The year in verse
DARK night gave way, that Jan the first,
To hopes that now the sun would burst
On where Saddam had once been king%u2014
Tsar, caesar, lord%u2014of everything,
And with his acolytes and thugs,
And poison gas and listening bugs,
Had ground the poor Iraqis down,
In field and dune and marsh and town.
The realisation soon would grow
That in his place was GI Joe,
A decent, fair and honest friend
Who had no wish his life to spend
In any country but his own%u2014
So long as freedom had been grown.
For GI Joe had but one aim,
To make Iraq look just the same
As any democratic reach,
From Oregon to West Palm Beach.