Bastard

"Today you don't have to feel like a bastard to be one."
--Michael Neumann

About Saddam they are never wrong,
The Oil Meisters. He is a bastard,
Given how he gassed his own people
While they were eating, opening a window
Or just walking dully along; how
He sleeps his heavy-lidded sleep
While his henchmen round up victims
For slow suffocation in the back
Alleys of Takrit. He is a bastard,
Given how he kills to stay in power; how
He's been starving children who
Did not especially want it to happen; how
He's been stealing elections; how
He's been grooming his sons for
Succession. He is a bastard,
Given how he's grown rich, while
The working poor get poorer,
Their children dying sick in one-night
Cheap hotels. He is a bastard,
Given how he's been building
Weapons of mass destruction,
Each so truly awesome, they never
Come up for inspection. He is a bastard,
Given how he hides in bunkers,
And has outfoxed, outlasted all of us.

(M. Shahid Alam is professor of economics at Northeastern University, Boston. His recent book, Poverty from the Wealth of Nations was published by Palgrave (2000). Copyright: M. Shahid Alam)

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