Spinning History

The spin of history has begun
Karl Rove claims George W. Bush
“Liberated”
25 million Iraqis
from the grip of a brutal dictator
freed
millions of Afghans
from Taliban fanatics

Has Rove ever spoken with an Iraqi or an Afghan?
asked them how it feels to be “liberated” by a foreign power
whose soldiers now patrol their streets and occupy their cities,
lay down laws and mete out justice

Spin it any way you want
but for the Iraqis and the Afghans
it’s the same tired story
whether told in the King’s English
Russian
or on the editorial pages of the
New York Times

46 Iraqis died in a suicide bombing in Kirkuk today;
Baghdad is a city of ruins and blast walls;
the Taliban is back in business
moving on Kabul
attacking at will and fading away

Is this Rove’s idea of liberation?

Peddle your snake oil somewhere else, Mr. Rove
sell it to the fatherless sons and widows
of Baghdad & Kirkuk
the orphans of Kandahar

But don’t be surprised when they don’t buy it
unlike Americans
they know the difference between
truth and lies
fiction and fantasy

They know because they carry the full weight
of your master’s
boundless hubris
and bottomless arrogance
on their backs