Among the newly released documents
seized from Osama bin Laden's
compound in Pakistan
on May 2 of 2011
is an undated letter
"to the American people"
appearing to have been written
shortly after President Obama
took office in 2009
and which blames corporate lobbyists
for the then-recent financial crisis
and the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His letter calls on Americans
to launch "a great revolution for freedom"
to liberate Obama
from these concerns.
In a separate and unsigned letter
bin Laden encourages
a close aide
to stage a media campaign
on the tenth anniversary
of the World Trade Center attacks
September 11 2011
to force Americans to make
"a rational decision
to save humanity
from the harmful gases
that threaten its destiny"
rather than continue
its perceived war against Islam.
It can only be imagined
just how the beliefs
of a long-dead man
killed during Obama's administration
will persuade
Republican presidential candidates
to claim Democrats
are supporting terrorism
by fighting climate change.
This poem © 2016 Emily Cooper.
