MEXICO — The endless blah-blah of idiots North of the Border on this subject is, of course, fuel for mockery South of the Border. Folks down here in Latin America feel like, "Hey, we’ve seen this movie before."

"Gulf War I" did not accomplish any of its stated goals, so why the sequel? I don’t know how to talk to my countrymen anymore on this subject. They clearly don’t respond to logic or reason. Between the "disaster groupies" (as a 13-year-old New Yorker friend described the post-9/11 mood in my hometown) and the macho little fucks who transparently seem to think, "Wow, we finally get our war!" (fucking morons), I am at a loss for words.

And so, I submit ... a song.

War

You believed in God the Father

You believed in Allah, too

You believed in a Goddess,

The Mother of you all

She made God and Allah, too

And you believed in love

You believed in love?

Said it was what you were fighting for

You once knew when

And how to fight

Now you just believe in war

You believed in Jesus Christ

You believed in Holy Ghosts

You believed in Mary Magdalene

She’s the one who loved the most

Saint Maria, Sweet Maria

With her shamanistic chants

Her incense and her ointments

And her sacramental plants

Yes, you believed her heresy

Her prophesy and more

Now you just believe in war

You believed in MTV

You believed in rock and roll

You believed in Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,

Heisman, Nobel, Pulitzer

You believed in Super Bowl

And you believed the salesman

When he knocked upon your door

Put a beeper on your belt

And a screen upon your floor

Told you God was on your team

But he would not tell you the score

And now you just believe in war

You believed in Pentagon

You believed in World Trade

Now, look up in the sky, baby

Tell me what you see

Behold all that you have made

The problem wasn’t terrorists

The problem wasn’t thieves

The problem wasn’t which God

But the way that you believed

Your wife went off to work today

She ain’t comin’ home no more

And now you just believe in war

You used to shout,

"Out, demons, out!"

Now you’ve become such a bore

Now you just believe in war.

Back to the Thoughts on going to war index.