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May 25 2015

Who’s the Terrorist?

Obama and bin Laden, two advocates for terrorBy Ramy Osman
May 2015

Obama’s drone policy continues to assassinate unnamed people while killing thousands of civilians as collateral damage, not to mention the Americans who are killed as well. This drone policy has spread terror throughout the skies of poor and third world countries. Residents in those countries live in fear of American drones flying overhead, not knowing if the drone above them is about to drop hellfire missiles on them and their family or on someone they know.

Bin Ladens legacy of inciting Muslims to spread violence and violate the sanctity of life is still alive and well. His famous efforts have produced rotten fruit such as the many off-shoots of al Qaeda around the world, and the new Islamic State movement. These organizations are well known for spreading violence that has claimed the lives of countless civilians and has made millions of people into refugees.

Obama is a constitutional scholar, of whom other constitutional scholars say has repeatedly violated the constitution ; And bin Laden claimed Islamic scholarship for himself, but was widely condemned by recognized Muslim scholars as being in blatant violation of the teachings of Islam. Both Obama and bin Laden are representative of what causes death and destruction on both sides of “the War on Terror”. And the roles that they’ve played over the years has made them more alike than one cares to imagine.

I wrote this poem in 2013, and read it at an open-mic event at Busboys & Poets (Shirlington, VA) on Presidents Day of that year. I’ve since made some slight changes to it. It’s still relevant today, and represents the moral dysfunction of those who lead both sides of  the “war”. Today being Memorial Day puts the focus on the foot soldiers who obey orders given to them by those who command terror. The poem begins by asking “Who is the terrorist?”.

 

Who’s the Terrorist?
by Ramy Osman


Who IS the terrorist?

Is Obama the terrorist, or was Osama bin Laden?
One has a president’s seal, while the other had a turban.

The “civilized” sends drones and high tech cannons,
While the “savage” sent trolls and crude assassins.

They’re more alike than you can imagine.
Their eloquence is a dazzling distraction
Of words, causing moral refraction.

Leading their followers to endorse with satisfaction
Behavior, that creates a homicidal contraption.

One is a prop, the other a chaplain;
One would boycott, the other will sanction.

They order to kill like its a daily transaction
Not giving the innocents any compassion,
And calling their terror a defense reaction.

Their methods have a disturbing traction,
Spreading violence in a chain reaction;

Creating brotherhoods in a murderous fashion,
Breading extremists in opposite factions,
But united as killers in word and in action.

Their names don’t matter, it’s just a mere distraction,
Yet the blood they both spilled is not an abstraction.

So let me rephrase the question:
Who ARE the terrorists?

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