"Sixteen Military Wives", sometimes referred to as "16 by 32", is a single released by The Decemberists from their third album, Picaresque. Songwriter Colin Meloy has characterized the song as a "protest song" inspired by the Iraq War. However, though it does attack elements of American foreign policy under George W. Bush (the lines "'Cause America can/and America can't say no/And America does,/if America says it's so,/it's so" in the chorus), "Sixteen Military Wives" focuses primarily on the news media and popular response to the war

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