would fly.
  

  I remembered that it has been civilians that have paid a heavy price in the wars of the 20th and 21st century; none of whom signed on to give life and limb for country.

  Just some stats from WW2: Civilians in col one, soldiers in col 2

  Albania	10,000	20,000
  Belgium	76,000	12,000
  Bulgaria	10,000	1,000
  Czechoslovakia	294,000	46,000
  Denmark	2,000	1,800
  Ethiopia	5,000	5,000
  Finland	2,000	82,000
  France	350,000	210,000
  Greece	325,000	88,300
  Netherlands	200,000	7,900
  Philippines	91,000	27,000
  Poland	5,680,000	123,000
  Romania	200,000	5,000
  Soviet Union	7,420,379	19,180,000
  United Kingdom	92,700	264,000
  United States	6,000	292,000
  Yugoslavia	1,200,000	300,000
  TOTAL Civilians killed	20,665,000
• 

  Simon

  War is hell, war is bitter
  Wasted lives and lives of pity
  Live for death and die together
  All is lost, for now and ever
• 

  yesidid

  Thanks Blondie,

  I had no idea there were so many civilian deaths. What a waste. War is such a waste.

  Simon,

  I really appreciated and have kept the poem Universal Soldier .

  Why do people not see the logic in that?
• 

  Simon

  It's quite a good song - written and recorded by Donovan ... kind of a UK answer to Bob Dylan
• 

  myauntfanny

  Blondie, I didn't see Germany on that list, and I'm curious. Do you have statistics for them too?
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Axis Forces

  Country	Pop.	Killed/Mising	Wounded	Total(Military)	Civilian (deaths)
  Germany	78m	3.5 million	4.6 million	8.1 million	2million
  Italy	44m	330,000	?		70,000
  Japan	72m	1.75 million	?		350,000
  Rumania	20m	500,000	300,000	800,000	400,000
  Bulgaria	6m	10,000	?		50,000
  Hungary	10m	120,000	250,000	370,000	200,000
  Finland	4m	100,000	45,000	145,000	4,000

  Country

  Pop.

  Killed/Mising

  Wounded

  Total(Military)

  Civilian (deaths)

  Allied Forces (in order of entry into the war)

  Country

  Pop.

  Killed/Mising

  Wounded

  Total(Military)

  Civilian (deaths)

  China	450m	1.3 million	1.8 million	3.1 million	9 million
  Poland	35m	130,000	200,000	330,000	2.5million
  U.K.	48m	400,000	300,000	700,000	60,000
  France	42m	250,000	350,000	600,000	270,000
  Australia	7m	30,000	40,000	70,000	--
  India	360m	36,000	64,000	100,000	--
  New Zealand	2m	10,000	20,000	30,000	--
  So. Africa	10m	9,000	14,000	23,000	--
  Canada	11m	42,000	50,000	92,000	--
  Denmark	4m	2,000	?	?	1,000
  Norway	3m	10,000	?	?	6,000
  Belgium	8m	12,000	16,000	28,000	100,000
  Holland	9m	14,000	7,000	21,000	250,000
  Greece	7m	90,000	?	?	400,000
  Yugoslavia	15m	320,000	?	?	1.3million
  U.S.S.R.	194m	9 million	18 million	27 million	19 million
  U.S.A.	129m	300,000	300,000	600,000	--
• 

  justhuman

  That was a realy nice poem. And has all the pain of war that in the end is not worth fighting for