[4.13..02][3.15.02]
The Exorcist 3.16.02
Redux
In New York a day of fire and fear,
Feeling in my bones that the
Apocalypse is near.
United Flight 175,
no one here gets out alive.
World Trade Center burning
from an assault
Everybody wanting to know
exactly who's at fault.
Chronic 2001-The Aftermath
Now Dr. Dre's looking like a prophet.
Thousands struggling to get away,
this whole scenario
looking like Judgment Day.
The situation playing on
our worst fears,
people walking, crawling and groping
down hundreds of stairs.
Things flying everywhere as people scream,
wake me up from this nightmare,
please tell me it's only a dream.
A stockbroker said he was so scared
that he couldn't even be scared.
What the hell's going on?
This is just too weird.
"This is as close as I've ever gotten to war."
We've never seen anything
like this before.
The number who couldn't escape
is still unknown,
those who went through this ordeal
feeling like they were in the combat zone.
Blocked by fire, paralyzed by fear,
what the hell is happening here?
'Hell' the operative word.
A scenario more hellish than Dante's Inferno.
The Twin Towering Inferno.
Two Towers erected in the 1970's,
blazing jet fuel in the building
driving the temperature above 1,000 degrees.
Hot enough to kill
and hot enough to melt steel,
this is just too unreal.
So many stories to tell
in those 110 stories of hell.
4 planes that were hijacked,
passengers bracing themselves for impact.
Barbara Olson, author and TV commentator
phoning her husband and telling him
the situation before her phone went dead
and she went the same way as her phone.
Huddling all the passengers and crew
into the back of the plane.
Suicidal hijackers seemingly insane in the brain.
Mad enough to kill thousands.
So many dead and gone
as they plunged into the side
of the Pentagon.
"I've got 5 sides to me
something like a pentagon,
strike with the forces of..."
Now Pras seems like a prophet.
Bush letting Afghanistan know
he doesn't have the patience of a saint,
he told them they can no longer count
on U.S. restraint.
Can he unify a nation feeling
anger and grief?
Can he say and do things
that will provide some form of relief?
Everybody's looking to the chief.
Can he prevent another
attack from occurring?
I read "revelation' and feel
that the beast is stirring,
multiple conspiracy theories,
my brain can't stop whirring
and worrying from all the warring.
4 attacks occurring in a 50 minute time span,
terrorists trying to do
as much damage as they can.
No idea how the terrorists boarded each jet,
nobody has any answers yet.
Getting on the plane
and overpowering the crews,
the very next day it's front page news.
Pentagon employees watching
what happened in New York
then it became their turn
to see a hijacked plane crash and burn.
Striking at America's symbols
of wealth and might,
America ready to go to war,
but not sure just who to fight.
To cause total collapse
they knew the weakest spot to hit.
Can you believe that shit?
A retired head of the FBI
said they put it together very neatly,
in awe of how they took down
two buildings completely.
Reading about this story, much to my dismay,
I find out that scavengers took
chunks of rubble and planned to
auction them on E-bay.
From cataclysm to capitalism.
Stop the world, I wanna get off.
An FBI official amazed
at the level of coordination,
airports closed all across the nation.
Major League baseball halted for a day,
only World War I and D-Day had done that before,
the result of carnage wrought by
terrorists that were looking to settle a score.
People looking like fireballs
as they jumped from the top,
I just hope that they died
before they completed the drop.
The chilling details much more than I can stand,
a couple leaping from the building hand in hand.
Fighters of fire going into the depths of hell,
more than 200 of them became victims
when one of the buildings fell.
Terrorists hoping their attack
would cause America's spirit to sag,
hopefully they saw the firefighters
atop the rubble that were raising the U.S. flag.
Maybe I'm just going out of my head
but a picture of people covered in dust
looked like something out of
Night of the Living Dead
Well, one woman walking down the stairs
did ask a man next to her if they were dead
From 250 miles up in the air
astronauts could see
the after effects of the attack
the smoking debris
Terrorists planning for five years
to take down each Tower
They had it in for the
World's biggest superpower
A sharp U-turn, a crash and burn
What's the lesson we have to learn?
Not just an act of terrorism
but a declaration of war
No terrorist has ever taken it
to this level before
They committed a huge error
in trying to fill us with terror
All you did, Mr. Terrorist
was get America really pissed
Remember, after Pearl Harbor
the Japanese said
We have awakened a sleeping giant
The attack itself turned
some people into fools
Sending death threats to Islamic schools
Tom Clancy said Islam is a
religion of love
And not represented by those madmen
that attacked from above
So while America recovers
from this act of treason
Tom Clancy becomes the voice of reason
The biggest national security
intelligence blunder of our lifetime
We were told days in advance
that they would commit this crime
Shades of Pearl Harbor
An Iranian in a German prison
whose message wasn't heeded
said they'd attack the World Trade Center
information that we needed
Heroic efforts by the rescue team
What level of heroism am I talking about?
Losing their fingers trying to get people out
They had to have their fingers amputated
Mad props to the heroism demonstrated
A priest died in a building
with the victim he was giving the last rites
Turn off the lights and light a candle
This is too much to handle
Many for so long had kept
their patriotism locked deep inside
Now flag shops show sold out
as a country displays its American pride
Were all trying to find terrorists
who remain out of sight
How sad that it took 6,000 plus deaths
to make most of the world unite
A thick carpet of dust and debris
covering the ground
Many clinging to the hope
that the surviving will be found
The shock of seeing the building
disintegrating
Got people who wouldn't normally
talk to each other communicating
A block cloud billowing
from where New York's tallest buildings
once stood
The Grim Reaper watching all
His face covered by a hood
Perceived as the enemy by
1 billion Muslims worldwide
A whole country caught up in the bombing
Take another look at genocide
Gus Newport said
There are alternatives to waging war
He said there are other avenues
that we could explore
One person said we need a focused target
and an exit strategy
The one vote against Bush going to war
Republican Barbara Lee
America's leaders involved in
various schemes
Backing brutal, undemocratic
Middle Eastern regimes
You want a point of focus for your hate?
Start with your government
The Afghan people had nothing
to do with this atrocity
This crime against humanity
Are all the people of Indiana
guilty of bringing down the Murrah Building
because McVeigh was from Indiana?
If you have to hate
at least focus and make it accurate
It's open to debate
exactly who we should hate
Right now I'm hating on the guy
who did a drive-by shooting
of an Indian in Arizona
His crime? Wearing a turban
Shoot first, ask questions later
seems to be the general thinking
Stinking thinking
Oh, I just found a dinosaur bone
in the closet
A brutal Palestinian force
trained by the CIA
Prince and kings backed by the USA
Just so you know
There's only one Creator
Man making God in his own image
Yours looks like Uncle Sam
and you see the other wearing a turban
Separateness is the root of all evil
Hate crime
Adel Karas, 48 year old Egyptian-American
owned a store for more than 20 years
2 men looking for some form of release
shot him in the chest
Now a shrine for him
Dear Adel
may hatred perish as you rest in peace
As Damon would say
His customers said he was a gentle man
Shots fired through a window
at a Lebanese-American clerk
and into the home of an Afghani family
Are you so blind that you cannot see
that what you're doing is sheer stupidity?
Meditate deeply on this attack
and it's implication
The U.S. has a history of coups,
covert wars and assassinations
So its due time for re-examination
110,000 Japanese-Americans interned
Not one convicted of a war related crime
Please don't let history repeat itself
Hopefully, well be smarter this time
First we saw racial profiling as wrong
Now racial profiling is coming back strong
The people that jumped from the Towers
got me flashing back to the jumpers
at the end of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
I like to think that the souls
of the jumpers ascended
and flew heavenward
before their bodies descended and fell to earth
Terrorists playing their silly games
Firefighters avoiding bursts of flames
Rescuers working beneath a brutal sun
In search of survivors and finding none
Some of them collapsing from
the effort and the strain
What did these murderers hope to gain
in killing innocents
It doesn't make sense
Symbolically they dropped a
huge pile of dirt on a flower bed
but the flowers pushed through
Displaying the colors red, white, and blue
Exhausted firefighters sleeping in the street
Refusing to acknowledge defeat
or be beat by the heat
Each one a hero doing all he can
A body pulled out
But its just half a man
30,00 body bags, 184 bodies recovered
Only 47 complete corpses
Firefighters writing their names
and telephone numbers along the length
of their arm
So their bodies could be identified
if they should come to any harm
The country was dealt a devastating blow
God Bless America
written on a dusty car window
Just thought I'd point this out
They didn't hit the American Trade Towers
They hit the WORLD Trade Towers
When these zealots decided
to pull off this caper
They should have thought about
the 35 nations that were in each skyscraper
Were these terrorists the pawns of the Creator
used to unite the world?
Its said that the Creator
works in mysterious ways
and that was the end result
Leonard Nimoy said in one Star Trek movie
No doubt the universe is
unfolding as it should
I don't believe that the
Creator makes mistakes
and in the first year of the millennium
maybe this is how it is intended
to bring the world together
The destruction of two towers
that drew terrorists from around the world
Now all across the country
American flags are unfurled
I saw one guy carrying an American
flag and an Arabian flag
A contradiction or was he attempting
to bridge the gap between East and West?
One man said Bin Laden and the Taliban
do not represent the people of Afghanistan
He compared Bin Laden to Hitler
and the Taliban to the Nazis
who think that they can do
whatever they please
He said the people of that country
are just like the Jews
And now they're plastered all over the news
They'd love for America to their best
and take out the Taliban
and clear out the rat's nest
Nearly 100 British died
in those Towers on that day
And hundreds still are missing
that were born in the UK
3 Australians are known to have died
and 90 more haven't been found
Buried in the Tower when it
crumbled to the ground
While rescue workers do the best they can
you should know that 49
of the missing came from Japan
Two of them were on the hijacked planes
Somewhere in that area
are 16 from Korea
Israeli, Irish and Lebanese
Turks, Bangladeshis and Japanese
14 German, 650 from Pakistan
and restaurant and shop workers
that were Mexican
Caring for people with burns in their skin
Some cry eye for an eye
but then just who would win?
Bodies burned or torn beyond recognition
Broken like dolls
Found in a terrible condition
Fragments of bodies are bags
With a bar code they're tagged
No trace of a face
Entered in a computer database
To identify each body the only way
is to very closely analyze its DNA
Dozens of black body bags
filled with the remains of those who died
The driver assigned to carry them away
looked out the window of his truck and cried
Tossed through a window
A note wrapped around a brick
This racial profiling is making me sick
Profilers psyched up and ready for war
A plastic bag full of pigs blood
thrown against a front door
I wish profilers would become
profilers
At the pentagon people saw the plane fall
Then produce an immense fireball
From 12 miles away the explosion
could be heard
If primitive man had witnessed it
they'd have probably called it
a huge thunderbird
A delayed reaction then each tower smashes
Can America's spirit rise
like a phoenix from the ashes?
While firefighters earn praise
and deal with the blaze
Terrorist experts warn us
that this could be just the first phase
Pearl Harbor got America
involved in World War II
So what do you think an attack
on the Towers would do?
It's very clear to me
that we're on the verge of World War III
Hint. Talibans reference to a holy war
A holy bible predicted it
The war to end all wars
Talibans prepared to die for their cause
Air strikes could bring about a global war
between West and Islam
The likes of which we've never seen before
Were we in need of a shake up?
Is this what it takes for us to wake up?
To rouse us out of our complacency
To make us treat each other with decency?
Photos of missing loved ones taped to shirts
got me thinking about REM's
Everybody Hurts
More photos taped to walls and street poles
Wrong place, wrong time
Poor unfortunate souls
Human teeth burned around
2,000 degrees Fahrenheit
so that may be all that's left behind
of the corpses burned in the building
that became their tomb
That may be all that they find
Wives pining for their husbands
Some people almost trampled by thousands
Silver street poles host to pictures
that became tattered
America's feelings of security shattered
the moment the World Trade
Towers were battered
Interesting
There was a Palestinian terrorist group
formed in the 70s
called the Black September group
When the first of the Twin Towers
opened in 1970 one critic called them
the biggest tombstones in the world!
Prophetic
115,000 tons of rubble removed
Talk of rebuilding the Towers
new and improved
Build it better and higher
but some say instead
like the Murrah Building
make the area a memorial for the dead
Talk of rebuilding just made me frown
Just another target
I'm sure the terrorists will try to take it down
Testosterone
2 new towers would be a danger zone
Sad but true, what can you do?
Holy war?
Now there's an oxymoron if ever I heard one
What's so holy about war?
About the only things holy in war
are the bodies riddled with holes
The holes bombs leave in the ground
and a hole in soldiers on both sides
where the heart used to be
I keep on writing about the Towers
because this shit ain't over yet
I write for the relatives of the dead
who wake up at night in a cold sweat
I write because this was predicted
in a Jewish book of prophecy
I'll keep on writing until
the people of the world open up
their eyes and see
that there's a better way to resolve
our differences
Non-violence has worked
in many instances
I keep on writing
because this shit is just too deep
I write for the New Yorkers
that just can't sleep
and worry on the subways
when they take a train
and get jumpy every time they hear a plane
I write for those
who can't get the images out of their head
I write for those
that still grieve over the dead
I write because some people
think bombing is the only way
and I'll keep on speaking on it until
Judgment Day
I'll keep on writing until
Madeleine Albright apologizes for saying
that sanctions killing
half a million Iraqi children
was a high price to pay but it was worth it
The comment heard all around the world
Think a half a million pissed off fathers folks
I keep writing because Taliban soldiers
can't wait to get American blood on their hands
I write for the thousands
of American kids who went to school
that day and came home to learn that
they were orphans
I write for the fireman
who had two more shifts before he would retire
I write for Johnny the fireman
who dressed up as Santa every year
at the Christmas party
I write because I've found
it hard to write about anything since
I write because the fireman
never found Mike, Tommy or Vince
I write for British born Ron
who made a cell phone call to his wife
Before he died rescuing others
he told her You made my life
Ron Rescorla
Former lieutenant and platoon leader
in the Vietnam War
once awarded a Silver Star for his bravery
I write for Michael Conningham
who spent 13 days with his newborn baby
before his life was ended
The photos taken in those two weeks
of father and son
are all little Liam Conningham
will have to remember his dad by
I write in hope that
I can decrease hate crimes
so that there'll be no more victims
like Adel Karas
A hard working father of three kids
Killed in his store
I'll keep writing
until America stops arming brutal dictators
and suppressing their people
Somosa in Nicaragua
Batista in Cuba
Noriega in Panama
The Shah in Iran
I write for all these families
that attended funerals with empty caskets
I write for the five
that were the only ones pulled out alive
John Lennon was a sun sign Libran
just like me
and a Chinese year of the dragon
just like me
Libra dragons are very outspoken
It got him killed
and I doubt that the same
will happen to me
if enough people hear my poetry
I remember Shihan said in one of his poems
that he wrote poetry
in a room with a weak light
And his mother said he should be careful
because he might go blind
He said if he did he'd be happy
in the knowledge that before he went blind
the last thing he saw was the truth
To paraphrase
If I do get taken out one day
for what I say
then I'd be happy knowing
that when and if it happens
the very last thing I wrote was the truth
and for that reason
I - keep - on – writing
I write for the kids
that had the lemonade stands
and came to fire stations
with their piggy banks
I write for Louis Nacke
who had on his shoulder
a Superman tattoo
Not the Man of Steel
but yes the real deal
Heads up terrorists
I'm coming at you
5ft . 8 inches of compact muscle
more than ready to engage
the terrorists in a tussle
I write for Mark Bingham
who played on a national rugby team
at UC Berkeley and had a history
of not backing down
He once wrestled a weapon
from a man that tried to mug him
and sprang into action
when the terrorists started to bug him
I write for Jeremy Glick
A judo champion in his college days
He showed the terrorists the error
of their evil ways
At the Pennsylvania crash site
a cross draped with white cloth
and inside my heart is torn
I write for Bill Cashman who served
in the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne
I write for Alan Beaver
an athlete and Bay Area resident
when it was time to tackle
the terrorists he wasn't hesitant
I write for CeeCee Lyles
a flight attendant and a one time cop
I'm gonna keep on writing
and there ' s nothing that can make me stop
4 people with only I.D.
a few clothes and knives
Each of them intent on taking
thousands of lives
Todd Beamer on a cell phone
to his wife reciting the 23rd Psalm
One passenger already stabbed
he hoped the rest would not suffer any harm
The plane bearing down on Washington
The White House evacuated
Fighter jets ready to shoot it down
if Washington air space was violated
I write for Sandra Bradshaw
who boiled the water
she threw on the hijackers
because they never caught her
None of these passengers were victims
Each one was a hero
Just like the firefighters
at Ground Zero
Did the actions of those on - Flight 93
save the White House
from becomin g so much debris?
I write for Carmen, an elevator operator
The fire burnt up her face
The memories of that tragic day
is something she won't be able to erase
I write for Noor Muhammad
A 12 year old boy
The attack on Afghanistan
forever depriving him of joy
He heard an airplane
and ran from his room
Now for the rest of his life
all he'll know is gloom
he doesn't know what happened next
but his situation got me vexed
Waking up in hospital
he found out he lost his right arm
Is there a good reason
why we did this kid harm?
He also lost his sight
and his left hand too
Compensating these victims
seems like the right thing to do
I write for the 6 year old girl
left paralyzed below the waist
when U.S. warplanes sprayed a wide area
with shrapnel killing and injuring
dozens of innocents while
pursuing Arab fighters
One day somewhere when I recite this poem
maybe some will hold up lighters
A post Taliban provincial governor asked
What is the price of our blood?
How are our people to be compensated?
This is the question
that is constantly debated
Bush was against every international alliance
until America became a victim of violence
What made the Palestinians
want to burn the American flag
when they took to the streets?
Oh, I dunno, maybe the bulldozers
destroying their homes
being made in America
made them want to distribute sweets
Their homes taken, their families killed
Maybe this was the reason
they acted so thrilled
You finance this
you should expect some form of retaliation
And we call ourselves a civilized nation
Who's the bigger criminal?
The hijackers or the money hungry
flying school instructors in Florida
who were told by these terrorists
that they only wanted to learn
how to fly Boeings
Not how to take off or land
just how to turn left or right
A phone call should have been made
to the nearest law enforcement office
Getting the cheapest labor available
to monitor security
left us with a permanent feeling
of insecurity
It's such a pity
that New York is Americas
most vulnerable city
Religious terrorism
has been on the rise
The attack on the Twin Towers
caught us by surprise
Did we incur any civilian casualties
when we bombed communications facilities?
Gravity bombs and precision munitions
because the Taliban failed
to meet laid out conditions
A r e you so blind that you cannot see
that the attack wasn't against America
but its foreign policy?
While you're thinking these air strikes
are really impressive
Think about how this shit started
because America propped up regimes
that were repressive
How sad, how utterly sad
Like Outkast said
B.O.B. Bombs over Baghdad
10 years ago America cheered the bombings
of hospital buildings with mothers inside
but nobody cared
There'll be collateral damage when bombing
but it's the only way
Funny, that's exactly what
Timothy McVeigh had to say
Who trained him to see civilians
as collateral damage?
How can you scare them with bombing
when they're ready to give up their lives?
This is the kind of shit
on which Bin Laden thrives
No distinction between soldiers and civilians
Before this shit's over
will the death toll be in the millions?
Large scale ground invasions
and long term occupation
of most of the Middle East
will bring about the Revelation
The bombing of Iraq has been going on
regularly long after the Gulf War
Do you think maybe this is why
these terrorists acted so raw?
The number of Arab terrorists
only comes to 6 percent
So when will these hate
crime fanatics finally relent?
Airdrops of food in the midst
of military actions
The U.S. government gauging
the people's reactions
Airdrops including leaflets
designed to explain
that it's only the Taliban
to whom were bringing the pain
Food packages of beans, peanut butter
biscuits and jam
dropped over the country of Afghanistan
37,000 food packets in a country
where 7 million suffer from famine
reminded me of Jesus feeding thousands
with a few loaves of bread and fish
Symbolic gesture at best
Feed 37,000, kill 300
If the Taliban aren't lying
that's about 40 innocent civilians a day
since the bombing started
We're about double the number
that died in the Murrah Building
take a trip to Oklahoma
Look at the gravestones
and think double the number
because Bush didn't heed Barbara Lee
when she said we need a focused target
The art of the assassin is lost
Now we just bomb the hell
out of everything and hope for the best
To me, Bush is Bill Murray in Caddyshack
and Bin Laden is the gopher
avoiding him at every turn
The man that's been up to no good
described as a kind of Islamic Robin Hood
Bin Laden is the man
for whom America is on the hunt
dropping food packets while
bombing the country
nothing more than a public relations stunt
Think about it while a victim
of the bombing bleeds
Do you really think those food packets
are gonna fit their long term needs?
If a hungry Afghan rushes
to get a food packet that lands in a minefield
implanted with explosives
then his fate is sealed
This shooting of military bases
the madness has to stop
Terrorists don't sit around in them
waiting for the bombs to drop
A Russian who'd fought the Afghans
said that they don't have any bases
So why does the government keep telling us
that they're looking for these places
If you really want them, Bush
Bomb the villages because that's
where they reside
Amongst the villagers is where they hide
Other than villages
there's not a whole lot you can hit
So, Bush, its about time
you put a stop to this shit
You'd get better results
with a house to house search
Most of the country has been destroyed
by decades of civil war
So do you think that they give a damn
that you decided to get raw?
Is it possible that you were itching
for a chance to test out the capabilities
of your newest war toys?
For every Taliban killed
ten innocents are slaughtered
Whatever we hear from Bush
you know that shit is watered down
Makes me knot my head. and frown
A man washes his hands and feet outside
in preparation for prayers
A bomb strikes his house
killing his 18 year old wife
Do you really think Bush cares?
4 innocents in Kabul killed
by a 2,000 pound bomb that went astray
Yet some still think bombing is the only way
Nowhere to run to baby
Nowhere to hide
6 million Afghans depending
on supplies delivered from outside
Tell me what you want
What you really, really want
Flour, oil, sugar, beans and blankets
Back in the days
When the Afghans had an emergency
The CIA pumped billions
into the anti-Soviet insurgency
16,000 Arabs trained
America fought together
with them against the Russians
but they never remained
They traded heroin for weapons
from the CIA
And they got pretty pissed
when the U.S. did not stay
A heroin ring was born
which they named the Golden Crescent
Weapons? For me?
Well, here's a little white powder present
They beat the Russians
and were pissed at the U.S.
military presence in the
Islamic holy places in Saudi Arabia
All up in theirs like a muff diver
working on a woman's labia
Why they're pissed becomes the focus
of many heated debates
Try America's backing of
anti-democratic client states
The ravaging of Iraq
and the one-sided support of Israel
These are the reasons
why the Twin Towers fell
One sided support at the expense
of the Palestinians
Now U .S . soldiers
slaughter innocent civilians
After siding with America against Russia
the Afghanis harbored regrets
when they saw the imperial similarities
of the U.S. to the Soviets
One bomb turned a family's joy to sorrow
for them there would be no brighter tomorrow
A family wedding was coming up in two days
Now at the rubble the relatives gaze
and walk around in a daze
The bomb killed the mother
and wounded the daughter and son
Oh what a lovely war
Are we having fun?
Feed the world
Let them know its Christmas time
Feed Afghanistan
Can we do it this Christmas time?
Will I have to speak on it
in another rhyme?
Here we go yo, here we go yo
What's the worst case scenario?
100,000 Afghan kids could die
from famine this winter
For interning Japanese
The U.S. had to pay them reparations
but now with Arabs
We're once again seeing human rights violations
At the turn of the century
was when New York first went vertical
The Twin Towers fell
and everybody got hysterical
Prison detainees locked
into waist irons or chains
While all around us chaos reigns
the Pakistani dies
of a heart attack in jail
others regarded with suspicion
even when released on bail
Fighter jets bombing the cars
of civilians as they're driving
All of Afghanistan
just focused on surviving
A subterranean hotel
with plush carpets and comfy chairs
An atom bomb wouldn't faze them
in these underground lairs
5,000 pound bunker breaking B-52 bombs
Who cares? They don't
Welcome to the Hotel Subterranean
Such a lovely place
that bombing wont erase
Plenty of room at the Hotel Subterranean
We can last all year
The bombs wont reach us here
A firefighter screaming at hundreds
of people to go towards the light
Thousands of dead souls
that hopefully did the same
Some people may be thinking
that Bush is the man
because he finally
took care of the Taliban
Well I hate to sound off
like Mr. Pessimism
but he hasn't yet
stomped out terrorism
A New York Times columnist
has written that in his estimation
half the Muslim world that is Arab
supported the attack on the U.S. nation
I am alive in Los Angeles
Only because the terrorists
haven't targeted the west coast yet
Brian Sweeney, 38
'Hey Jules. It's Brian
I'm on a plane and it's hijacked
and it doesn't look good
I just wanted you to know that I love you
and I hope to see you again'
Hey Jules, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Beating Russia made Bin Laden think
superior weapons couldn't withstand
their superior will
So I guess he then looked to America
and thought 'What's the time?
Its time to get ill'
I ' ve unraveled the mystery
The terrorists are trying to reverse history
They want an extremist form of Islam
As the dominant power
And that was the reason
for the attack on each tower
Supposedly its causing the terrorists
a great deal of stress
that Israel is the purest manifestation
of Western progress
they think if America can't be destroyed
then at least they can be humiliated
as the attack on the World
Trade Towers demonstrated
I'll keep on rapping
about how we got caught napping
It seems to me quite logical
that the next step
is chemical and biological
Will Bush put pressure on Israel
to negotiate with the Palestinians?
Will there be a third World War
with deaths in the millions?
Is the change from unilateralism
to multi-lateralism just a one night stand
is a bird in the Bush
worth two in the hand?
I've got to tell the story
about the village of Choriki
One family of 16, another of 14
That's 30 in all
Innocent civilians killed from bombing
Is Bush having a ball?
Here's the story of two Afghan families
that lived together in one home
They were 30 people under one roof
Now all their relatives can do is moan
Some were children just 2 feet tall
Dozens of civilian casualties
in several villages
but we don't have any reporters
capturing those images
11 people buried after being
pulled out of rubble
Innocent civilians
that never caused any trouble
Oh, but its not 6,000 people
so I guess we cant make a comparison
Its- about time America cut some slack
for the poor and suppressed in Iraq
Deaths of innocent Palestinians
Ensure the safety of Afghan civilians
Heard Laura Bush gave a radio address
but what she had to say didn't really impress
One thing the First Lady needs to understand
The Northern Alliance
raped more women than the Taliban
I read something chilling
and I hope he's just a dreamer
but a member of the Al Qaeda
boasted of plans for a Hiroshima
against the U.S.
Now I'm starting to stress
Bin Laden says America is at fault
and now he wants to carry out
nuclear assault
No doubt in my mind that this is his intent
In an al Qaeda safe house
A nuclear weapons related document
He's making, efforts to obtain every component
'Mummy, why does everybody have a bomb?'
One day in America
maybe not thousands but millions dead
if they ever manage as they've tried
to buy a complete warhead
Money and drugs offered in return
Burn baby burn, nuclear inferno
very prophetic song
You might climb 100 stories high'
Bin Laden is a trip
If I have indeed acquired nuclear weapons
then I thank God for enabling me to do so
Come again?
The most urgent, unmet national
security threat?
Nuclear weapons could be stolen
and sold to terrorists
Now I'm breaking out in a cold sweat
They could be used against citizens at home
or American troops abroad
A situation we could ill afford
The threat of nuclear terrorism is hi g h
Did the Peacemaker movie prophesy?
Will millions die?
Now Flight 587
No one wants to say
that there's a very strong possibility
of foul play
Look at the timing people
Look at the timing of the anthrax threat
Nobody wanted to link it
to Bush announcing war
An explosive device in baggage, a detonation
somewhere in the airframe
is the most likely explanation
Whatever they have to say
I'll take the wind out of their sails
Airliners are still able to fly
after an engine fails
but their theory prevails
Design flaws of the DC-10
were corrected more than a decade ago
So what is it that they don't
want the public to know?
Even if an engine was to completely separate
it wouldn't bring an airplane down
if the crew didn't react too late
Anyway, it still wouldn't plummet
and dive the way it did
So just who is the government trying to kid?
What was it that they hid?
Before we start celebrating the fall of the Taliban
We need to examine a cold, hard fact
Laden's terrorist network
still remains intact
World leaders pulling up to Ground Zero
in stretch limousines
25 million reward for info on Bin Laden
but nobody's spilling the beans
Thousands of people scoping Ground Zero
every day
doing their best to keep the blues at bay
feeling the need to pay homage
to the damage
How could these terrorists
have been so savage?
A scene of destruction five blocks wide
and four blocks long
On so many levels what they did was wrong
Wood planks still serve as sidewalks
in some spots
'Sidewalks of New York'
Wood planks of New York
Doesn't have quite the same ring to it, huh?
Scoping the site, presidents and prime
ministers that make up the United Nations
One from Kenya with a bone and brass scepter
quotes from the Book of Revelations
But while the world stops by
many New Yorkers stay away
memories too close and too painful
of that tragic day
Flags and patriotic posters abound
The rubble area treated as sacred ground
Someone said we should use Taliban prisoners
to clear the vast minefields in Afghanistan
I think it's a brilliant idea
and that we should give the man a hand
The very people we're fighting
Ronald Reagan once celebrated
Now the people he once called freedom fighte rs
are being incinerated
He said they were upholding the ideals
of freedom and independence
Now we're fighting these guys
The world has stopped making sense
The Northern Alliance general
once fought on the Soviet side
Everybody believing in this war
but I wont go along for the ride
Are we talking black and white
or shades of gray?
I'll leave it for you to decide
The U.S. is having to deal with
the Taliban's defiance
The way these people switch sides
I'm figuring one day America
will have to fight the Northern Alliance
`Animal Farm' people
Think George Bush calling them freedom fighters
as the Taliban were once called
and seeing the Taliban as the modern day Soviets
Same story, different decade
When fighting the Russians
these freedom fighters stayed in caves
that were fortified
Now on the run from American bombs
they use these caves to hide
One thing the government will never say
is that these caves were cleverly engineered
to withstand aerial bombing by the CIA
CIA financing and designs
can you read between the lines?
A bipartisan chorus of approval
for the Talibans removal
A motley collection of warlords
temporarily on our side
how long before they're described as evildoers
I'll leave it for you to decide
Will we once again leave Afghanistan
as a festering wound?
TV keeps us updated
All you have to do is stay tuned
If we leave once again terrorism will spread
There'll be another replacing Bin Laden
with a price on his head
The Marines have landed
but this time around
don't leave the country stranded
Now we're responsible for their future
quality of life
Think about it while were immersed
in their strife
It's one of the worlds most
conflict ridden countries
So like James Brown I'm saying
'Please, please dont go..please dont go'
This time stick around
making sure they stay safe and sound
Make sure that those
who replace the Taliban
will always do all that they can
for the masses
For too long too many people
have been sitting on their asses
Bush campaigned against nation building
in last years election
Are we suffering from short term memory?
Lets hope that they get
his continued protection.
In the past we've made many mistakes
so this time around
no abrupt pulling , up of stakes
Whatever happens in Afghanistan
now happens on our watch
This is a delicate situation
that we can't afford to botch
Will U.S. intervention
bring about the prevention
of terrorist acts?
Face up to the facts
Terrorism doesn't have a face
We have an obligation
to ensure the implementation
of basic human rights
so don't let down this nation
Alleged war criminals should get
public and fair trial
Is Bin Laden the culprit
or are we all in denial?
Let's hope that the new government
will promote peace
and that the violence will cease
I have a dream that one day
respect the political,
social and religious rights
of all Afghans
and that every nation in the world
will come together and hold hands
I have a dream
It seems to me that the time is near
When Bin Laden will be moving on
to guerilla warfare
Bin Laden elusive
The Taliban once abusive
to women that showed their skin
and got beaten for the sin
Bush decides how much privacy
each individual can retain
When done with Bin Laden
He's fixing to work over Hussein
No representation by legal
counsel of your choice
If suspected of terrorism
you wont have a voice
We could catch terrorists
much more efficiently
if we lived in a police state
but then wouldn't this be a country
which we'd eventually hate?
The 4th and 6th amendments
help preserve our freedom
but some people are acting
like we really don't need em
Guarantees of privacy
The Bill of Rights
Do not go gently into that good night
interception of phone calls
between lawyers and clients
and the reading of their mail
64 foreigners still held in jail
Supposedly civilization
began in Iraq
Now it looks as though this may be
the next country that Bush will attack
Donald Freed said Bush
looks taller when you're on your knees
At least he doesn't have the
I'll go along with my president disease
Beards being shaved off
veils being thrown
and music fills the air
A nation once repressed
no longer feels despair
It adds some complexity
to Bush's simple plan
that Pakistan funded
and supported the Taliban
Bush saw military tribunals
as the solution
but that's an attack on the Constitution
Lager to unleash the FBI and the CIA
and make sure that the public has no say
Organizations like the ACLU
need to know what the
government plans to do
In Uzbekistan the accused
are routinely tortured into confessing
The thought that we might do the same
is really depressing
Thousands of Muslims were sent to prison
on fabricated evidence
So we need to worry about the violation
of the 4th and 6th amendments
Bullets and banned leaflets
were planted by their police
and now we have suspects in prison
we have yet to release
Prisoners were beaten
and shocked with electricity
Is this next to come after the
infringement on civil liberty?
The Al Qaeda attempting to reverse
the current world order
has Bin Laden already made a
run for the border?
80% of America wants Bush to move into Iraq
to clean up the mess left a decade
earlier by his fathers attack
One rabbi said things would get worse
before they get better
We don't have Bin Laden
and anthrax is the new Scarlet Letter
Bush giving orders
A war without borders
Bombs that are killing Afghani daughters
These are deep waters
No immediate closure
Just government disclosure
You thought you had assets
but I froze ya
Some say if Israel cut a deal
with the Palestinians
the rest would fall into place
but would they just be doing it to save face?
Could that really be the case?
The American community blamed the Jews
for World War Two
and Israel for the oil embargo
and both for the Gulf War
but just how would we know?
Anti-Semitism
blaming the Jews for terrorism
keep the pipeline going for Arabian oil
while Jews are blamed for terror
attacks on U.S. soil
Protestations of innocence
Sharon warns Bush
Do not try to appease Arabs at our expense
Ariel Sharon's aggravation
if the verbal attack on the Jewish nation
Information, negotiation
decimation of a population
No one talking the language
if compromise
We need to open our eyes
need to get wise
but our eyes are wide shut
A world on the verge of Armageddon
An American Taliban named after John Lennon
born a year later
he became a U.S. hater
Went and changed his name
Now his family feels shame
Who's to blame?
Who washed his brain?
Would there have been an outcry
and investigations
if Bill Clinton had allowed bugging
of lawyer-client conversations
Because of what happened
on the September 11th date
It's been a lot easier for Bush and Ashcroft
to reinvent the republic as a police state
'But were at war' they constantly repeat
and can't understand why they're
made to feel the heat
Ashcroft saying you're aiding the enemy
if you kick up a fuss
displaying the Marxist mentality
of you're either with us or against us
Marines entering the caves of Tora Bora
`caverns measureless to man'
Coleridge's poem 'Kubla Khan'
seemingly referencing the caves of Afghanistan
The Northern Alliance once refused
to share power which led to a
devastating civil war
hopefully all the factions will
come together and learn
from the mistakes that they made before
The goal, a broad based interim administration
Multi-billion dollar aid package
incentive to achieve this formation
In Kabul the Northern Alliance
refused to withdraw all their troops
flashback to when they refused
to share power with other groups
A storm is gathering
‘I see a bad moon rising
I see trouble on the way'
$12 billion for the country to rebuild
but can we compensate the relatives
if the innocents who were killed?
if we were to kill Bin Laden
huge would he become?
The Romans killed Jesus, nuff said
so killing Bin Laden seems dumb
wants to be a martyr
so Bush might end up a messiah starter
You think I've lost my mind?
Well, the Prophet Muhammad
retreated to a cave
"when his life was in danger
You know what was said about fiction
that truth can be even stranger
Mohammed fled to a cave
that according to legend
was concealed by a spiders web
Come into my parlor said Bin Laden
to Bush the fly
Repeating the retreat of the Prophet
I can see why Bin Laden would want to die
I flashback to Arnold Schwarzenegger
beckoning the Predator into his trap
`Take me! Here I am!
What are you waiting for?'
Will the meaning of Revelation
soon be revealed?
Little boys going off to the battlefield
'And a little child shall lead them'
'I never went to school
I don't know how to do anything but fight'
When will a world in darkness
finally see the light?
Caves of Tora Bora supposedly rigged
with mines and booby traps
Is Bin Laden doing Bush
like Arnie did the Predator?
Perhaps
These man-made caves served
as a military base
Could this be the place
where Bush will lose face?
Afghan soldiers want American troops
to stand on the front line
You guys lead the way
and we'll follow behind
They see the taking of Tora Bora
as a suicide mission
that would leave their soldiers
in critical condition
Ashcroft, could you put some people at ease
name detainees?
We've got Rumsfeld lying to and
messing with the press
Ashcroft screwing with the Constitution
without consulting Congress
Constitutional rights on hold
‘You're giving ammunition to
America's enemies'
Well, that line is getting old
What's the thinking?
Out of hundreds of innocents
There's got to be at least one bad person?
So defending his position
To Democratic senators
probably makes him feel like cursing
In the Afghan capital
Old Glory flies again
Osama Bin Laden will be captured?
When?
The bombing caused many eyes
to well up with tears
Afghanistan faces its
best chance for peace in 25 years
An ever growing feeling of desperation
that Bin Laden may mount an
effort to begin a new operation
The Al Qaeda scattered amongst 60
Or so nations
trained to destroy military installations
And large corporations
Food packets dropped from the sky
children were killed retrieving it
They both stepped on landmines
running across a field
and I'm having trouble believing it
The government never worked out in advance
that with landmines everywhere
people would be taking this chance
and risking this dangerous dance
He lost his leg below the knee
A US marine trying to make
Kandahar airport mine free
90 casualties a month that are mine related
Lying dormant, but deadly when activated
And that's just the number we know about
Many never made it to the hospital
Makes me want to shout
Study the situation and then you will learn
that mines were placed to deal with refugees
that tried to return
The facts that I'm stating may be contested
but the border regions
are the most mine infested
It may not seem rational
but many a Saudi national
was happy to see what happened in the U.S.
and to them the Bin Laden
videotape doesn't impress
Many uneasy about its authenticity
Many that question its integrity
The terrorist act opened up many doors
The U .S., Russia and China
allied in a righteous cause
Between Christians and Muslims
unprecedented communication
Better understanding between every nation
Many countries moving in new
directions for peace
Anticipating the day
when the violence will cease
Towers that once soared a
quarter mile into the sky
50,000 in the buildings
6,000 fated to die
That's about one in every eight
The harshness of fate
Rescue workers excavating
mangled basement catacombs
Several stories underground
Now they seem more like tombs
835,000 tons of rubble have been cleared
Will we ever know the exact number
that disappeared?
Seven day a week around the clock
on the 17 acre site
Dump trucks rumble in and out ceaselessly
every day and every night
Ground Zero could fit 12 football fields
with room to spare
That's quite a large area
that they have to clear
The immense pile of rubble
is no longer there
Replaced by a vast open pit
into which people constantly stare
Concourses and lobbies
to where so many people fled
September 11th, 6,000 plus dead
I can't get that out of my head
563 bodies and 10,000
partial remains recovered
How many more grisly
body parts will be discovered?
1,000 construction and rescue workers
were here at Christmas and Thanksgiving
working 12 hour shifts
6 days a week
to bring resolution to the living
The Taliban take flight
Special Forces troops
searching caves and getting frostbite
If the government took the amount
they spend on bombs
and used it for constructive aid
Would the conditions that breed
terrorism gradually fade?
62 innocent civilians a day
but it's cool because we're
keeping terrorism at bay
The destruction of the World Trade Towers
compared to castration
So how many eunuchs make up
the New York population?
Dr. Susan Block says we use violence
as the balm for our emasculation
Searing, awful castrating pain
Make war and gradually
We're feeling our dicks again
the words of Dr. Susan Block
on the healing of the cock
Did she write this just to shock?
American Airlines passenger Richard Reid
and his black suede high tops shoe bombs
`Do anything that you wanna do
but uhhuh honey, lay off of my shoes
Don't you step on my black suede shoes
You can do anything
Just lay off of my black suede shoes'
Information held back
on the brand of basketball shoes
Which sports shoes company had the
most to lose?
Were Nikes his choice of weaponry?
The preferred footwear
for the Heavens Gate Society
'Just do it!'
but he blew it
His mission, not the plane
Richard Reid
No relation to Richard Reid
the Nike New Zealand executive
Just one of life's weird coincidences
In 1997 the Nike advertising
campaign stalled
The flame pattern resembled the
Arabic word Allah
so thousands of shoes
had to be recalled
A Nike travel bag carried
by the bomber of the Kenyan embassy
found to have explosive traces
leaving Nike having to cover their bases
T-shirts appearing in Afghanistan
and Pakistan with an AK47 pictured
Quotes praising Bin Laden
and a Nike logo
Poor Nike
How did they ever bounce back?
Well, I'll move on and cut them some slack
The cave networks found to be much
more extensive
So cave surveillance
will be more expensive
Osama Bin Laden as much trouble
as a New York City cockroach
Predator drone aircraft locating caves
and determining whether
they're safe to approach
Explosives tied to trip wires
hid across the tunnel floor
to be set off when the troops enter
they know what they're
getting themselves in for?
Insurers making threats
Of policy cancellation
Bush cant ensure that
there' ll be no more attacks
on this nation
September's devastation
World Trade Center eradication
Viewing platforms
Ground Zero transforms
Should structural debris
be preserved for future study?
News of war
What else is in store?
Was retribution really the solution?
The Bill of Rights stripped bare
No constitutional underwear
No footage of combat
Doesn't seem we can get that
The Taliban and religious extremism
The U.S. dealing with the
effects of terrorism
The Taliban denounced by
Pakistan's interior minister
his brother shot dead a day later
Now that's really sinister
Has the worlds most wanted man
found refuge in Pakistan?
If we detect
that you've decided to protect
the person that most nations would reject
Then you' r e the next country that we'll select
to bomb the crap out of
We never had any connection with Osama
Dude, don't you know that would be bad karma?
Was it Pakistan's sources
that saved Osama from U.S. forces?
Tipped off then he slipped off?
Their intelligence agency running
counter to the Pakistani government?
Saving Osama from missile bombardment?
I wish this drama was a book
so I could write the final chapter
and have Bin Laden eaten
up by a velociraptor
Public Enemy said it best
'No matter what the name
Were all the same
Pieces in one big chess game'
All the pieces in position
on this global chessboard
Bush's pushed forward
because terrorism couldn't be ignored
When the Towers got hit
we had people on the roofs
of all the buildings
and everybody freaking out
Now Bin Laden is the man that
everybody's seeking out
Where's Waldo?
Somebody rang a church bell
from far away
Bush vowing that the perpetrators
would pay
for what they did on this tragic day
People caring
Many sharing
Every siren in the city blaring
Every emergency vehicle in Brooklyn
And every fire truck
Headed to the Towers
Looking for survivors
But not having any luck
Thousands of cars trying to get
somewhere real fast
How lon g will this drama play out?
How long will it last?
Streets packed with people
covered with dust and dirt
Why did terrorists decide
that innocent Americans should
be hurt?
The smell of burning metal
and plastic wire
It would take the firefighters
weeks to put out the fire
Some people still cant look up
when they hear a plane overhead
because it brings back the memory
of 6,000 plus dead
Volunteers offering firefighters
plates of spaghetti
Paper flying out of the
Towers like confetti
New York City's nerves started to fray
as the buildings rained
paper for the rest of the day
'I know, I know times are changing
This time we all gon' reach out for the new
That means you too
You say you want a leader
You cant seem to make up your mind
think you'd better close it
and let me guide you
through the paper rain
Paper rain, paper rain
Paper rain, paper rain,
Paper rain, paper rain
I never want to see us
ever again standing
in paper rain
~
The ultimate weakness of violence `_s that it is a descending spiral b egetting the very thing
it seeks to destroy
Instead of diminishing evil it multiplies it
- Martin Luther King
by Ray Witter
Copyright 2001
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