Indictment USA: A rhyming history of the USA from Guantanamo

As another murderous American war rages in the Middle East, CAGE publishes Indictment USA. It is a rhyming history of the United States, written by Moazzam Begg in 2004 during his time as a prisoner of the US military, while held in solitary confinement in Guantanamo Bay.

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Although penned over two decades ago, it could easily have been written today and remains just as relevant.

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Indictment USA

By Moazzam Begg

Camp Echo

Guantanamo Bay 2004

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Incarceration upon my own

Right here in Gitmo Bay,

Brings to mind a distant home

Far, far, faraway…

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But temperaments begin to sour

Upon this doleful day,

Reflecting on the ‘super-power’

Known as the USA.

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Examining this mystery,

And its status as today,

Begins the sordid history

Of an early USA:

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PART 1

The ‘Fathers Pilgrim’ sailed the brine

Aboard the ‘Flower of May’,

And anchored in the fateful sign

Of a covetous USA

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Achieving an independence,

Through hard won battle-play,

They focused on the presence

Of the native USA

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The receptive Indian nations

Were fought and held at bay

In exclusive ‘reservations’

At the hotel USA

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The irony is ‘Thanksgiving’

As a national holiday!

That not a native living

Observes in the USA

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The nation chants: “home of the brave”,

But remind them, if one may,

It really was home of the slave

To the darker USA

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It caused a brutal civil war,

Though some would otherwise say,

A vibrant living racist core 

Still breeds in the USA:

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Lynchings, hangings, burning crosses – 

Symbols of the KKK,

Identify the appalling losses 

Of the African USA

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An impassioned vocal adversary

Of a nation gone astray,

Did “By any means necessary…”

Chastise the USA

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Another said, “I have a dream…”

But they soon blew him away,

And hopes of a racially utopian scene

In the ghettos of the USA

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Freedom was stolen, along with title,

From Mohammad Ali (Clay);

Rejecting war he made a revival 

That stunned the USA

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PART 2

Through a relatively short existence

The chronicles betray

An impertinent persistence

Of a meddlesome USA:

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The quest for mass destructive-arms

Recalls ‘Enola Gay’,

Her genocidal atomic charms 

Were Made in the USA

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Blameless Japanese Americans

(Referred to as ‘Nisei’),

Were thrown into internments

By a paranoid USA

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The Korean War evinced no gain,

Except a mighty fray,

And arousal of a new disdain

For an intrusive USA

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Insurgent Cuban fighters

At the ‘Pigs’ entitled Bay,

Were routed, since inciters

Were a prudent USA

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‘Napalm’, ‘My Lai’– Vietnam

Speak messages that convey

The massacres by Uncle Sam 

In the name of the USA

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An abortive hostage rescue attempt,

Becoming of the Green Berét,

The Iranians regarded with contempt

And derision of the USA

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Over ten score on an airbus tour

Killed by a missile ‘stray’,

Were a target sure for the Naval Corps

And a hit for the USA!

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Grenada created many fears,

Within their hearts’ inlay:

With bows and arrows (and some spears)

That scared the USA!

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In Somalia, with Black Hawk aid,

They augmented decay

When thousands died as bullets sprayed

From a charitable USA

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Attacks on a Sudanese hospital

Earned them a scathing flay,

As another destitute capital 

Fell victim to the USA

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In a Persian War they chose to ignore

Where millions in coffins lay,

The dictator with a chemical store

Was funded by the USA

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Kuwait was invaded – like Palestine –

But freed without delay,

For abundant crude-oil to refine

As fuel for the USA

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Rounds of depleted uranium

Did little to allay

Ill-effects on the cranium

Of the soldier USA

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The debacle staged in Iraq

Is a protracted replay

Of a tendency to overact

By the players: USA  

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Naked prisoners on parade

In pyramid-like array,

Served the purpose to degrade

A shameless USA

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As bombs fell on Afghanistan 

The innocent had to pay

The price – in this impoverished land –

For the nemesis USA:

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The man was sought in a mountain resort,

Like a needle in a stack of hay;

But if he’s caught is there much thought

Of a peaceful USA?

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Re-imposing their idea:

“By force, we’ll have our way…”

Iran is placed, just like Korea,

In the sights of the USA

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But wavering allies – one by one –

Resign without essay,

Provoking the opinion

To desert the USA

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Redolent with a Yankee stench,

The world is caused dismay;

Many more – like the dainty French–

Despise the USA

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PART 3

Many a distant mile they’ve flown

To injuries ‘repay’,

Neglecting to look at their own-

Deep in the USA:

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Rioting youths and police brutality

In South Central L.A.-

Are naked truths to a harsh reality

On the streets of the USA

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Juvenile shootings in Columbine

Quite suitably portray

A zone of combat and frontline

In the heart of the USA

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Firearms and ballistics,

As promoted by the NRA,

Embody the characteristics

Of a gun-toting USA

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Gangsters, snipers and drug-dealers

Buy weapons on display.

Perverts, rapists and serial killers

All thrive in the USA

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A peerless figure for homicide – 

On a global-scale survey – 

Is clearly a source of national pride

For the criminal USA

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Intelligence oxymoron,

In the ‘Bureau’ and the CIA,

Revealed impotence hence ‘the War on

Terror’ by the USA

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The globe is scoured for terrorists,

To halt and catch and slay,

But on closer analysis

They flourish in the USA:

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Militias training to produce

A Timothy McVeigh,

Continue this day to induce

An explosive USA

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Doomsday cults and ‘Una-bombers’

Form much of the outlay,

For those entrusted with the honours

To preside the USA:

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The inane Texan, George .W. Bush,

Has begun to lose his sway,

Requiring but a gentle push

Off the map of the USA

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An attitude stern with national concern

Is depicted to outweigh

The perpetual yearn for investment return

By the leader of the USA

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“Regional stability” and “foreign aid”

Are an overstated cliché;

But exploitation of the oil trade

Are his goals for the USA

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A dark cloud rising overhead

Evicts the blue to grey;

Rearing forth its gruesome head:

The repulsive USA

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Throughout the world the masses cry,

“Depart” and “Go away”; 

The banners scream emotions high,

“DOWN WITH THE USA!”

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EPILOGUE

And on a rented Cuban patch

The abductees all pray

For justice, and a safe detach

From the clutches of the USA

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(They suffered an atrocity

And want us all to pay,

But I want no proximity 

To such a USA)

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Never, till captivity,

Could I such words relay;

I regard it an epitome

Of the current USA

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Vulgarity is not my style,

But still I have to say,

This occasion causes me revile 

So f**k the USA!