October 3, 2015 in the middle of the night
NATO launches a horrific strike
On MSF’s large Kunduz hospital site
A well known and clearly identified site.
Systematically and with no indecision:
5 strikes hit with great precision
Incinerating patients in their beds
Leaving 12 patients and 10 doctors dead.
So CODEPINK protests in bloody gowns this dastardly deed
And Dr. Margaret Flowers is locked up we see
And Obama offers (after four versions) a disingenuous apology
For this “mistaken” use of our lethal technology.
No, this was no mistake, as the president owns
As the coordinates were clearly known
And the hospital had notified NATO during the half hour attack,
But nevertheless the planes kept coming back
And five days later a NATO tank rams the hospital gate at an unannounced time
And destroys evidence of this egregious crime.
As a physician I cringe at this terrible insanity
At this obvious crime against humanity
Hospitals are places of refuge and of healing
Which is why their targeting is revealing
Of immorality and barbarism beyond belief
And why their destruction causes such grief.
And why their targeting is considered a sickening war crime
In our --and every other time
Hospitals are like churches – a sanctuary
And meant to be protected places of safety.
But we have been destroying infrastructure for years
In our Afghanistan and Iraqi wars
Power plants, sewage treatment plants and the like
And modern war primarily women and children strike
But in the last Israeli Gaza attack fourteen hospitals were
Destroyed—as if they were inconsequential toys
So CodePink sends a message strong
That this is an atrocity and is horribly wrong.
And reminds us of what Martin Luther King had to say
That my country is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today
And contrary to the myth our goodness in the extreme
The world is most fearful of the wicked American killing machine.
No there is a sickness here that goes to the core
Of what we are and what we stand for
It is tragic to reflect on what our system has become:
For in act of destruction it is second to none.
HP Charman MD 10-19-2015
