iraqnam

I wrote this a few years ago and actually stood on a stage and read it to a cabaret audience. It is a poem that may be unique in that unfortunately the bottom lines continue to need to be updated.

Iraqnam
By Henry David Rosso

Lies
Robert McNamara rattled sabers in ‘64
We were attacked in Gulf of Tonkin, he told Congress
Clueless Congress bites and passes resolution
Only two senators stand tall
But can’t stop Vietnam War
Lies
Colin Powell’s Gulf of Tonkin in ‘03
Shows UN pretty pictures and tubes of white stuff
It was a vial performance
Proves Saddam is evil
End of the world is at hand
Clueless Congress supports clueless president
Some say they didn’t
Too late to take it back
Ike, JFK, LBJ, Tricky Dicky
Bush, Clinton, Bush
Sent us to wars we didn’t need
Hell no, we won’t go!
But the Vietnam War was on
Millions marched before the Iraq War
Hell no, we didn’t want to go
But Bush wanted to go, so we went,
Heh heh
It was his post-strike pre-strike
We burned the villages/bombed the towns
In the name of democracy.
Napalmed the future of democracy
Shocked and awed future Christians
We have to do this
It’s for your own good
We stayed in Vietnam/staying in Iraq
Until their militaries could do the job themselves
Rubbing shoulders with natives/enemies
Walking as hero/enemy
You don’t know if they will blow you up
They don’t know if you will blow them up
Ao dais and burkas
In the streets of Saigon/Baghdad
We gave orphans candy after killing their parents
We’re all good guys/bad guys
They are all friends/terrorists
Greeting us with open arms did not come easy

We left behind Bui-Doi in Vietnam
The Amerasian children, our spoils of war.
Haven’t heard of AmerIraqis
No American-fathered left behind
Unknown, unwanted, outcasts
Maybe nobody gave a fuck
We paid for their services
GIs boom-boom in back streets
Not knowing what we would bring back
Not caring what we left behind
Mama san washed our laundry
While her daughter took our loads
Military lied about body counts in Vietnam
Not good for morale
We were winning the war
No pictures of flag-draped coffins from Iraq
Not good for morale
The mission is being accomplished
Lt. Calley gave us My Lai
Killed all those old men, women and children
In the name of democracy
Pfc. Lynndie England helped give us Abu Ghraib
Atrocities in the name of saving us from atrocities
Setting the example the American way
We saved the world from Uncle Ho
Stopped the dominoes from falling
Funny. They never fell after we left
We pull Saddam out of the rat hole
Forgot about Osama
He was traded for Al Qaida’s al-Zarqawi
Should I become president ... I will not risk American lives ... by permitting any other nation to drag us into the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time. John Kennedy, 1960.
We still seek no wider war. Lyndon Johnson, 1964.
We seem bent upon saving the Vietnamese from Ho Chi Minh, even if we have to kill them and demolish their country to do it. George McGovern, 1967.
It became necessary to destroy the town to save it. U.S. Army major in Vietnam, 1968.
It’s a slam-dunk case. CIA Director George Tenet, 2002

My answer is to bring ‘em on. George Bush, 2003

My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. Dick Cheney, 2003

Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. President George Bush, 2003
We found the weapons of mass destruction. George Bush, 2003

I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency. Dick Cheney, 2005

June 2009 – to date
Tens of thousands of Iraqis killed.
June 2009 – to date
4,321 Americans killed.
And now, we bring you Afghanistan.
June 2009 – to date – 735 Americans killed