Bush: Violence is price of new Iraq

President Bush speaks Tuesday at a Veterans of Foreign Wars meeting in Washington. He said that rather than be alarmed by the continuing violence and political turmoil in Iraq, we should welcome this for what it is: freedom in action. It was the latest in a series of speeches Bush has made since December outlining more specifics for the administration s strategy in Iraq. (AP / Ron Edmonds)


O Lord our God,
help us
to tear their soldiers
to bloody shreds
with our shells;

help us
to cover their smiling fields
with the pale forms
of their patriot dead;

help us
to drown the thunder
of the guns
with the shrieks
of their wounded,
writhing in pain;


help us
to lay waste
their humble homes
with a hurricane of fire;

help us
to wring the hearts
of their unoffending widows
with unavailing grief;

help us
to turn them out roofless
with their little children
to wander unfriended
the wastes
of their desolated land;

in rags and hunger
and thirst,
sports of the sun flames
of summer
and the icy winds
of winter,

broken in spirit,

worn with travail,

imploring Thee
for the refuge of the grave
and denied it--

for our sakes
who adore Thee, Lord,

blast their hopes,

blight their lives,

protract their bitter pilgrimage,

Make heavy their steps,

water their way with their tears,

stain the white snow
with the blood
of their wounded feet!

We ask it,
in the spirit of love,
of Him Who is the Source of Love,

And Who is the ever-faithful
refuge and friend
of all that are sore beset

and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.

Amen.

Mark Twain, "The War Prayer"