Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 12:40:01 -0400
From: Harold Feld <hfeld@mediaaccess.org>


Tune: Danegeld Kippling/Fish

It is always a temptation
For a peaceful loving nation
To recoil from the use of deadly force
"Violence cannot be the answer
To this vile corrosive cancer
We shall therefore seek a kinder, gentler course."

And its true peace is always desired
And its true vengeance won't "bring them back"
But once your foeman has fired
Your choices are die or attack

It is always a temptation
For a reasonable nation
To weigh the justice of the other side
"Since we are not so sinless
Then how dare we strike in vengeance?
Lets save our passion for the ones who died."

And its true we are not always perfect
And that most things are not black and white
But SOME things are just cruel and Evil
And SOME things you just have to fight

And so at last our nation
Now faces twin temptations:
Strike from wrath or let compassion stay our hand
So while passions fly around us
Hold fast to the ties that bound us
And let us all together make a stand

We shall not let this crime go unpunished
Lest more innocents pay out the cost
Though we hate war and strife
We will fight to save life
Lest our freedom forever be lost lost lost
Lest our freedom forever be lost.
___________________________

A terrorist plot has unfolded
Thousands are dying or dead
   Permit me to speak
   Of the justice we seek
To prevent this from coming again
To prevent further bloodshed and pain

I am the lesson of history
Appeasment has always ment death
 For those who refuse
 Any weapons to use
Will learn to their sorrow and cost
When more innocent people are lost

You say nothing deters a madman
But history proves this a lie
 And those who decline
 To stand fast, hold the line
Are slaughtered as sheep by the foe
For violence is all that they know

Ask the Czechs or the Poles about vengance
Ask the Jews if restraint stops attacks
 I know you believe
 That we strike back from grief
But I know if we don't that the price
Of restraint is more innocent life