I

Awake! Today only Power and Might

Hold sway Justice and Reason are in flight.

Our World is held to ransom by a Gun;

Our Bill of Rights enters its darkest Night.

II

When young I often heard great Argument

About Democracy in Parliament

How strange then, when our Champions of Rights take

to Arms in the name of Disarmament.

III

This was a War whose point I could not see.

This was a War of blind insanity.

Some small talk awhile of Democracy

There was then no more, only of Victory!

IV

Reports, all sorts and sizes, great and small

Were stretched across the floor, from wall to wall.

Yet of Weapons of Mass Destruction, there

Was barely any evidence at all.

V

There is no need for proper Evidence;

And there is no need for common prudence.

When you have aerial Power and the Bomb

All you need is loads of Impertinence.

VI

How long, how long in pretended pursuit

Of this Terrorist or that, of repute

Will these Bullies threaten Annihilation;

Unless we kneel, kiss their feet and salute!

VII

But Come with old Europe and leave that lot

In the bloody Coalition to rot

In the Desert; the Sand will grind their Bones

Sooner or later Believe it or Not!

VIII

Indeed the Ideals we upheld so long

Have been sold down the gutter for a Song

They have drowned Honour and with shallow mind

Branded those doing the Right thing, as being Wrong!

IX

Indeed, indeed, Peace, many times before

They swore but were they Sincere when they swore?

As soon as some new Bounty was at hand

Their thread-bare Promises to Pieces tore...

X

The Oily Hopes men set their Eyes upon

May bring them Riches for a while; but anon

Like Snow upon the Desert s Dusty Face

It won t be long before it, too, is Gone!

XI

And as much as Greed s played the Infidel

And robbed 'Liberators of Honour Well,

I wonder if these people Buy

Half the Propaganda their media Sell.

XII

Come, fill the breeches and Fire at will;

Give the blasted Enemy no respite until

He is pulverized Never mind the Cost,

Their Oil will pay - no matter what our Bill!

XIII

And Look! a thousand Bombs were dropped today

Waking and burying hundreds under Clay

And in just this first onslaught of the War

How many Innocents were blown away?

XXI

Said one "Doctors in a Hospital tell

Of a Hit that choked with the Smoke of Hell".

But the Invaders say it was not their Bomb;

And even if it was - well they meant Well!

XXII

It is but a Game, all these Nights and Days

When with Lives of men a Computer plays;

Moves Troops, Tanks, Missiles hither and thither

And secretly conceals All those she slays

XXIII

Oh yes, Fire away! Who gives a shit

If Mother and Child lose both Arms and Feet;

Yesterday's Dead will soon be forgotten

Why fret about them when Victory is Sweet!

XXIV

Into this War without really Knowing

Why he's here; yet willy-nilly bombing

And killing and licensing the looting.

Has this soldier any brain or feeling?

XXV

And while, one by one, Missiles were wreaking

Havoc, I noticed how they were blasting

Homes at random, but the Oil Ministry

With care and diligence, circumventing...

XXVI

For in and out, above, about, below

It was nothing but a Big Bully show;

Played out in a country whose wealth is Oil

Coveted by Invaders. Nothing more!

XXVII

Oh, hurry up, fill the Cannon that clears

The city of Tyrants and future Fears;

For tomorrow our Coffers will be filled

With a million billion petro-dollars.

XIV

All they wanted was to Shock and Destroy

Talk of Arms and Terror was a mere ploy

To send in Troops to test, experiment

On living beings, the Army s latest toy...

XV

The Invader kills; and after a Kill

Moves on; and not all your Pity or Will

Can bring him back to undo his Murder,

Nor all your Tears bring War to a standstill.

XVI

And as Bullets flew, Soldiers stood before

The Hotel and shouted, "Open the Door

You bloody Journalists, we have come here,

To make sure, you don t report Facts any more!"

XVII

But if you tailor the Truth. Gag the Press!

Issue nothing but embedded worthless

Lies...aren't you reducing Democracy

To something a lot less than Meaningless?

XVIII

Then in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day

I saw a Shopper, torso sliced halfway

Before dying, his dust-caked tongue whispered:

"Pray for our Land, brother, I beg you, pray."

XIX

As long as Oil Barrels can stop the slide

Of our Dollar, who cares how many died ...

Just wrap the bodies in a Windingsheet

And, with Truth, bury them by some roadside.

XX

I think those Missiles that with fugitive

Vengeance bombed Civilian targets to drive

The Enemy out into the Open

Little cared who came off Dead or Alive.

XXVIII

Here, so many Dead beneath the Rubble Mother, Son, Toddler clutching a Rattle.

Beside, a Father sobs hysterical

And they justify this War as Moral?!

XXIX

With bombers the Seed of Death did they sow;

And with guided Missiles made such a show.

And this was all the Harvest that they reaped:

The corpses of Children, not of the Foe...

XXX

I sometimes think that never glows so Red

The Rose as where some buried Child bled;

And every raindrop in the Sand that falls...

Falls from some once Innocent little head.

XXXI

The Tyrant's indeed gone with all his Sores

And Sadistic Sons. To where? No one knows.

But still the Occupiers remain here;

And day after day our Resentment grows ...

XXXII

Alike for the American invader;

Alike for the British occupier;

Citizens of our Country are screaming:

"Fools! Get the Hell out, you have no place here!"

XXXIII

They justified Invasion by lying

About the mad Dictator concealing

Weapons of Mass Destruction; and still lie

After months and months of fruitless searching.

XXXIV

Now the New Regime revives Old Desires;

The Moral High Ground swiftly retires.

The Hand of Power puts out for Friends and

Fellow Invaders lucrative Tenders!

XXXV

"How sweet is speedy Victory" think some;

Others "How best to turn it to Income."

Ah, its all about Cash, forget the rest

Bottom line: How many Dollars per Drum?

XXXVI

And strange to tell, among this Waning Lot

Some sent their Arms and Troops, while others Not.

But once the precious Oil-fields were taken

Everyone wanted a share of the Pot!

XXXVII

While the Tanks rolled along the River brink

Thirsty Children came up and begged a Drink,

But shooing them away with their rifles From Duty our 'Saviours' began to shrink.

XXXVIII

Oh you mighty President, who can take

Over our Lands and try to mould and make

Them into your own likeness and image

You are no goddam Eagle, just a Snake!

XXXIX

Museums were emptied right under their nose:

So many Art Galleries had to close.

As to where these treasures are no one knows.

Still about Freedom, the Invader crows.

XL

In the Willing Coalition's mad haste

To capture Oil Wells. They madly laid Waste

Art, Culture, History...leaving Nothing

For our Children of tomorrow to Taste...

XLI

A Patriot then spoke: "Surely not in vain

So many lives in battle were given;

That we who fought to reclaim our land, should

See it slide into anarchy again . . .

XLII

And you who without Reason did begin

This Unholy Mess we find ourselves in;

Your excuses for not restoring Law

And Order, are beginning to wear thin!

XLIII

Then to the Occupying Forces we cried:

"What Plan do you Generals have to guide Our lost citizens stumbling in the Dark?"

"A Blind understanding!" Congress replied.

XLIV

Ah Love! if only there's real Desire

To Create, not Shatter, Things entire

Only Then, would there be any Hope of

Rescuing Man from this sorry Mire.

CECIL RAJENDRA is the chairperson of the Bar Council Human Rights Committee