Rich Man's War

[RoyGBiv]

Jimmy joined the army ‘cause he had no place to go
There ain’t nobody hirin’
‘round here since all the jobs went
down to Mexico
Reckoned that he’d learn himself a trade maybe see the world
Move to the city someday and marry a black haired girl
Somebody somewhere had another plan
Now he’s got a rifle in his hand
Rollin’ into Baghdad wonderin’ how he got this far
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

Bobby had an eagle and a flag tattooed on his arm
Red white and blue to the bone when he landed in Kandahar
Left behind a pretty young wife and a baby girl
A stack of overdue bills and went off to save the world
Been a year now and he’s still there
Chasin’ ghosts in the thin dry air
Meanwhile back at home the finance company took his car
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

When will we ever learn
When will we ever see
We stand up and take our turn
And keep tellin’ ourselves we’re free

Ali was the second son of a second son
Grew up in Gaza throwing bottles and rocks when the tanks would come
Ain’t nothin’ else to do around here just a game children play
Somethin’ ‘bout livin’ in fear all your life makes you hard that way

He answered when he got the call
Wrapped himself in death and praised Allah
A fat man in a new Mercedes drove him to the door
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

-- Steve Earle

[shanti]

1. tell it

that's exactly what it is!

[FlemingsGhost]

2. The Revolution Starts ...

Now!

[RoyGBiv]

3. Damn straight ...

I helped a client this morning who is deploying to Iraq on Monday, trying to sort out his bills to make sure he doesn't lose his house while he's gone. He's commanding a group of fresh recruits who are, in his words, full of piss and vinegar and ignorant as hell. "Some fuck-stick recruiter convinced them they're on a noble crusade to save the world. Guess it's easy to convince kids who have no options of shit like that. Hell, I fell for it." And then he laughed in an unfunny way.

Guy had a mangled arm from his first tour, said he burned by some sort of bomb, but it worked okay.

I had nothing intelligent to say, just asked him to please come see me, personally, when he got back, and I get him set up with his utilities and other such stuff without fucking around with the red tape. Wish I could do more.