Press Action ::: Why Panama

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Why Panama

Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men...American Style

By Rosemarie Jackowski

It was a quiet and gentle night
Filled with joy and childhood’s delight
Some families recited a solemn prayer
While seasonal music filled the night air
Anticipation filled every girl and boy
Who eagerly awaited a holiday toy
It was a time for celebrating Peace on Earth
A time to honor every child’s birth

Meanwhile, in Washington plans were underway
For a holocaust on that very day
The year was 1989, the twentieth of December
A day of infamy, that the world will always remember

Suddenly the silent night air was pierced with a strange vibration
But still the children played with eager anticipation
The strange vibration grew louder, just like approaching thunder
Could it be an airplane, one could only listen and wonder
Suddenly explosions were everywhere
It looked as if bombs were bursting in air
To the sleepy village that was preparing for Santa Claus
The President had sent Operation Just Cause

All hope and joy gave way to fright
Fear and horror filled this historic night
A demonic order from the Commander-in-chief
Brought death and destruction and endless grief
Planes dropping death right out of the sky
Left a stunned world to question, “WHY?”
Dante’s inferno replaced the tiny village
Destruction was everywhere, nothing left to pillage

The village was wiped right off the map
While our national conscience took a long winter’s nap
The president’s planes had accomplished their mission well
They transformed the peaceful village into an instant Hell

When the massacre ended thousands lie mangled and dead
Unarmed civilians and babies snuggled in their bed
Then soldiers came, like robotic slaves
They bulldozed the bodies into mass graves
Hoping that the world wouldn’t see enough to remember
The holocaust that happened on the twentieth of December

Rosemarie Jackowski is an advocacy journalist living in Vermont. She can be reached at dissent@sover.net.

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