War,
you say,
will buy us Peace
A piece of what?
I say.

A piece of hatred for our aggression
        against a country that only threatens,
        whose words are defiant, but whose people we
        have starved for ten years?

A piece of revenge for the lives of the old men,
        the women and children our bombs will kill,
        for the sons who died fighting invasion?

A piece of honor as we turn our back on principles
        we trumpet for ourselves but not for others,
       democracy,  national sovereignty, compassionate capitalism,?

War,
you say,
will buy us Security.
Security from what?

I say.

Security from freedom of speech
         as the voices of the poet, the veteran, the pacifist
         who dare say not in my name,
         are squashed beneath cries of Un-American?

Security from democracy as you ignore
        the democratic process of the UN,
        the impartial polls which say that 65 percent of us don't want war,
        the shouted dissent of hundreds of thousands
       of American patriots who take to the streets to say No War?

Security from due process of law as we detain and strip rights from
        innocent immigrants who only wanted a better life,
        a life safe from the ambition of the powerful,
        as we tell citizens we can imprison them forever
        with no charge, no evidence, no lawyer, no trial, no self-defense?

War,
I say,
Will buy us only War.