Detainees
Some memos are in and the photos are damning
The torture was clearly and openly shown
They linked all their crimes to a day in September
My daughter was walking the Brooklyn Bridge home
Good bye to George Bush, farewell Richard Cheney
Au revoir to les Autres, eat cake Condoleezza
You won't have a name when they take you to Baghdad
All they will call you will be detainees
We used to remember the kindness of strangers
We used to join hands and make good Union clothes
Then Bushco convinced us our motives were pointless
He spied on us all and shoved fear up our nose
Good bye to George Bush, farewell Richard Cheney
Goodbye to the Others, eat cake Condoleezza
You won't have a name when they take you to Baghdad
All they will call you will be detainees
They never told Orwell that truth was a secret
Or banks weren't too poor for the cynical Fed
We have no more money for our obligations
But people were tortured and people are dead
Good bye to George Bush, farewell Richard Cheney
Au revoir to Les Autres, eat cake Condoleezza
You won't have a name when they leave you in Bagram
All they will call you will be detainees
Thanks for the poem, strato! :)
May 17, 2009 12:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for reading TheraP.
I wrote this because the name “detainee” makes me shiver. The word evokes this Woody Guthrie folk tune plus.
And thank you to all the TPM writers for due diligence and detail regarding War Crimes.
May 17, 2009 12:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have often wondered how being taken prisoner in the War on Terror, doesn't make one a prisoner of war. "We're sorry, you are not being taken prisoner, we are just detaining you."
May 17, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, totally misleading, and cloaks the truth under a black hood.
May 17, 2009 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well that's easy. Strato I hereby award you the Knightly Poetry Award for this here TPMCafe site, given to all of you from all of me.
REally fine. I can come back and read this later and tomorrow morning.
Just fine.
May 17, 2009 1:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, stated out front.
I forgot to tell you,
My Thanks to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger
Because of Dick Day and George Orwell
Thank you for this here KPA Award. It means the world to all of me.
May 17, 2009 1:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is awesome!
May 17, 2009 1:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c14cwVVZyxw
May 17, 2009 1:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
What a cool song. Great link. ↑
You are a most excellent linker, and thinker.
“Tie a yellow ribbon around the whole wide world / Something good has begun.”
I love that.
May 17, 2009 1:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank ye both, very kindly. Glad you liked Lizzie West.
May 17, 2009 2:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Very good choice LisB
May 17, 2009 2:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is just exceptional! My vote is with DD on this one.
May 17, 2009 1:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
We live in the era of the lie. It is a pathological twist that changes the ground of reality.
May 17, 2009 2:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
They lie, and lie and lie. But their secrets are coming out.
Just maybe we can move them with the groundswell of people
like you
who are willing to say that.
May 17, 2009 2:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wish we had reached the end of lies, but it my nose tells me we have not. The Powers That Be still hold sway and it will take the people to change the flow of history. It is said that politicians do not lead, but the people do. That means more than voting. As citizens it is we who must be the watchdogs. We who must make our voices heard. Not just vote and go home until the next election.
May 17, 2009 2:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I just left you a comment on TheraP’s blog:
“Torture Services, Inc. (War Crime 4 Hire)”
Regarding the Jeremy Scahill article.
http://www.truthout.org/051609Y
May 17, 2009 3:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can only counter with Howard Zinn at the moment… I am hoping we can stop this insanity before our collective souls are completely consumed with the shame of turning away.
We need the ANGER to motivate the ACTION. Call the Whitehouse, email Obama. Write your paper. something...
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/16-0
Giant mirror in cyberspace reflects people marching on Whitehouse.
STOP PEOPLE TORTURING PEOPLE NOW!
May 17, 2009 3:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Superbly expressed! Got me thinking about that 'what goes around comes around' phrase.
'detainees', 'enhanced interrogation techniques', 'waterboarding...depriving people of oxygen'
What if they had to endure what they dished out? Would they survive it? Would they accept it was wrong 'then'?
May 17, 2009 4:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks synchronicity.
To your question, I don’t know. As a country, will we survive it?
All I really know is that torture is morally wrong
and illegal and cannot be allowed to continue.
We really need the law to take over here along with more voices raised.
Thank you for yours.
May 17, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bravo!
Sure hope you're right!
May 17, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oleeb, I think we are moving in the direction of justice. Like you say in your blog, the ACLU won that decision to release the new photos. The POTUS has really let us down with his decision to suppress. What does the "Freedom of Information Act" really mean if it isn't enforced?
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/oleeb/
May 17, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here’s Arlo Guthrie and Emmylou Harris singing the original - "Deportee"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQbOScHfxhQ
May 17, 2009 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Joan Baez and Bob Dylan (1976)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz9okKRhimE&feature=related
May 17, 2009 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink