American P.R. Like Gold Leaf

George Herbert Walker famously
        Disliked broccoli rabe,
And he meandered aimlessly
        Until he met his babe;
The lies he told, most shamelessly
        Would shock old Honest Abe,
Yet their results, not blamelessly,
        Extend to Abu Ghraib.

That prison’s owner was Sadaam,
        Our buddy in Iraq
Whom we supplied with gas and bomb
        Until we changed our tack.
(By gas I mean, as for pogrom,
        Nor we did not look back,
Nor he considered it haram,
        When Shias he did attack.)

Invading so to occupy
        His country, the US
Took over functions, low and high,
        One might say, more or less:
No different the hotel Hanoi
        Which France had used to press
Vietnamese, did they employ
        To make GI’s confess.

Such is the prison culture, these
        Are built so to achieve
Certain results, not just to seize
        Captives, you can believe:
Beyond the torture prison sees
        Such deaths wardens nor grieve--
Keys bring responsibilities
        Hard conscience to reprieve.

Catch-22 transfers the guilt
        To whom would be the master;
When prisons have been sturdy built
        Required is no forecaster
To point the end the means fulfilt,
        For function is outlaster
Though owners change, though it be gilt
        As gold-leaf covers plaster.

The place is seldom plenty fun
        For such as are consigned
Captive to prison—gently run
        Not likely: hate is blind.
Cruel guard, did he relent, he won
        No favor for the grind,
While, where none honest went, he won
        Promotion, praise assigned:
Should leasehold claim S-21
        Could 22 be far behind?

Beneath Pol Pot e’en Camelot
        Would turn into fiasco;
While any sot who likes it hot
        May ask for some tabasco;
So with no plans or with, a man’s
        Inclined to sink like water
To lowest depths: Americans
        Purchased cruelty and slaughter.