How Far Is It From Here To Nuremberg?

Is there a flag upon your house
And a flag upon your car
And a ribbon on your mailbox
With the stars and bars
Do you support the president
And the war for oil
Do you think your sons belong
There on someone else’s soil
How far is it from here to Nuremberg?

Did you hear about Falluja
And the hundred thousand dead
Did you hear about the torture
In the newspapers you read
Did you pretend it didn’t matter
Did you blame a few bad men
Did you think your leaders
Wouldn’t just do it all again
How far is it from here to Nuremberg?

Did you design the software
That ran the engine in the tank
Or were you pushing papers
At City Bank
Were you in Seattle
Turning bombers into gold
Or did you pull the trigger
`Cause you did what you were told
How far is it from here to Nuremberg?

Or did you take your kids to school
Go off to your job
Send your taxes off in April
To help support the mob
Did you vote the lesser evil
And think it’s all a shame
Did you think that this alone
Could take away the blame
How far is it from here to Nuremberg?

“How Far Is It From Here to Nuremberg” first appeared on the 2005 Soundclick release, Waiting for the Fall, and later got the band treatment on the CD, Halliburton Boardroom Massacre.

I had Pete Seeger’s song, “Last Train to Nuremberg” in my head, probably, and I was thinking about the differences and similarities between US imperialism and German fascism back in the day. And what a modern-day Nuremberg Tribunal might look like if it were hosted somewhere like Hanoi or Baghdad.