A (very) dark poem

This is the darkest thing I've ever written. 

Like everything written, it’s a lie (I didn’t see that in Iraq, I was in the gulf, not in the country, but I’ve seen it in through others eyes and in pictures online) and it is inspired by another poem from a dear friend which has been eating at me (in a good way) for years.

It's about MY war guilt. If you are a veteran or show it to one, keep in mind this is MY war guilt, not anyone else. Don't cry that I'm saying anything about the service, 'cause I'm not.

This also isn't about politics, so don't say that this party did that or that president did this. The consumers did it; the consumers elected the leaders; the lobbyists paid off the leaders with money they got from consumers purchasing corporate products.

It's about MY consumer guilt. If you’re a consumer, then yes; it’s also about YOU. Take 5 seconds to think about what you’re grown in oil, plastic packaged; transported 'round the world, life is doing to other people.

There are a lot of references to things I guess some people might not recognize. If it doesn’t make sense, click on the stars. If there are too many of those, I guess it won’t reach people.

Thank you for reading this… what I would really like is harsh, honest, painful feedback on whether or not it reached you at all and how it could be changed to reach more people, and in a better way. Please tell me what parts had an impact and what parts left you cold or confused. 

And most of all, now that I’m holding this foul little thing, what do I do with it?

GODLESS BABY KILLER

I lost my God outside Iraq

She walked away from me

A beautiful little Arab girl

with half a face I see*

Amazing grace how sweet that sounds

B’what saves that wretch from me?

My own little girl has both her eyes

god help her eyes to see.*

Did we pray "rain!" for our crop was dry

and curse our neighbors yield?

For he had watered all along...

and can't eat a rotting field.*

Today her neighbor is next door

and half, the wide world ‘round

and how she prays for cheaper gas

says where the guns are bound

There are too many of us now

for just one god to know.

I’m scared to pick a god to fear

if again, this gun must go.*

If I could ever sleep again

and never see that eye*

and only see my daughters face

and never wonder why…

the butterfly flapped it's lovely wings*

around the fuel pump fill 'er

And told the lords of war that I

must be a godless baby killer

Tortured, used, and discarded.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051103412.html

[Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi] became the unnamed source, according to Senate investigators, behind Bush administration claims in 2002 and 2003 that Iraq had provided training in chemical and biological weapons to al-Qaeda operatives.

...

The Defense Intelligence Agency and some analysts at the CIA had questioned the veracity of Libi's testimony, which was obtained after the prisoner was transferred to Egyptian custody for questioning by the CIA, according to Senate investigators.

...

When President George W. Bush ordered the 2006 transfer to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of high-value detainees previously held in CIA custody, Libi was pointedly missing. Human rights groups had long suspected that Libi was instead transferred to Libya, but the CIA had never confirmed where he was sent.

"I would speculate that he was missing because he was such an embarrassment to the Bush administration," said Tom Malinowski, the head of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch. "He was Exhibit A in the narrative that tortured confessions contributed to the massive intelligence failure that preceded the Iraq war."

...

The Libyan newspaper Oed reported Sunday that Libi was found dead in his cell after killing himself, but added that friends of the 46-year-old former preacher, who ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, questioned the alleged cause of death.

Tortured to justify an unnecessary war, then "dissappeared" when he became an embarrisment and now murdered... They must be getting worried!