This article recounts a major war crime committed against the people of Sudan in August 1998. Reflecting on the rationale and unfolding of this crime, it examines the veracity of the official claims, the reactions and implications of the deed. The importance of remembering our past in an accurate and unbiased manner is underscored.

A little-known Tanzanian academic who played a big role at the University of Dar es Salaam in the 1970s died on 29 January 2011.

With a hefty peace dividend to pay
Bill Clinton pledged the New Way
To not act as a dovish liberal may
Nor do what the conservatives say

Yet on Iraq as in many other tasks
He fumbled and adorned both masks

Savage sanctions in perpetuity
Weekly random bombings indefinitely
Fishy forages for WMD for eternity
A callous old bipartisan strategy

With robust rhetoric at his baptism
Tony Blair touted a Third Way--ism
Criticizing that capricious capitalism
And also assailing stagnant socialism

Yet on Iraq it is so apparent today
He bumbled and stumbled in every way

First he embraced Clinton avidly
To starve the children silently
Launch the missiles periodically
And denounce Saddam repeatedly

Then he hugged Bush tenaciously
Modulating his tune quite abruptly

Sanctions he declared sanctimoniously
Violated tenets of civilized morality
Other than a deadly colonizing foray
This paragon of ethics saw no other way

With the guts to set the globe aflame
George W. Bush plays a simple game

Limited intellect or limitless greed
Or an extreme ideology to heed
Whatever the root of that creed
The results are quite stark indeed

He envisions only one divine way
That, of course, is to go all the way
No matter the lives or price to pay
Even so, prepares for the next fray

Dispensing with the diplomatic way
The hardy guy favors action not play
His tough words mean what they say
A man of honor, in a cold imperial way

Like him or not, do at least daily pray
A WMD or Osama spin not makes him sway
Nor an oily mint persuades him to stray
Towards the tranquil realm where you stay

• Karim F. Hirji is a semi-retired academic and biostatistician. Copyright Karim Hirji, January 2007.

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