Bob Schwartz

Tag: War

March 24, 2026

Masters of War

Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
–Bob Dylan, Masters of War

Masters of War is a track from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963). As a recording, it couldn’t be farther from current slick production values. It is a young brilliant artist strumming a guitar, singing in a pretty idiosyncratic way.

It is a song about war, but it isn’t an anti-war song; listening to it reveals that, and Dylan later confirmed it. It is about the people behind the curtain, the people on the battlefield, the people caught in the crossfire. War is a serious business that we don’t take seriously enough. Let all us put our motives, prejudices and and agendas brutally on the table, setting aside high-minded and sometimes dishonest pretexts, explanations and excuses.

All the verses are critical, but the last verse is bitter, angry and vindictive. Is that justice? What should we do with the masters of war? We have tried in modern times to build reasoned ethical oversight and standards of justice. After World War I, the war to end war, the Geneva Conventions. After World War II, trials –and executions–of perpetrators and international courts of justice. But what happens when the oversight and standards are breached and belittled? Would Jesus forgive? Should we?

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death’ll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand o’er your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead

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March 4, 2026

“US troops were told war on Iran was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’”

Death on a Pale Horse, Book of Revelation

US troops were told war on Iran was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’, watchdog alleges
Religious freedom group says 200 troops sent complaints of superiors using extremist Christian rhetoric to justify war

Sara Braun
Tue 3 Mar 2026
The Guardian

US military commanders have been invoking extremist Christian rhetoric about biblical “end times” to justify involvement in the Iran war to troops, according to complaints made to a watchdog group.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) says it has received more than 200 complaints from service members across all branches of the armed forces, including the marines, air force and space force.

One complainant, identified as a noncommissioned officer (NCO) in a unit that could be deployed “at any moment to join” operations against Iran, told MRFF in a complaint viewed by the Guardian that their commander had “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ”.

“He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth’”, the NCO added.

The NCO’s complaint was filed on behalf of 15 troops, including 11 Christians, one Muslim person and one Jewish person.

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March 1, 2026

War (1970) by Edwin Starr

Life is much too short and precious
To spend fighting wars each day
War can’t give life
It can only take it away

War
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing

War, I despise
‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives
War means tears to thousands of mother’s eyes
When their sons go off to fight
And lose their lives

It ain’t nothing but a heart-breaker
Friend only to the undertaker

Oh, war it’s an enemy to all mankind
The thought of war blows my mind
War has caused unrest
Within the younger generation
Induction then destruction
Who wants to die?

Oh, war, has shattered many a young man’s dreams
Made him disabled, bitter and mean
Life is much too short and precious
To spend fighting wars each day
War can’t give life
It can only take it away

Peace, love and understanding, tell me
Is there no place for them today?
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way

Songwriters: Barrett Strong / Norman Whitfield

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November 7, 2024

More post-election music: Us and Them by Pink Floyd

Black and blue
And who knows which is which, and who is who?
Up and down
And in the end, it’s only round and round, and round

Pink Floyd, and especially Roger Waters, are at or near the top of iconoclastic (“icon smashing”) pop music. (Waters continues to swim outside the mainstream, getting him into trouble with certain constituencies, but from my perspective, his artistic contribution grants him a license.)

Take the issue of education. We know the schools are not working, if the mission is to cultivate citizens with solid basic skills and knowledge. Instead of, for example, schools that deliver many students to college who are deficient in elementary math and who can’t conscientiously research and coherently write without the assistance of AI. What some parents clamor for is education that inculcates their children with the “right” ideology.

More than forty years ago, this is what Waters wrote in Another Brick in the Wall:

We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teacher, leave them kids alone

All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall
All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall

Back to post-election music. Two years after John Lennon—another iconoclast—released his anti-war track, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (1971), Pink Floyd featured Waters’ view about war on Dark Side of the Moon (1973). Us and Them is about war, but more broadly about the pointless and thoughtless identities that lead inevitably to pointless and thoughtless conflict.

Us and them
And after all, we’re only ordinary men
Me and you
God only knows it’s not what we would choose to do

“Forward!” he cried from the rear
And the front rank died
The general sat, and the lines on the map
Moved from side to side

Black and blue
And who knows which is which, and who is who?
Up and down
And in the end, it’s only round and round, and round

“Haven’t you heard it’s a battle of words?”
The poster bearer cried
“Listen, son,” said the man with the gun
“There’s room for you inside”

Down and out
It can’t be helped, but there’s a lot of it about
With, without
And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about?

Out of the way, it’s a busy day
I’ve got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died

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November 9, 2023

An authoritative, objective and non-partisan summary of the Israel/Gaza war—from Congress!?

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), a department of the Library of Congress, has since 1914 been one of the least-known and most significant government initiatives:

Mission

To serve Congress with the highest quality of research, analysis, information and confidential consultation to support the exercise of its legislative, representational and oversight duties in its role as a coequal branch of government.

Authoritative

All services and products are authoritative. Analysts demonstrate rigorous research methodologies, free of built-in bias. They present, explain and justify any critical assumptions; investigate and recheck data anomalies; use primary resources whenever available; double-check all statements of fact; and document and vet all sources. This assures Members, as they engage in debate, that the analysis they rely on is as accurate as it is current.

Objective and Nonpartisan

We maintain an outstanding reputation for objective and nonpartisan analysis. Our experts are vigilant in evaluating issues without bias. A multi-layered review process also helps ensure that CRS products present issues and analysis in a manner that is fair, considered and reliable.

Since the Israel/Gaza war began on October 7, CRS has been compiling and issuing an updated report, Israel and Hamas October 2023 Conflict:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

For those who have been devouring information from many and often divergent sources, this is as close as we may come to the informational middle of the road. This doesn’t mean that we will set aside our values and our opinions in this charged environment. We can’t and we won’t. It is just a reminder that in the so-called fog of war, there remains the possibility of the authoritative, objective and non-partisan.

Note: I was going to include some excerpts that seemed to support some of the points I believe in. But I realize that that defeats the purpose of simply asking people on all sides of the questions to consider one more source. Please do read.

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz

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November 7, 2023

Revisiting last Yom Kippur and reopening the Book of Life

The Hamas massacre in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza took place just two weeks after last Yom Kippur. I have already put away the High Holy Days liturgy until next year, but I am now revisiting it.

I may detail what I find in coming messages. Maybe not. Here is a general thought.

I listed my sins in the past year and asked for forgiveness—not just of God, but first of those down-to-earth people wronged. We did the same as a community and as a people. The Book of Life had been open for ten days and then closed, supposedly sealing our fate for the coming year. Whether or not there is such a book, whether God or angels are writing in it, we don’t know. We do know that our thoughts and actions lead to consequences. Those consequences are our book.

Now, here, weeks after Yom Kippur, you can still hear the blasts of the shofar. May you write for good in your own book.

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz

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November 5, 2023

Ani Shalom – I am peace – אֲֽנִי־שָׁ֭לוֹם

Too long have I dwelt with those who hate peace.
I am all peace;
but when I speak,
they are for war.

Psalm 120:6-7

I am not a pacifist.

There are many definitions of pacifist, including:

A person who opposes war or violence as a means of settling disputes.
A person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable.

Up until now, I hadn’t thought about whether I would classify myself as or be considered a pacifist. The short answer is ‘no”. During the wars I’ve lived through or for those I know from recent or ancient history, I can say that some of the wars and violence pursued were justified. Others were not, or were pursued in ways that were not justified, or for objectives that were not justified, or were pursued without trying other means, or were just stupid or evil.

But I am for peace. Peace should never be a secondary or tertiary objective once the other objectives have been achieved or not, once all the destructive and deadly means have been tried. Peace should have co-equal status at the top of the list.

During the ongoing war in Gaza, I’ve discovered that all the divergent thinking and rhetoric, from me and so many others, from just plain folks up to world leaders, is having little effect on the course of hostilities. Wars are about action, well-chosen or ill-chosen, and stubborn actors convinced of their rightness can be deaf.

Then I realized that if I am going to be using my words to little practical effect, I might as well use them to promote the possibility of peace.

Which is how I came to find a verse in Psalm 120. The standout Hebrew phrase is “Ani shalom”, literally the words are “I” and “peace”. Lacking a verb, it is variously translated as “I am peace”, “I am all peace”, “I am for peace”.

I am peace and I hope you are too.

רַ֭בַּת שָֽׁכְנָה־לָּ֣הּ נַפְשִׁ֑י עִ֝֗ם שׂוֹנֵ֥א שָׁלֽוֹם׃
אֲֽנִי־שָׁ֭לוֹם וְכִ֣י אֲדַבֵּ֑ר הֵ֝֗מָּה לַמִּלְחָמָֽה׃

Rabat shachna la nafshi
Ani shalom v’chi adaber hama lamilchama

Too long have I dwelt with those who hate peace.
I am all peace;
but when I speak,
they are for war.

Psalm 120:6-7

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November 1, 2023

Senator Lindsey Graham: “US should place ‘no limit’ on civilian casualties Israel inflicts.” Unlike others, at least he is honest.

I have little good to say about Senator Lindsey Graham. He is a model of what a civic leader should not be. For example, after being one of Trump’s harshest critics and opponents, as soon as Trump took power, he became his most ardent and over the top defender.

But his interview with CNN does deserve credit. Almost everyone else publicly avoids the obvious question: As the number of civilian deaths in Gaza rises, with no end in sight, is there a limit when it reaches what I call the “dayenu” moment—Hebrew for “enough”. Twenty thousand civilian deaths, thirty thousand, more?—all plausible numbers, all tending to young people, given Gaza demographics.

Graham says:

“No. If somebody asked us after world war two, ‘Is there a limit what would you do to make sure that Japan and Germany don’t conquer the world? Is there any limit what Israel should do to the people who are trying to slaughter the Jews?’ “The answer is no. There is no limit.”

This is a question widely avoided because it is difficult, because any answer—including Graham’s—is controversial and provocative. In general, leaders prefer to deeply discuss questions about casualties, military or civilian, after the fact. War is not won by the equivocating or the timid, and focus on unfortunate consequences only gets in the way.

Except. War has a price, or actually prices: the price spent on pursuing and the price exacted from those affected. It is the price of achieving the war’s objectives. The price for the security of a people, a nation, the world. The price for a principle such as freedom or democracy.

Israel has described its objectives as eradication of Hamas and return of hostages, along with, as Netanyahu has sometimes said, retaliation. The primary unanswered question is not entitlement to those objectives or their achievability. The question is the price to be spent and exacted.

Maybe the answer for Israel and its supporters, including the U.S., is that there is no price too high, no limit. If the U.S. or Israel did expressly say that, we can assume that the repercussions would be felt across America, Israel, the region and the world. Which is why the question hasn’t been answered at high levels before. And why we have to thank Senator Lindsey Graham for his honesty.

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz

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November 1, 2023

Mad Gods by the sea

Palestine Sunbird in Gaza

Mad Gods by the sea

God of Moses
God of Jesus
God of Mohammed
God of infinite names
Sitting by the desert sea
Pained and grieved.
This is madness.
These people
Every inclination
Is only evil
All the time.*
They take our names
In vile vain.**
There is the water
Let us drive them in
And start again
Just like days of old
Do better next time.
But how would they learn?
Hard hearts may soften
Dissolved in blood and tears.
We won’t abandon
We don’t approve.

*Genesis 6.5-7
**Exodus 20.6

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz

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October 30, 2023

United States Institute of Peace: “A national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for U.S. and global security.”

Whether you are living through war directly, living with its aftermath, or just thinking about it at a distance, peace is or should never be far from mind.

Here at a distance, thinking and talking about the Israel/Gaza war has been non-stop and contentious. Peace, however elusive and immediately unlikely, is not far from mind. In fact, having little influence on the course of the conflict, studying peace seems a good occupation. Just in case.

Until last week, I had never heard of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) https://www.usip.org/ , let alone that it was established and funded by Congress.

The United States Institute of Peace is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for U.S. and global security. In conflict zones abroad, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict. To reduce future crises and the need for costly interventions, USIP works with governments and civil societies to build local capacities to manage conflict peacefully. The Institute pursues its mission by linking research, policy, training, analysis and direct action to support those who are working to build a more peaceful, inclusive world….

Congress established the U.S. Institute of Peace in 1984 following years of proposals for the creation of a national “peace academy,” notably from a nationwide grassroots movement and from World War II combat veterans elected to legislative office.

Among its many initiatives, the USIP has developed the Gandhi-King Global Academy, which includes a Global Campus with hours of tuition-free online course about peace and the process of peacemaking.

I hope to take some of these courses, and I hope to encourage others to do the same. I have never served in war, as have others of my family and friends, but even from a distance I’ve learned much about war. Too much. So have so many others.

That’s why Isaiah 2.4:

And they shall grind their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not raise sword against nation
nor shall they learn war anymore.

That’s why Down By the Riverside:

I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield
down by the riverside
ain’t gonna study war no more.

We don’t have the luxury of not studying the war right now. But we do have the opportunity, right now, of studying peace.

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