Wednesday, April 10, 2013

NPM: News Report, September 1991


Oof. Too busy a day, too tired for lengthy preamble, and I don't feel I'm familiar enough with Denise Levertov (I've only begun reading her during the last month or so) to capably introduce her or her work. But I think this 2002 article from The Digital Journalist will give you enough exposition concerning this particular piece.

Denise Levertov (1923-1997)
From Making Peace


News Report, September 1991
U.S. BURIED IRAQI SOLDIERS ALIVE IN GULF

                         "What you saw was a
                         bunch of trenches with 
                         arms sticking out."
                         "Plows mounted on
                         tanks. Combat
                         earthmovers."
                         "Defiant."
                         "Buried."
                         "Carefully planned and
                         rehearsed."
                         "When we 
                         went through there wasn't 
                         anybody left."
                         "Awarded
                         Silver Star."
                         "Reporters
                         banned."
                         "Not a single
                         American killed."
                         "Bodycount
                         impossible." 
                         "For all I know, 
                         thousands, said
                         Colonel Moreno."
                         "What you 
                         saw was a bunch of 
                         buried trenches 
                         with people's 
                         arms and things 
                         sticking out."
                         "Secretary Cheney
                         made no mention."
                         "Every single American
                         was inside
                         the juggernaut
                         impervious
                         to small-arms
                         fire." "I know 
                         burying people
                         like that sounds 
                         pretty nasty, said
                         Colonel Maggart,
                         But . . . ."
                         "His force buried
                         about six hundred
                         and fifty
                         in a thinner line
                         of trenches."
                         "People's arms 
                         sticking out."
                         "Every American
                         inside."
                         "The juggernaut."
                         "I'm not 
                         going to sacrifice 
                         the lives 
                         of my soldiers, 
                         Moreno said, it's not 
                         cost-effective."
                         "The tactic was designed 
                         to terrorize,
                         Lieutenant Colonel Hawkins
                         said, who helped
                         devise it."
                         "Schwartzkopf's staff
                         privately
                         estimated fifty to seventy
                         thousand killed
                         in the trenches."
                         "Private Joe Queen was
                         awarded
                         a Bronze Star for burying
                         trenches with his
                         earthmover."
                         "Inside
                         the juggernaut."
                         "Impervious."
                         "A lot of the guys
                         were scared, he said,
                         but I
                         enjoyed it."
                         "A bunch of 
                         trenches. People's
                         arms and things
                         sticking out."
                         "Cost-effective."

2 comments:

  1. I have nothing to add, but I've gotta say I love this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What really galls me is the phrase attributed to Col. Hawkens: "the tactic was designed to terrorize."

      I've found an article -- by the looks of it, the one Levertov used as her main source -- but no on-record quotes of him saying as much.

      Just as well. It would only further alkalize the irony between our employment of terror tactics in the 1991 Gulf War and our illegal, immoral, and disastrous 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq in the name of a "War on Terror."

      Delete