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They went to war on a lie

Cllr. Rupert Read (Green) | 04.01.2005 17:09 | Culture

This is a New Year poem to welcome in the year which with any luck will see the back of Tony Bliar.

The Bush-and-Blair-ies [with apologies to Edward Lear]

They went to war on a lie, they did, on a lie they went to war:
In spite of all their friends could say, on an --infamous -- terrible -- early spring day,
On a lie they went to war!
And when the lie became obvious, and everyone cried, "You’ve lied to us!"
They screamed "Perhaps our lie was big, but we don't care a button, we don't care a fig!
On a lie we'll go to more wars!"

Far and few, far and few, are the lands where the Bush-and-Blairs live;
Their heads are grey, and their hands are red, and they went to war on a lie.

They sailed away on their lie, they did, on their lie they sailed so fast,
With only an ugly bullet-proof veil -- tied with bloody bandages, making a sail,
All tied to a gun-barrel-mast;
And everyone said, who saw them go, "O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long, and happen what may, it's extremely wrong
On a lie to sail so fast!"

Far and few, far and few, are the lands where the Bush-and-Blairs live;
Their heads are small, and their smiles are big, and they went to war on a lie.

The truth it soon poured in, it did, the water of truth came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet, in a Murdoch-paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a bin.
And they passed the night in a bunker-bar, and each of them said, "How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long, yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While always our lie we spin!"

Far and few, far and few, are the lands where the Bush-and-Blairs live;
Their words all stink, peoples’ blood they drink, and they went to war on a lie.

And all year long they sailed away; and when the sun went down,
They whistled some patriotic songs, to the echoing sound of guns or bombs,
On the sea by the desert light-brown.
"O Strauss! O Thatcher! How happy we are! When we war on lies, and kill near and far,
And all year long in the moonlight pale, we sail away with a bullet-proof sail,
While ‘our boys’ bomb ‘rebel-held’ towns!"

Far and few, far and few, are the lands where the Bush-and-Blairs live;
Their minds are sick, and their wallets are fat, and they went to war on a lie.

They sailed to the Middle East, they did, to a land all covered with bones,
And they bought some oil, and they stole some oil, and they burnt it all, and the temperature rose –
And the water then flooded our homes.
And they let all their cronies sell all Iraq’s stuff, and the people half-starved, but that wasn’t enough,
For the share-prices dropped and they had to look tough --
So they launcheded a few hundred more drones.

Far and few, far and few, are the lands where the Bush-and-Blairs live;
They live and they laugh and their victims just die -- yet they went to war on a lie.

And in twenty years they all came back, in twenty years, or more,
And everyone said, "How tall they've grown! Though they've made the place Hell, a quite terrible zone –
And they’ve lied loads and loads and loads more";
And the Bush had been voted back – perish the thought; but the Bliar had been beaten – the liar had been caught,
And everyone said, “If we only can, we’ll stop leaders lieing, like this evil man –
Who became Bush’s voluntary whore!"

Far away, far away, is the lands where the Bush lives -- alone;
For its 2005, it’s June, or May – and the Blair has been beaten, and shown –
…That you can’t go to war on a lie… if you do, at least, in the UK … you ensure you’ll politically die.

Cllr. Rupert Read (Green)
- e-mail: rupert.read@norwichgreenparty.org

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

I Hear What You're Saying But......

04.01.2005 22:09

..... Why doesn't the Green Party support option 4 in Brighton - i.e direct investment in council housing in Brighton instead of trying to sell us off to a private landlord (... sorry, housing association)? I find their insistence that Brighton refuse workers work harder puzzling also, when the council has been shown to have broken employment law on several occaisions when attacking them and trying to sack their leaders. Good that you support the teaching assistants who are on strike, but can we see more than a couple of well-publicised bodies on the picket-line please. If you could move in this direction, I would be more inclined to vote for you, in Brighton Pavillion. As it is, I will have to obstain, or vote for one of the socialist parties.

Give Me A Home ( And Some Refuse Collection).


Mr Green

06.01.2005 13:35

All leaders go to war on a lie. They are all for capitalism's benefit Mr Greeny.

LDT


The Green message...

06.01.2005 15:05

>>..... Why doesn't the Green Party support option 4 in Brighton - i.e direct investment in council housing in Brighton instead of trying to sell us off to a private landlord (... sorry, housing association)? I find their insistence that Brighton refuse workers work harder puzzling also, when the council has been shown to have broken employment law on several occaisions when attacking them and trying to sack their leaders.<<

It's the same in Hackney... I think that the Green Party's political position could be adequately summed up as, "clean air for the bourgeoisie!!"

Sarrah


The world is better off with Saddam in jail and not in power!

06.01.2005 16:59

Say what you like about the reasons for going to war, but the fact remains that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein in jail rather than in power. During Saddams' time in power he invaded Iran causing a war which cost a million lives and in which chemical weapons were used. Gassed 5,000 Kurds at Halabja. Invaded Kuwait killing thousands and requiring over half a million troops to reverse. Persecuted hundreds of thousands of Kurds, Shia Muslims, Marsh arabs and political opponants. Carried out a mass campaign of torture and oppression against all who critised his regime. Poured crude oil into the Persian Gulf at the end of the first Gulf War and set fire to hundreds of oil wells.

With a track record like that America and Britain were fully justified in removing him from power whether he had weapons of mass destruction or not!

Glad Saddams' gone


Join us!

07.01.2005 01:59

That's right, Iraq is a great place now without Hussein, we have the freedom to comply with US military occupation, or die... come and see for yourself. Holiday bookings for Baghdad are at an all-time high, just watch out for that lingering D.U.

Thompson's Holidays