Isn't it obvious? They got their children on the floor as fast as they could and stood to protect their wives. The point he's making is that in this situation everyone did the best they could. Unfortunately too many people don't listen to the lyrics but hear them through the distortion of their prejudices. The song is about man's inhumanity to man, and the key line has to be "the nails that pierced his skin". This reference to sacrifice and crucifixion is crucial to understanding the writer's point. The song is not propoganda, it is not on the side of anyone but those caught everyday in the modern world between a rock and a hard place. In the end it's a song of hope that the actions of the parents/husbands and of the soldier perpetuate the good in humanity against the murderous, often religion based lunacy of the few.