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| Farah Rud Valley |
The kitchen smells of kidney pie, mother cooks, relieved,
Sixteen thousand for enduring freedom die,
The TV recites the newest lie, another fifteen grieved,
Winning hearts and minds, checks unpaid, I sigh.
Open doctor's bills, endless dollars for a B1 Lancer,
At cenotaphs, flags and trumpets laud the gain,
Holds many secrets, peace rules out any answer,
Not part of remembrance, a whole world’s pain.
Birds sing in a blossom spring at the Farah Rud,
Under endless sky, a young couple swears a bond,
Farmers bring iris and roses, somewhere plays a flute,
Still unsanctioned, their sole property, until bombed.
Outside the mosque, a huge crater, spread corpses,
False intelligence, the first strike, the TV speaks,
The bride hurries with the youngest to the safe north,
All will be killed, by accident, someone leaks.
Silence, after two thousand-pound Mark 84 payload,
Pungent smell from the unworthy victims, flags of truce,
Indistinct bodies in mass graves along the road,
Their liberators played the deuce.
Casualties of their inconvenient defiance,
No space in the memory of the enduring empire,
For those outside a lucrative alliance,
Not part of remembrance in a world on fire.
In Remembrance of the victims of Granai: May 4th, 2009
Note:
Based on the video interview with Guy Smallman, he discussed the tragic events of May 4, 2009, in Granai, Afghanistan, during which a B-1B bomber dropped bombs resulting in significant civilian casualties. Smallman, the only Western journalist to visit the site shortly after the incident, recounted the harrowing details of the bombing. He described how the villagers were unaware of the impending attack and how the airstrikes led to the death of many civilians, including children. He emphasized that the villagers reported no Taliban presence within the village, contradicting the US military's claims that the Taliban were using civilian compounds for cover. Smallman also highlighted the tragic aftermath, including a mass grave where the remains of 54 individuals were interred due to the inability to identify the fragmented bodies.
References:
Sinclair, I. (2016, December 12). The Granai massacre: Interview with Guy Smallman. Ian Sinclair Journalism. Retrieved from https://ianjsinclair.wordpress.com
ZNetwork. (n.d.). Granai massacre: Interview with Guy Smallman. Retrieved from https://znetwork.org
YouTube. (2023, July 20). Guy Smallman interview [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/5mDuxFnn2RY?si=EeV9Cq5zMWRcbJJH (Time mark: 45:45).
