This right here is the problem,
The US as arms merchant,
we armed the mujahideen,
they drove the Russians
out of Afghanistan,
then split across that land
into factions–al Qaeda,
the Northern alliance,
and the Taliban,
now we have the ones we armed–
against us in Afghanistan.

we armed Pakistan,
we gave them fighter jets
and radars and missiles
and bullets and bombs,
now we have the Pakistani Taliban
attacking us in Karachi and Islamabad.

We armed Saddam Hussein
to fight Iran,
then we armed the govt. that followed him
with elan,
weapons of mass destruction
we gave them to keep order in Iraq,
and now we have ISIS
with those weapons in their hands
roving the world in savage bands.

arms our biggest export,
arms our magnificent sport,
arms on which our leaders dote,
arms brutal and close,
arms by remote control,
arms that unexpectedly explode
in fields and forests and hosts
of other places booby trapped–

America booby trapped in wars,
Hoisted by its own petard,
our empire a fading star
our society full of scars,
This an image stark
our leaders say is too dark–
hope is what they want us
to flaunt–
and yet–they are the sharks
who sell the arms that bring us
our harms.

Usha Nellore