The Sunnis, the Shi’ites and Kurds

(For the troops)

The dust is all caked ‘Round you boots as you march In pursuit of insurgents galore. And there’s blood on your face That is burnt in this place As it never has been burnt before.

They tell you you’re winning, That it soon will be over, But you know it is all for the birds, ‘Cause wherever you look, It is not by the book, With the Sunnis, The Shi’ites and Kurds.

The bombs that you dropped Left Fallujah in rubble, For the stench there can’t be any words. But no one could tell In this bloody hell, Were they Sunnis, or Shi’ites or Kurds?

You don’t give a damn For Iraq or Iran, Or for all of the president’s words. You just want to get out And give one final shout To the Sunnis, the Shi’ites and Kurds.

A bunch of your buddies All died in an ambush As Al-Qaeda attacked you in herds. But they keep rolling on As the new ones come in To face Sunnis and Shi’ites and Kurds.

Now one day this all Will be over – And Iraq will be carved into thirds. They’ll dismember the land To the sound of the band Into Sunnis, and Shi’ites and Kurds.

So wherever they lay Down your body – Your last wish they might think absurd- "Don’t place me beside, Where last I reside, Near a Sunni, or Shi’ite or Kurd."

And Bush and his cronies, That old pack of phonies, Let them rot in a hell they deserve- Where they’ll be made to pay For their deeds of their day To the Sunnis, the Shi’ites and Kurds.

Then, if you’re embedded, You could be beheaded – Like Iraq, you’ll be sliced into thirds. So prepare for your death And breathe your last breath, Midst the Sunnis, the Shi’ites and Kurds.

Richard Cummings [send him mail] taught international law at the Haile Selassie I University and before that, was Attorney-Advisor with the Office of General Counsel of the Near East South Asia region of U.S.A.I.D, where he was responsible for the legal work pertaining to the aid program in Israel, Jordan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is the author of a new novel, The Immortalists, as well as The Pied Piper — Allard K. Lowenstein and the Liberal Dream, and the comedy, Soccer Moms From Hell. He holds a Ph.D. in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University and is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He is writing a new book, The Road To Baghdad — The Money Trail Behind The War In Iraq. He is a contribution editor for The American Conservative.