This is a cross-post from Cageprisoners
Indictment USA
by Moazzam Begg
June 2004
Camp Echo (Solitary Confinement)
Guantanamo Bay
Incarceration upon my own
Right here in Gitmo Bay,
Brings to mind a distant home
Far, far, faraway…
But temperaments begin to sour
Upon this doleful day,
Reflecting on the ‘super-power’
Known as the USA.
Examining this mystery,
And its status as today,
Begins the sordid history
Of an early USA:
PART 1
The ‘Fathers Pilgrim’ sailed the brine
Aboard the ‘Flower of May’,
And anchored in the fateful sign
Of a covetous USA
Achieving an independence,
Through hard won battle-play,
They focused on the presence
Of the native USA
The receptive Indian nations
Were fought and held at bay
In exclusive ‘reservations’
At the hotel USA
The irony is ‘Thanksgiving’
As a national holiday!
That not a native living
Observes in the USA
The nation chants: “home of the brave”,
But remind them, if one may,
It really was home of the slave
To the darker USA
It caused a brutal civil war,
Though some would otherwise say,
A vibrant living racist core
Still breeds in the USA:
Lynchings, hangings, burning crosses –
Symbols of the KKK,
Identify the appalling losses
Of the African USA
An impassioned vocal adversary
Of a nation gone astray,
Did “By any means necessary…”
Chastise the USA
Another said, “I have a dream…”
But they soon blew him away,
And hopes of a racially utopian scene
In the ghettos of the USA
Freedom was stolen, along with title,
From Mohammad Ali (Clay);
Rejecting war he made a revival
That stunned the USA
PART 2
Through a relatively short existence
The chronicles betray
An impertinent persistence
Of a meddlesome USA:
The quest for mass destructive-arms
Recalls ‘Enola Gay’,
Her genocidal atomic charms
Were Made in the USA
Blameless Japanese Americans
(Referred to as ‘Nisei’),
Were thrown into internments
By a paranoid USA
The Korean War evinced no gain,
Except a mighty fray,
And arousal of a new disdain
For an intrusive USA
Insurgent Cuban fighters
At the ‘Pigs’ entitled Bay,
Were routed, since inciters
Were a prudent USA
‘Napalm’, ‘My Lai’– Vietnam
Speak messages that convey
The massacres by Uncle Sam
In the name of the USA
An abortive hostage rescue attempt,
Becoming of the Green Berét,
The Iranians regarded with contempt
And derision of the USA
Over ten score on an airbus tour
Killed by a missile ‘stray’,
Were a target sure for the Naval Corps
And a hit for the USA!
Grenada created many fears,
Within their hearts’ inlay:
With bows and arrows (and some spears)
That scared the USA!
In Somalia, with Black Hawk aid,
They augmented decay
When thousands died as bullets sprayed
From a charitable USA
Attacks on a Sudanese hospital
Earned them a scathing flay,
As another destitute capital
Fell victim to the USA
In a Persian War they chose to ignore
Where millions in coffins lay,
The dictator with a chemical store
Was funded by the USA
Kuwait was invaded – like Palestine –
But freed without delay,
For abundant crude-oil to refine
As fuel for the USA
Rounds of depleted uranium
Did little to allay
Ill-effects on the cranium
Of the soldier USA
The debacle staged in Iraq
Is a protracted replay
Of a tendency to overact
By the players: USA
Naked prisoners on parade
In pyramid-like array,
Served the purpose to degrade
A shameless USA
As bombs fell on Afghanistan
The innocent had to pay
The price – in this impoverished land –
For the nemesis USA:
The man was sought in a mountain resort,
Like a needle in a stack of hay;
But if he’s caught is there much thought
Of a peaceful USA?
Re-imposing their idea:
“By force, we’ll have our way…”
Iran is placed, just like Korea,
In the sights of the USA
But wavering allies – one by one –
Resign without essay,
Provoking the opinion
To desert the USA
Redolent with a Yankee stench,
The world is caused dismay;
Many more – like the dainty French–
Despise the USA
PART 3
Many a distant mile they’ve flown
To injuries ‘repay’,
Neglecting to look at their own-
Deep in the USA:
Rioting youths and police brutality
In South Central L.A.-
Are naked truths to a harsh reality
On the streets of the USA
Juvenile shootings in Columbine
Quite suitably portray
A zone of combat and frontline
In the heart of the USA
Firearms and ballistics,
As promoted by the NRA,
Embody the characteristics
Of a gun-toting USA
Gangsters, snipers and drug-dealers
Buy weapons on display.
Perverts, rapists and serial killers
All thrive in the USA
A peerless figure for homicide –
On a global-scale survey –
Is clearly a source of national pride
For the criminal USA
Intelligence oxymoron,
In the ‘Bureau’ and the CIA,
Revealed impotence hence ‘the War on
Terror’ by the USA
The globe is scoured for terrorists,
To halt and catch and slay,
But on closer analysis
They flourish in the USA:
Militias training to produce
A Timothy McVeigh,
Continue this day to induce
An explosive USA
Doomsday cults and ‘Una-bombers’
Form much of the outlay,
For those entrusted with the honours
To preside the USA:
The inane Texan, George .W. Bush,
Has begun to lose his sway,
Requiring but a gentle push
Off the map of the USA
An attitude stern with national concern
Is depicted to outweigh
The perpetual yearn for investment return
By the leader of the USA
“Regional stability” and “foreign aid”
Are an overstated cliché;
But exploitation of the oil trade
Are his goals for the USA
A dark cloud rising overhead
Evicts the blue to grey;
Rearing forth its gruesome head:
The repulsive USA
Throughout the world the masses cry,
“Depart” and “Go away”;
The banners scream emotions high,
“DOWN WITH THE USA!”
EPILOGUE
And on a rented Cuban patch
The abductees all pray
For justice, and a safe detach
From the clutches of the USA
(They suffered an atrocity
And want us all to pay,
But I want no proximity
To such a USA)
Never, till captivity,
Could I such words relay;
I regard it an epitome
Of the current USA
Vulgarity is not my style,
But still I have to say,
This occasion causes me revile
So **** the USA!
