i would fight you for me

Nearly every show now in production has one.  The "9-11 war" episode, as I like to call it.  Its the episode that deals with how the show’s characters are dealing with the repercussions of the events of 9-11.  They no longer effect me the same way as they once did.  Its one of those topics that you can’t not talk about.  The events of that day and the following steps taken has affected everyone in this country in one way or another.  Trying to have a realistic show set in this country, but not address it is like trying to talk about Hitler and not mention the Nazis.  Its just a part of it all now.

Even so, I feel like the reality of the situation escapes us here in America.  I know it often escapes me.  I do have a few friends in the military, but no direct family members.  My brothers don’t exist.  My father and uncles are too old.  My grandfathers are dead, and the majority of my cousins are too young.  Not to mention there isn’t a draft, so military service isn’t mandatory or an ever looming possibility.

This is the second war in my lifetime, but I don’t remember the first Gulf War with certain clarity.  I was too young and protected.  I remember being told that Kuwait was small and had been invaded.  We were going to protect those people.  I knew the term "scorched earth" as Raising the Dragon Banner from Scottish history, but had never seen it in modern day action until then.  I remember watching the ground burn as Iraqi forces withdrew.  But I didn’t understand it.  I didn’t lose family members in a war that barely lasted a year.  I was too young, and nothing in my life changed.

This war, has affected me though.  I remember the reason it was started.  I remember 9-11 as if it happened yesterday.  Something occurred to me yesterday while watching some of the tribute footage.  There were children born on or just after 9-11 who were suddenly fatherless because of the attacks.  I remember hearing mothers saying how their child will never get to know their father.  Or how a child had been orphaned, too young to remember either of his parents.  These children, these too young and too innocent to know, are now old enough to know.  These children are older than I was when the First Gulf War happened.  They know.  They are aware.  They understand more than I could back then.  A lot of time has past.  A lot of war has happened.  Nine days after the events of 9-11, Bush declared, "Our ‘war on terror’ begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there.  It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."  I’ve spoken on previous occasion about how much that term ‘war on terror’ annoys me, and I don’t feel like repeating myself here.

I’d like to think that when America declared war on Japan in 1941, the people had some idea of what it meant.  The declaration, like our war on terror, came on the heels of an attack on American soil.  It was one of the first times since the Civil War that the USA was itself directly attacked by a foreign enemy.  I’d like to think Americans back then knew exactly who the enemy was and what victory looked like.  Hilter, his Nazis and the rest of the Axis were an identifiable force who had attacked.  When they put down their guns and surrendered, we would have victory.  May 1945 saw the unconditional surrender of Germany.  In September, Japan formally surrendered as well.

When our ‘war on terror’ started, I didn’t know what victory might look like.  We are not fighting a recognized government with a leader who will sign our parchment with calligraphy and ink.  I still don’t know what victory might look like.  Perhaps the government has "done a bad job explaining that what we’re fighting for is important.  Its not about abstract programs and endless acronyms, but real things that affect real people, like affording college."  West Wing seems to always say things better than I can myself.

The last Great War had a purpose, a shining goal.  Each son lost hurt this country, but he died for something.  His sacrifice wasn’t in vain.  I have a hard time looking at the fresh graves in Arlington today and not thinking ‘What a waste.’  What did they die for?  I don’t mean individually, I mean corporately.  What does their sacrifice really give our country?  Only more reason to throw more bodies at the swelling tide?  Terrorism will never be stamped out of every corner of the world.  And when did punching the kid who took your lunch money ever really solve the problem?  All it does is create the next bully, the next terrorist.  

War is never pretty, but the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 seems to be the image we hold to when we think of battles.  The French and English meet on open ground and camp for the night.  In the morning, they will charge against each other and fight until one side is totally killed or captured.  There is calvary and archers and footmen and knights.  Its like a live bloody chess game.  Keep going until the king is taken.

Keep going until the king is taken.

Suspend reality for just a moment.  What do you think would happen if Knight Osama bin Laden’s men captured Knight Barack Obama and held him for ransom in his desert castle, like Princess Maud did with her brother Steven the Usurper?  And Knight Osama was captured by Knight Obama’s men, held in the white castle?  Would either side bargain for the release of their leader?  What might they ask?  What do you think would happen if both sides refused to release their prisoner and instead killed him?  Would Al-Qaeda give up on its jihad?  Would they roll over and come out with their hands up?  I really don’t think so.  On the other side, would the USA back down and give up?  Would it pull every American out of foreign lands and give back every captured terrorist from our jails?  I really don’t think so.  This would not end the war as it might in the past.

All this makes me so sad.  There is so much "poisonous righteousness" and I don’t know if or when it will ever end.  Is this a war that will last my lifetime?  Will it last through the lives of my children and grandchildren?  Its gotta end sometime, right?  Or is this how it always will be?

The song below has never had more meaning to me than it has these past few years.  Interestingly enough, this song was not written for this war in the Gulf, but the first one.  You really should hear these guys sing it.  Makes me want to cry.

We got a call to write a song about the war in the Gulf
But we shouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings
So we tried, then gave up, ’cause there was no such song
But the trying was very revealing
What makes a person so poisonous righteous
That they’d think less of anyone who just disagrees?

She’s just a pacifist, he’s just a patriot
If I said you were crazy, would you have to fight me?
Fighters for Liberty, fighters for Power
Fighters for longer turns in the shower
Don’t tell me I can’t fight, ’cause I’ll punch out your lights
And history seems to agree that I would fight you for me

So we read and we watched all the ‘specially selected news
And we learned so much more ’bout the good guys
Won’t you stand by the flag? Was the question unasked
Won’t you join in and fight with the allies?
What could we say, we’re only 25 years old?
With 25 sweet summers and hot fires in the cold

That kind of life makes that violence unthinkable
We’d like to play hockey, have kids and grow old
Fighters for Texaco, fighters for Power
Fighters for longer turns in the shower
Don’t tell me I can’t fight ’cause I’ll punch out your lights
And history seems to agree that I would fight you for me
That us would fight them for we

He’s just a peacenik and she’s just a warhawk
That’s where the beach was, that’s where the sea
What could we say… we’re only 25 years old?
And history seems to agree that I would fight you for me
That us would fight them for we
Is that how it always will be?

Gulf War Song ~ Moxy Fruvous