I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately about the war in the Middle East and I’ve been wondering what a 60 some year old woman, living in the heart of an all Republican state, who has no money and no political clout can do to actively protest the war atrocities that continue on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis. It seems like everyone in this state displays “support the troops” bumper stickers and pro Bush buttons. In Idaho, “Support the Troops” translates to, send in more and don’t question the political decisions of our Republican leaders.

A few minutes ago, I read an Associated Press article that reported that an attack by our military, northwest of Baghdad, killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including nine children. Nine children were sacrificed by our military leaders for the “greater cause” and three other children were wounded in this one attack.

This got me to thinking . . . What is one life worth? What is the life of an Iraqi child or the life of a U.S. soldier, a mother’s gift to the world, worth? I wonder if we had the capability to line up all the children who have been killed by our forces, as well as all our young military men and women who have been slaughtered and blown to bits during this war and required each and every American who continues to support this war to actually pull the trigger on the bombs and guns and “explosive devices” that took away the lives of these children and young adults. How many of our war-supporting politicians could actually gun down and take away the lives of these men, women and children?

Rhetoric is so cheap when it comes to slogans and the abstract. We hear phrases like “targeting the senior leaders of al-Qaida” and “time sensitive targets.” But what if we heard the news reports say, “ U.S. surveillance confirms that we have six, 1-year old babies, two, 3-year old little girls, four, 9-year olds and 10, young adults ages 17 to 28. Would our war supporters still continue to step up and drop the bombs? Or maybe, maybe would they begin to re-evaluate their position on this war and question the humanity of their decisions. What will it take to wake up our nation?

No Bravery Lyrics by James Blunt

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
Tears drying on their face.
He has been here.

Brothers lie in shallow graves.
Fathers lost without a trace.
A nation blind to their disgrace,
Since he's been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

Houses burnt beyond repair.
The smell of death is in the air.
A woman weeping in despair says,
He has been here.

Tracer lighting up the sky.
It's another families' turn to die.
A child afraid to even cry out says,
He has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.

There are children standing here,
Arms outstretched into the sky,
But no one asks the question why,
He has been here.

Old men kneel and accept their fate.
Wives and daughters cut and raped.
A generation drenched in hate.
Yes, he has been here.

And I see no bravery,
No bravery in your eyes anymore.
Only sadness.