THE GLOVES ARE OFF by Dennis Doph

beyond beyond . 61

"We are at War"
intoned bull necked CIA director Tenet
Since We are at War
that could justify anything
Repeat: Anything
The CIA wanted to do
To purge our environment of our frightening enemies
To force Enemy Aliens
to rat out other Enemy Aliens
The gloves were off
David Addington Dick Cheney's muscular bearded lieutenant
Advocated extreme forms of coercion
Especially torture
John Yoo Right wing policy wonk from Pepperdine
Called Geneva Conventions "quaint"
Which of course was picked up by the Administration's
professional parrot Alberto Gonzales

In early 2002 the CIA detained a Canadian citizen
Mohammed Arar
Born in Syria naturalized in Canada
As he left a business meeting in New Jersey
on his way home to Toronto
He was led peacefully to a silver private plane
Leased over and over again for extraordinary renditions
By a CIA subsidiary Jepperson
which operates out of a Boeing hangar in Everett Wash

Arar
Was taken first to Washington DC then to Bangor Maine
They fed him the best shish-kebabs Told him friendly stories
The plane went to Rome then Amman Jordan
Arar knew something pretty snaky was up
It landed in Damascus

Two weeks before Bush decided Syria was Number Three
on the famous Axis of Evil
Evidently not evil enough not to be prized by the CIA
for the efficiency of their torture chambers

Arar
Entered the edifice known as Far-Falasin
aka "The Grave"
Spent the next three years in a body slot
no longer than his own forearm
There was a grid above where cats urinated on him
Slots across the floor made it possible for rats and roaches
To roam across his feet So they could ingest prized cat piss

Arar
Was forced for over a year to accomodate
Larger and larger foreign objects up his ass
Till it was bleeding 24 hours a day
He was hung from the cieling
had electroshock cables attached to his testicles
Had his shins whipped with two inch steel cables
till he was no longer able to stand
After three years of this he was capable of telling his interrogators
anything

He did

All the time his wife was trying frantically to have
The Canadian government intercede with the US State Department
to no avail
State had been left out of the Torture Loop
as prescribed by Addington
Finally
In mid 2005 the Canadian government forced Syria
to release Arar After he had "confessed" to a mindless gobbledygook
"Admittance" of terrorism
Canada paid Arar $10.5 million for his pains
While he is still listed as an Enemy adversary
by Justice and State

All of which was taken very seriously by State
Colin Powell went before the United Nations
Made his blundering speech linking Al Qaeda to Saddam
All based on these lies and many others

Everything in our society as we know it is based on lies
People who've never served in the military
direct our military strategy
People who have no background in law
dictate our legal memoranda
People who have no more than a passing interest in government
govern us
People who think the Constitution is something to be pissed upon
like the cats on the grid
teach classes in Constitutional Law

We are the Worst of the Worst
Here we have a bull necked cancer ridden old man
Who had been tortured for five years by Vietcong
advocating torture
America
Is thrilled by these sadists and their bullyboy tactics

Unless of course
They are the ones who take the free shish-kebab flights
to Far-Falasin

I expect it to be my destination one of these days
One of my casual email buddies incensed
by my left-wing rant
Will rat me out to the CIA

How many old crypto-liberal fags can they stack up
on the filthy roach-ridden floor of Far-Falasin?

As many as our leaders like
In the name of patriotism
and anti-terrorist necessity

The gloves are off

Yes

They are