When I wrote this with all the "Ands" and "Whens" beginning in practically every sentence it reminded me of Bob Dylan's lyrical piece entitled "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie." I just wanted to share my thoughs, try to put this war in perspective.

And when there’s war
There are for sure
Things we must endure
War’s never what we had in store
And what are we fighting for 
There’s enemy’s hatred and nothing sacred
About war’s blood, sweat and tears
And all those soldiers whose nanoseconds feel like years
And all those soldiers so beautiful and dear
And when we don’t go to war
There are for sure things we must endure
And when we don’t fight back
The enemy does suicide bomber attacks
And terrorists make fun at us, laugh so hard their faces crack
All because we pull out and attempt peace and harmony
And we’re labeled cowardly
And they say we’re too scared to fight back with artillery
And we all hate war
And it’s something we’re not for
And when you feel it’s an impossible race
Not only because of the sadness on everyone’s face
But because of war's difficult pace
And terrorists springing up everyplace
And you hate the terrorists
And yet refuse to clench your fists
And you’re lost in the midst
And nothing can stop those terrible sadists
And that’s the way it is
And civilians kidnapped
And hostages trapped
And too much unknown
And we must know what’s going on
And we hope we can hold on
And we either don’t cause we won’t
Or we do for the good of all of you
And with support and strength we will
Attack the enemy and kill, kill, kill
And we all feel the horrible chill
And war is sad
And war is mad
And we don’t know what’s the matter
And our dreams are blurred with shatter
And not only because of nine-eleven
And many others now in heaven
From 911 and USS Cole to PanAm’s flight in 1988
And how we hate
And how we fight
And how with rocket, guns and dynamite
And how we may be right 
And yet there is so much spite
And the sky closes its eyes
And we are all in disguise
And we fly the dark gray skies
And when beautiful soldiers die
And we all can't help but cry
And put reason to this oh how we try
And we don't understand why they hate
Our beautiful and free United States
And war brings out the blues
And we're paying horrible dues
And we still haven’t any clues
And we listen to the news
And we deny
And we defy
And we all wonder why, why, why
And we continue to bomb and blast
And we get criticized for being too slow or too fast
And how we all feel pain
And how war is so insane
And when cowards pick and blame
And when we win what do we gain?
And when politicians complain
And celebrities’ movies flop, so they claim
And all because of the war
And to Hollywood that’s what war’s for?
And they’re in it for their zillionth nickel and dime
And they do this all the time
And some rich, selfish Hollywood-floparazzi
Who say they hate the war like they hate the paparazzi
And we still go to the theatre and movie
And we still listen to radio and watch TV
And we wonder what’s gonna happen to you and me
And what about our children’s future and destiny
And what about the deficit and economy
And how do we end this misery
And damned if we do and damned if we don’t
And damned if we would, and damned if we won’t
And there’s no right answer, no crystal ball
And we’re all in on this together now let’s not fall
And we’re all in on this together now let’s stand tall

by Gloria Buono (c) 2004