may his name be erased

There's silence, where encomia would be;
Dick Cheney'sv legacy's embarrassment.
Five trillion blown on wars lost overseas;
at home, a more intrusive government.
The principles he'd brayed he holds so
dear,
fell silent once there's power in his hand.
entrenching power by purveying fear
moved power from the People to one man.
To preach that torture isn't always wrong
as long as it gains power for the Few/
perverted what it had meant to be strong,
obscuring what real men would never do.
For years, I prayed that any flag half-mast
would signal--finally--Dick's age is past.

regulatory capture

Pompeo's been confirmed as chief, at State
now Haspel thinks she should withdraw her name
lest euphemisms like "interrogate"
let torturers evade their proper blame.
The usual endorsers sing her praise
war-criminals who fear they're  on the hook
if anyone'd let in the light of day
they've never deigned to play it by the book.
The right outsider might redress the flaw
but she's complicit in her agents' acts.
An honest application of the law,
must hang her at their side, on the same facts.
Rogue agency, accountable to none
won't willingly be dragged into the sun.

mobsters II

binSalman  buffed up Jared's self-esteem
while pumping him for key intelligence
implying coyly they could be a team
benevolent in their world-dominance.
The list of cousins who might want him dead
convinced the princeling that he had to act
sweet pillow-talk to swap while they're in bed

he swallowed rumors as established fact.
binMuqrin's 'copter bit the dust in flames
implicit threat to daunt the royal brood.
The Ritz filled up as Jared named more names,
 with thumb-screws to establish the right mood.
Two greed heirs want more than daddy got
displaying ethics that would shock PolPot.

Rexit

The torture Cheney ordered, Haspel ran,
then blithely threw the evidence away.
Now, Trump's advancing someone else's plan
by making her director, CIA.
Mike Pompeo's whole resume's a hoax
engorged with contracts where no bids were weighed.
But he discretely services the Kochs.
And that's how this administration's played.
With Rexit, there's one less adult at State,
to tell Trump what he can't or what he can,
or what would make a nation good, or great;
Mike Pompeo's just not that kind of man.
Trump's butler watches hundreds come, and go
but only fools stay long on his shit-show.

pay no attention to the screams behind the curtain

at Nuremberg, we set a precedent
that guilt inheres from top to bottom, all
the sender no less than the killer sent
should get stood side by side, against the wall
but Dubya reckoned torture's not like that
just hire a lawyer who'll say it's okay
the crimes go into a magician's hat
and--with some MumboJumbo--go away
accountability's for little folk
who view their government with pious awe
but Cheney treated treaties like a joke
conducting policy above the law
post-partisan Obama let it slide
so bit by bit, our proud republic died

decriminalized

Obama let our torturers walk free
although he grants that what they did's a crime
pretending not to hear and not to see
a reason that they ought to serve hard time
the Rule of Law aspires to being blind
the perpetrator's class should count for naught
but when they're of the CIA's own kind
the verdicts been already sealed and bought
who really cares, as long as they're not Whites
who scream and die in U.S. custody
utopian delusions grant them rights
as if they were the same as you and me
Obama's legacy's in disarray
while Truth's held hostage by our CIA

non-enforcement

Obama grants that torture is a crime
and that we violated detainees
but he would give the perps a pass this time
his Rule-of-Law's devoid of penalties
an evil precedent if this should stand
that water-boarding's decriminalized
as if there's no "supreme law of the land"
and psychopaths do what's good in their eyes
Loretta Lynch shows balls that Holder lacked
and if she finds the will to prosecute
the crime's well documented as a fact
with photographs the monsters thought were cute
historians will judge his legacy
as much by who does time as by who's free        

decriminalizing torture

"we tortured some folks", even he concedes
but no investigation then ensues
'cause maybe that all happened overseas
and some did what they thought they ought to do
but what's a law if no one prosecutes
and where's the crime if no one seems to care
if fingernails were pulled out by the roots
or if detainees died in cold cells, bare
a vapid phrase "to look forward, not back"
casts off what laws and due process made fast
one might as well give all DAs the sack
'cause evidence is always in the past
'til one's convicted, mark this "incomplete"
and we should brace for AbuGhraib repeats