Denise Levertov

Here you will find the Poem News Report, September 1991 of poet Denise Levertov

News Report, September 1991

U.S. BURIED IRAQI SOLDIERS ALIVE IN GULF WAR 

'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.'