I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Like a lot of other bloggers, I felt compelled to note this song on this day. This song was written during the American Civil War. Normally today, the 4th, 5th and 6th verses are not sung. It is these verses that reflect the despair that the writer felt during these times, even though he finally ended the song on a positive note. Today, America is not really at war - even though we have two wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. But these wars do not affect most of the population here. Our pResident told us to 'go shopping' just the other day. There is no shortage of anything here, no violence beyond the normal level.

This is not true in Iraq, where we started a war where none existed. Most of the people in that country are in mortal fear of their lives and suffering great deprivation.

How did we get to this point? Well for starters, those who dissented from starting this war were labeled the "looney left" and ignored or dismissed. Today, the same people who got it wrong (in a SPECTACULAR fashion) are still calling the shots. And they are still getting it wrong.

Today, Saddam was sentenced to death. Now, I have no doubt he did many horrible things and deserves to spend his life in prison. I don't believe in the death penalty, and in this case, it will only stir up more violence in the country of Iraq. But I have no doubt that is just what they will do and no doubt as to what the result will be. But, I suppose, there is no stopping this train wreck.

But the ironic thing is that Saddam is sentenced to death for a retaliation effort in response to an attempt on his life. He retaliated by killing about 140 people from the town where they tried to kill him. The first ironic thing is that the US/CIA had been trying to kill Saddam for years, sometimes undercover, sometimes not. Reportedly, the CIA help set off car bombs in Baghdad in the 1990's with Allawi. Bush did it quite publicly with the "Shock and Awe" obscenity. They surely killed more than 140 people who had nothing to do with keeping Saddam alive in that one. Then the US military invaded and killed even more people, and while the claim was to get the WMDs, that was just a pack of lies. They wanted to get rid of Saddam - and they killed many, many, many more people than 140.

And today, anybody even slightly threatens or appears to threaten US troops get killed immediately. No trial like Saddam gave the people from the town that tried to kill him. Drive too close to an American checkpoint without slowing down - they shoot. They kill. They bomb towns in the effort to free them from "anti-Iraqi" forces - which really means they kill Iraqis who don't want Americans running their country.

Today, Bush has killed more Iraqis than Saddam. He has not killed more people (yet), but I think he will beat him at that one too.

It is so depressing to me that the American people let him get away with all this murder, torture, kidnapping, and all the other evil things Bush and his Republican government has done.

Here is a quote I picked up in the comment section of a blog:

”I don't know about the mainstream media's courage or independence, but the insight they all seem to lack is the ability to see the US as "deceitful and manipulative and callous and contemptuous of the rest of the world." Those of us who could recognize those traits had little trouble figuring out where the war was going or why. Those who didn't were easy suckers. It's important to understand that long before Iraq was attacked, the first preemptive attack was against the "blame America first" crowd on the "looney left" -- and that clearing out the critics most sensitive to what would go wrong was the essential first step toward such a disastrous war." - Tom Hall

And I have to say he nailed it. They went after the "looney left" before they did any attack on Iraq. And never mind that the anti-war crowd was correct all along. Most of the American public is not against this war because they are now anti-war; it is because they are anti-losing. And we have lost this war in Iraq, which overall is a good thing, I guess. Better for idiots who start up wars for no reason to lose than to win and keep on doing it.

But it sure sucks for the Iraqi people.