The Incursion Principle Reduced to rubble, Jenin mourns her dead While Israel reinvents diplomacy: "Sorry for those civilians we just killed But blame the Palestine Authority." It seems a new doctrine has taken root To govern the decisions nations make: Civilians must be held accountable For deeds their foolish leaders undertake. So cast aside political theory, Those dusty tomes of Plato, Locke and Mill And inconvenient international laws When Israel's forces seek fresh blood to spill. Deny help to the sick, the maimed, the dying, Twice refugeed and hostage to despair. Let innocents be massacred en masse And sounds of mourning choke the fetid air. Lest cameras chronicle the grizzly scene Of families digging for their buried kin With bare hands, till the dead bury their dead, Prevent the media from getting in. Instead put on a sideshow for the world, Two puppets venting their respective spleen: The dueling Napoleons, Sharon And Arafat, little to choose between. Of ceasefires and the need for lasting peace, Observe the White House from the sidelines bleat While U.S. armaments are used to kill And mutual atrocities repeat. If that newfangled, flawed and fatal creed Of collective responsibility Should gain ascendancy among the nations, 'Twould gird the terrorist's philosophy. Then we would be identified with Bush And implicated in our government's sin. Hence my appeal to would-be terrorists: "Please spare our lives, we did not vote for him." April 2002