by Bill Costley
[newspoem]
“I feel a sense of pain
for those who were tortured by Saddam,
by the parents
who watched their daughters raped by Saddam,
by those innocent civilians who have been killed by
inadvertent allied action,
by those who have been bombed by suicide bombers.
I feel a sense of pain for death.
I feel a sense of pain for the families of our
troops.
“And a responsibility to make sure
they understand the sacrifice won't go in vain.
They want to know whether or not the President,
if he believes it was necessary,
whether he is going to see this thing through.
Nothing is worse than a politician
making decisions based on the latest poll
when people's lives are at stake.”
Bill Costley serves on the Steering Committee of the San Francisco chapter of the National Writers Union.
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