Bleedin' Colors

Not surprisingly, some former generals are defending Rumsfeld:
Richard Myers, a prominent former air force general who served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs during the invasion of Iraq, defended Donald Rumsfeld on Sunday, saying that the secretary of defense had given military leaders "tremendous access" for presenting their views […]
Myers said. "I mean, we gave him our best military advice, and I think - and that's what we're obligated to do.
"If we don't do that, we should be shot."

As it is, other people get shot.

This reminds me, apropos of nothing, that I saw a U.S. flag sticker in a window in my neighborhood with the following caption underneath it: “These colors don’t run.”
(If I’d had my camera that day, I’d have taken a picture. But I didn’t and I forgot the location. Sorry, you’ll have to take my word.)
My first thought on seeing this was, “How clever.” But that thought immediately gave way to, “Wait a second. That’s not the metaphor you want, because …”
If I were the type to write a protest song I might write something like this:

The red, white, and blue.
Do those colors stay true?
Can you wash them as much as you need?
Like your freshly scrubbed sons
With their new, oiled guns,
These colors don’t run
But they bleed.

We are stuck in Iraq
And there’s no turning back.
It seems some folks don’t want to be freed.
No, the shooting’s not done
In the hot desert sun,
But our colors don’t run
They just bleed.

Those Washington suits
Do not wear combat boots.
They think dry-cleaning always succeeds.
Rumsfeld shouts, “Atten-Shun!
Blast the dirt! Have some fun!”
No, these colors don’t run
But they bleed.