Oof. Too busy a day, too tired for lengthy preamble, and I don't feel I'm familiar enough with Denise Levertov (I've only begun reading her during the last month or so) to capably introduce her or her work. But I think this 2002 article from The Digital Journalist will give you enough exposition concerning this particular piece.
Denise Levertov (1923-1997)
From Making Peace
News Report, September 1991
U.S. BURIED IRAQI SOLDIERS ALIVE IN GULF
"What you saw was a
bunch of trenches with
arms sticking out."
"Plows mounted on
tanks. Combat
earthmovers."
"Defiant."
"Buried."
"Carefully planned and
rehearsed."
"When we
went through there wasn't
anybody left."
"Awarded
Silver Star."
"Reporters
banned."
"Not a single
American killed."
"Bodycount
impossible."
"For all I know,
thousands, said
Colonel Moreno."
"What you
saw was a bunch of
buried trenches
with people's
arms and things
sticking out."
"Secretary Cheney
made no mention."
"Every single American
was inside
the juggernaut
impervious
to small-arms
fire." "I know
burying people
like that sounds
pretty nasty, said
Colonel Maggart,
But . . . ."
"His force buried
about six hundred
and fifty
in a thinner line
of trenches."
"People's arms
sticking out."
"Every American
inside."
"The juggernaut."
"I'm not
going to sacrifice
the lives
of my soldiers,
Moreno said, it's not
cost-effective."
"The tactic was designed
to terrorize,
Lieutenant Colonel Hawkins
said, who helped
devise it."
"Schwartzkopf's staff
privately
estimated fifty to seventy
thousand killed
in the trenches."
"Private Joe Queen was
awarded
a Bronze Star for burying
trenches with his
earthmover."
"Inside
the juggernaut."
"Impervious."
"A lot of the guys
were scared, he said,
but I
enjoyed it."
"A bunch of
trenches. People's
arms and things
sticking out."
"Cost-effective."
I have nothing to add, but I've gotta say I love this.
ReplyDeleteWhat really galls me is the phrase attributed to Col. Hawkens: "the tactic was designed to terrorize."
DeleteI've found an article -- by the looks of it, the one Levertov used as her main source -- but no on-record quotes of him saying as much.
Just as well. It would only further alkalize the irony between our employment of terror tactics in the 1991 Gulf War and our illegal, immoral, and disastrous 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq in the name of a "War on Terror."