Noosepoem 1 January 2007

The Crime but the Punishment a Violation of
International Human Rights Law

whenever a dictator anywhere disappears critics
and sends their hatcheted bodies home to their wives
Uncle Sam wants a piece

rifts butting between headlines
“a ruthless strongman, but (sic)
someone they could do business with”
with solemn earnestness, feigned reluctance
US TV rolls the execution video

300,000 the cost of tyranny
600,000 the cost of liberation

our neighborhood butcher served his purpose
his carcass rolled in the New Year's Eve Sunday Times
after a dubious, politicized trial
with inexperienced judges
and three defense lawyers assassinated
Hussein was hanged on a Sunni religious holiday
for the comparatively small crime of killing 148 Shia in Dujail

before the conclusion of the trial for genocide
180,000 Kurds in Anfal between 1987 and 1988 slaughtered
chemical weapons, concentration camps
mass graves so shallow they were unearthed by wild animals
a crime for which no one will ever be held accountable

former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic
who died during his trial
was the only other head of state ever to be tried for genocide

a miscarriage of precedent

the European Union advocates an end to the death penalty worldwide
the Vatican called the execution “tragic”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry was stern, critical
India frowned

“revenge in a vulgar way”
“raw barbarity”
“hasty and premature”
“vindictive”
“Texan law, the rule of the strong, the evil, and unprincipled”

we have brought democracy to Iraq

Wal-Mart says sales increased in December