In December of 1876, the Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, was asked if Germany would involve itself in the war then ongoing in the Balkans, and Bismarck replied that the Balkans was not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. Today, Syria is not worth the bones of a single American soldier.

The grave is wide, and long and deep
Where tens of thousands lay in sleep
To join the thousands gone before
Why should we wish to add some more?
In Normandy white crosses sweep
To the horizon, where they keep
The memory of what is war
And what it is worth fighting for
A graveyard is the Middle East
Where rats and worms and ravens feast
On what were once young grenadiers
Who lie in watered graves of tears