"No Doubt: There Is Courage"

I was touched by windspike's poem when I first read it at Bring It On! The author was kind enough to allow me to repost it here. Read it and weap:(


No Doubt: There Is Courage
by windspike @ 12:00 am

No doubt
There is courage
Demonstrated
By soldiers
Fighting for us

No doubt
There is courage
Deep within
Our volunteers
Guarding our fear

No doubt
GIs “ruck up”
Willingly, zealously
March forward to front lines
For love of country

No doubt
Heroes are daily made
In Afghani hills
Amidst poppies
And dusty trails

No doubt
Every Iraqi day
Another GI may lay
To permanent rest
Not for want of bravery

But wonder why
Civilians who suggest
There is no other pathway
Are not putting themselves
In harms way

But wonder why
Billions upon billions
Spent, sucking
Our pockets dry
The war mongering profiteers

Line theirs with gold
Silver and blood
In the name of
The all too patriotic
Red, white, and blue

While dismembered troops
March home
Finding no solace
In ribbons, medals
And broken bone

No doubt
Endless numbers of bodies
Innocents line the morgues
In many countries
Lie silent
Clearly in our agony

But I, for one, suggest
There is no recompense
No way to reconcile
The use of these bodies
By those in political denial

For a president
To justify
The war that killed
Any particular GI
For a modicum of political capital

Is he, she
Mother, father
Sister, brother
Better used dead
Instead of alive as we remembered

No doubt
There was courage
There where
Others dare not
Tread, but

No doubt
There is no honor
In using these heroes
As leverage
To support
A mission that
Got them dead

I had originally thought I would do the usual post, but was inspired to jot some prose after reading the text of another presidential PR event. I hope you will forgive the verse, but it is troubling to me as to why, to this day, the President uses the stories of heroic action and dying GIs to support his political message and agenda? What is his aim? To take the tragedy and turn it toward his own designs, he shucks our skins and exposes our mores revealing the values of hypocrisy he allows.

Here’s the text of W’s speechifying that spured the above:

I think of two Navy SEALs named Matthew Axelson and Danny Deetz. In June of 2005, they were part of a SEAL team operating deep in the mountains of Afghanistan on a mission to kill or capture a Taliban leader. They were discovered, and they were soon surrounded in a mountain ravine by 30 to 40 Taliban fighters. During the firefight that ensued, Axelson urged an injured teammate to escape, and he provided cover before suffering a mortal wound. Fighting nearby, his partner Deetz was also mortally wounded, but he too stood his ground and kept firing until finally, he finally died.

Because of the courage of Petty Officers Axelson and Deetz, their wounded teammate made it out alive. For their heroism, these two Petty Officers were awarded the Navy Cross. But I want you to hear what Petty Officer Deetz’s wife said about her husband and his comrades in arms. She said, “Danny and his brothers went toward evil and ran forward and gave their last breath.”

We live in freedom because of the courage of men like Matthew and Danny. And we will honor their sacrifice by completing the mission.

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