Blair and Bush are of course totally indifferent to such facts, not forgetting the charming, grinning, beguiling Bill Clinton, who was apparently given a standing ovation at the Labour Party Conference. For what, killing Iraqi children? Or Serbian children?

Bush has said, “We will not allow the world’s worst weapons to remain in the hands of the world’s worst leaders.” Quite right. Look in the mirror, chum. That’s you.

The United States is at this moment developing advanced systems of “weapons of mass destruction” and is prepared to use them where it sees fit. It has walked away from international agreements on biological and chemical weapons, refusing to allow any inspection of its own factories.

It is holding hundreds of Afghans prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, allowing them no legal redress although they are charged with nothing, holding them captive virtually forever.

It is insisting on immunity from the international criminal court, a stance which beggars belief but which is now supported by Great Britain.

The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Tony Blair’s contemptible subservience to this criminal American regime demeans and dishonors this country.

October 15, 2002

God Bless America

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Here they go again,

The Yanks in their armored parade

Chanting their ballads of joy

As they gallop across the big world

Praising America’s God.

The gutters are clogged with the dead:

The ones who couldn’t join in,

The others refusing to sing,

The ones who are losing their voice,

The ones who’ve forgotten the tune.

The riders have whips which cut.

Your head rolls onto the sand,

Your head is a pool in the dirt,

Your head is a stain in the dust,

Your eyes have gone out and your nose

Sniffs only the pong of the dead,

And all the dead air is alive

With the smell of America’s God.

January 2003

American Football

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

A reflection on the Gulf War

Hallelujah!

It works.

We blew the shit out of them.

We blew the shit right back up their own ass

And out their fucking ears.

It works.

We blew the shit out of them.

They suffocated in their own shit!

Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord for all good things.

We blew them into fucking shit.

They are eating it.

Praise the Lord for all good things.

We blew their balls into shards of dust,

Into shards of fucking dust.

We did it.

Now I want you to come over here and kiss me on the mouth.

August 1991

Iraq Debate, Imperial War Museum

IRAQ DEBATE, IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

Freedom, democracy, and liberation. These terms, as enunciated by Bush and Blair, essentially mean death, destruction, and chaos.