Death Train

New York Times, December 11, 2001, "Witnesses Recount Taliban Dying While Held Captive," by Carlotta Gall

"Shibarghan, Afghanistan, Dec. 9-- Dozens of Taliban prisoners died after surrendering to Northern Alliance forces, asphyxiated in the shipping containers used to transport them to prison, witnesses say."

After the clicking of wheels on rails
After the boxcars had been emptied and aired out,
The looks of horror frozen on the faces of the victims as they gasped for air
And there was none
As the official inspector for the
Oppressed Peoples of the World
I take notes and click photographs
Making a record in the black notebook of infamy
And my mind wandered back to another land and another time
When sealed railway cars also bore a grisly burden
Rolling from all over Europe to such resort areas as Auschwitz, Dachau, and Treblinka:
Many of those passengers did not survive the journey, either

--December 11, 2001