Why and What’s the Reason Given?

Who tortured in a Baghdad prison,
why and what’s the reason given?

“Was that wrong?” said Private Lynndie England,
on legal advice for a plea bargain,
in her Kentucky trailer-park drawl –
so she wasn’t really like us at all.

Who tortured in a Baghdad prison,
why and what’s the reason given?

“Not us”, said the senior service personnel,
“We couldn’t be looking round every cell,
we weren’t in charge of things anyway –
you’d best go and talk to the CIA”

Who tortured in a Baghdad prison,
why and what’s the reason given?

“Not us”, said the guys in the CIA,
boarding a flight to Guantanamo Bay,
“The politicians said we were right
to leave on the taps and whisper goodnight”.

Who tortured in a Baghdad prison,
why and what’s the reason given?

“Not I”, said Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
“And I won’t stand for any darn insult
from a bunch of silly left-wing cynics
who think Iraq’s some Bear Mountain picnic”.

“Nor I”, said Vice President Dick Cheney,
explaining procedures of custody,
“It wasn’t a breach of any Convention,
just enhanced techniques of interrogation”.

“Nor I”, said the President George W Bush,
sipping the sundown on his ranch in Texas,
“I commanded a just and necessary war –
it’s what you people all voted for”

Who tortured in a Baghdad prison,
why and what’s the reason given?

“Not us”, said all the people in the street,
filling up all their cars with gasoline,
pulling the pump nozzles out with a frown,
saying, “Private England’s let us all down”.

“Well I guess I did”, said Lynndie England,
sitting in prison another evening,
looking at walls that will never hide her,
thinking about life with mom in the trailer.

Who tortured in a Baghdad prison,
why and what’s the reason given?

2007.