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‘Curveball,’ the Wacko Who Turned Out to Be Our Only Source for thePresence of Bioweapon Vans in Iraq…

A poem.

Calvin Trillin

April 7, 2005

… Is Sung His Instructions to the Tune Of That Old Favorite, ‘Hambone’

Curveball, Curveball, what they lack Are excuses to attack. Your assignment’s crystal clear: Tell them what they yearn to hear. Curveball!

Curveball, Curveball, worry not That baloney’s all you’ve got, Or that you’re a boozy wreck. Tenet doesn’t care to check. Curveball!

Curveball, Curveball, they don’t mind That there’s nothing there to find. Just concoct some bio scare. Wolfowitz will go from there. If they didn’t know your game, Why’d they give you such a name? Curveball!

Calvin TrillinCalvin Trillin is The Nation’s “deadline poet.”


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