Iraq War Syllogism - 10 Poem by Raj Dronamraju

10

Pulling down the dictator's statue
Puffing up the chest of those who see the symbolism of this
Those who staged the symbolism of this are banking on the same thing

Making it as clear as a cartoon that the dictator was an exaggeration
A figure from spy fiction, from stories that influence the culture or is it the other way round?
All he needs is a moat filled with crocodiles

He had his choice of mansions, castles really
The detail that gets the most attention is the golden toilet
The soldiers who have deposed the dictator get to sit on his toilet

During the first gulf war in 1991, babies were yanked from their incubators by invading Iraqi troops
We heard this many times- the number of incubators kept going up, the number of babies kept going up
Until the number of incubators cited were more than in all of Kuwait

Public Relations is an army unto itself
Selling us victors, selling us villains
Sometimes selling us two versions of the same person
He was an ally many years ago
We gave him poison gas to use against his own people then we looked the other way