Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 6

3 Comments

1. 

   Damnit Janet on May 8, 2005 at 10:24 am

   Mother’s Day Proclamation

   Arise then…women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts!
   Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
   Say firmly:
   “We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
   Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
   For caresses and applause.
   Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
   all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
   We, the women of one country,
   Will be too tender of those of another country
   to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”
   From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
   our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
   The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
   Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
   Nor violence indicate possession.
   As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
   at the summons of war,
   let women now leave all that may be left of home
   for a great and earnest day of counsel.
   Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
   Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
   whereby the great human family can live in peace…
   Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
   But of God –
   In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
   That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
   May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
   And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
   To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
   The amicable settlement of international questions,
   The great and general interests of peace.

   Thanks RubDMC

2. 

   sybil on May 8, 2005 at 5:42 pm

   CBC radio was discussing the anniversary of VE Day, the end of World War II. The first song I heard was
   “There’ll be blue birds over the white cliffs of Dover.”
   This meant more to me than sentimental mother’s day tributes. War affects everyone.

   One woman remembered VE Day this way “I didn’t celebrate VE Day, my children did not want to celebrate, they wanted to know why their daddy was not coming home.”

   Thank you for the Irish poem.

   Peace everyone.

3. 

   Nina on May 8, 2005 at 8:43 pm

   bear silent witness to this tragic war:

   Iraq War Civilian Casualties
   Iraq War Coalition Casualties

   And here is a powerful letter to W from Cindy Sheehan, a Gold Star Mother whose son was killed in Iraq. She demands Bush to answer her question, “why”? And she knows he has no acceptable answer.

   “Dear George,

   You don’t mind if I call you George do you? When you sent me a letter offering your condolences on the death of my son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, in the illegal and unjust war on Iraq, you called me Cindy, so I naturally assume we are on a first name basis…George, it has been seven months today since your reckless and wanton foreign policies killed my son, my big boy, my hero, my best-friend: Casey. All of this lying, fooling, and betraying must be “hard work” George. You really think you know what hard work is?…George, let me tell you what “hard work” really is…Hard work is seeing your oldest son, your brave and honorable man-child go off to a war that had, and still has, no basis in reality. Hard work is worrying yourself gray and not being able to sleep for 2 weeks because you don’t know if your child is safe…Hard work is seeing your son’s murder on CNN one Sunday evening while you’re enjoying the last supper you’ll ever truly enjoy again…Hard work is having three military officers come to your house a few hours later to confirm the aforementioned murder of your son…your first born…your kind and gentle sweet baby…”