Come on up for the rising...

This is another "where a song can take you" post, only this was has a photo involved as well.

This evening, as I drove across the mountains that are the eastern wall of the Shenandoah Valley, I played Bruce Springsteen's CD, The Rising.

That is his "9/11" CD. I like most of the songs on it. The title song, though, is my favorite. It may not be the best on the album; anyway the critics don't seem to think so. But everytime I listen to it. I can't help but remember a picture from that day. It was of a fireman in a stairwell at the World Trade Center.

He was loaded down with gear and drenched with sweat. He was a young looking 30-ish. What was really notable was the smile on his face. On that day. In that place. He was smiling. It was the sort of involuntary smile people wear when they are doing something they love, that they are meant to do.

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin the cross
of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin down here

He was on his way up the stairwell, as far as he could go, to do his job.

I don't know if he got out or not.

Can't see nothin in front of me
Can't see nothin coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile of line

The depiction of the fireman climbing into the tower to save lives is powerful enough, but the chorus sends the song into the place of the spirit.

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

It is almost scriptural; "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." But these weren't even friends in the towers. They were total strangers. And he still went up the stairs.

The "rising"; the lifting up, is most fitting. Bruce Springsteen wrote an amazing song about amazing people. We are coming up on the sixth anniversary of the day and the picture. Many will mourn, all will remember, some will misuse the day. We should all celebrate the courage and grace, and the goodness, that we saw that day.

For the fireman in the picture, and in the song:

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Amen.

Is he out of his freakin' mind?

8:54pm Sunday, Jun 10


Joe Lieberman announced this morning that he though an attack on Iran might be needed, in order to stop then from pursuing their nuclear ambitions and to keep them from killing Americans in Iraq.

What does he think we can attack Iran with?

We have exhausted our ground forces. At this point we can't take on Serbia, for Christ's sake -- and thanks to our boy president's panderfest in Albania yesterday, we may have to take on Serbia (he gets to feel the love in a precinct in Chicago and the Balkans gets another shot at war). But the President's screw ups are for another day and another note; back to "tail-gunner Joe".

What the hell is he thinking???

We don't have the ground forces. But wait, he wants air strikes no doubt. Thats the ticket! It worked so well with Shock and Awe. It worked so well in Lebanon. If there is any doubt, some Air power freak is there to whisper it in your ear. "You don't need to worry about casualties. We can bring the enemy to its knees with strategic air power."

Bullshit.

It didn't work for the Luftwaffe., it didn't work in Vietnam. It didn't even work in Kosovo without help from ground forces, otherwise known as the KLA.

It didn't work in Lebanon; in fact it was probably counter-productive in Lebanon where light infantry and commandos could have better accomplished the mission.

Air power is attractive to amateurs who don't want to explain why a lot of their troops are going to get killed. And let me just say this -- right out of Clausewicz -- if you aren't ready to tell your people why you are sending their kids, siblings, spouses, and parents into harm's way; you are not ready to take them into war. Air power won't make it any easier. You still need ground forces to do the mopping up, to secure sensitive sites, to control populations, to rebuild infrastructure. To do all the things that we gaffed off in Iraq and will undoubtedly gaff off in Iran if arm-chair generals like Lieberman get their way.