Larry Kerschner: U.S. Military Diplomacy – From Wounded Knee to Afghanistan
1890 Wounded Knee, South Dakota Lakota massacred by U.S. Army
A blue-coated motorcycle gang
armed with rifles and pistols
rolled into this peaceful
residential neighborhood at dawn today.
Chankpe Opi Wakpala community members
were herded
together and shot down.
Unarmed men, women and children were
pulled from their homes.
Commenting on reports that
those trying to flee were run down and
shot in the back,
one biker is quoted as saying
It was great sport
like shooting fish in a barrel.
Reports of the number killed
range from 150 to 370.
1890 Buenos Aires, Argentina- U.S. troops
intervene to protect U.S. business interests
1891 U.S. troops battle with nationalists in Chile
walking backward
my hidden face
does not go before me
I cannot see
the dogs of war
I hear
salt
blood and tears
dripping down
I hear
children become gravediggers
howling
boy soldiers flung into the dark
I hear
the knife
tearing cartilage between
the ribs
I hear two lovers
one is walking backward
1891 U.S. Navy in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to
protect American commercial interests
1892 U.S. Army kills 12 railroad workers
on strike in Chicago
1893 U.S. Marines help overthrow the
Kingdom of Hawaii
1894 U.S. Army occupies Bluefield region
in Nicaragua
1894-95 U.S. Marines land in China during
Sino-Japanese War
1894-96 U.S. Marines present in Seoul, Korea
1895 U.S. Navy and Marines land in the
Colombian province which is now Panama
1896 U.S. Marines show the colors in Corinto,
Nicaragua during political unrest
1897 U.S. military forcefully suppresses a silver
miner's strike in Idaho
driving I remember to note
sites which would be good for an ambush
walking I watch the ground for
dirt which may have been disturbed
in the laying of mines
nearly forty years later
I still expect the bullet
to hit that spot
just below my left scapula
that always itches
like a target
nearly forty years later
I remember when we were boy warriors
thrown together far from home
(gun smoke thick as fog
hot brass litter
the lamb-like small of napalm
burnt indigenous personnel
pile of bodies
slowly moving limbs in rigor
greenthick vietnamese jungle vines
sticky red clay mud in monsoon reason)
if he wasn't part of that
piece of me that couldn't come home
maybe I could
remember my friend's face
nearly forty years later
1898-01 U.S. Navy and Army seize Phillipines from
Spain killing 600,000 Filipinos
1898 U.S. Navy and Army seize Cuba from Spain,
we still have base at Guantanamo Bay
1898 U.S. Navy and Army seize Puerto Rico from
Spain, our occupation continues
1898 U.S. Navy and Army seize Guam from Spain,
we still have military bases there
1898 U.S. Marines land at San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
1899 U.S. Army battle Chippewa tribe at
Leech Lake, Minnesota
finally in each war there are no heroes only wasted victims
conscientiously objecting to another stupid useless death
(arresting warm blood torn from leaking limbs
lung rasped pink bubbles froth their breath)
howmany more times is hell to be let loose
cursing youngsters we say we love best
children sacrificed who may finally see
our lies as a clear patriotic ruse
dulce et decorum est
pro patria
mori
1900 U.S. troops fight to put down Boxer
Rebellion in China
1900 U.S. Marines and Army again use force in
Bluefield, Nicaragua
1900 U.S. Army occupies Coeur d'Alene Idaho
silver mining region
1901 U.S. Army attacks Creek tribe in Oklahoma
1902 U.S. military supports the province
(now Panama) seceding from Colombia
1903 U.S. Marines intervene against a popular
uprising in Honduras
1903 U.S. Marines land in Abysinnia
1903-04 U.S. military invades Dominican Republic
to protect U.S. business interests
1904 U.S. Marines land in Morocco
1904-05 U.S. Marines land in Korea during
Russo-Japanese War
1906 U.S. Marines invade Cuba during
their election
a talking head warmachine propagandist
on NPR yesterday asked
who is winning the war
in that tone that assumes a winner
I don't know who might be winning
but I sure as hell know
who is losing
more:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27691.htm
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