image: A brother of a truck driver, crouching right, weeps by his body at Baghdad’s Yarmouk hospital Tuesday June 14, 2005. His brother was killed in a recent ambush at Khaldiyah, a town 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Baghdad last week. The bodies of 24 men, some beheaded, killed in recent ambushes on convoys in western Iraq have been brought to a Baghdad hospital, Monday night, morgue official said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)
Cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, and European Tribune.
image and poem below the fold
Regime Change
by Andrew Motion
Advancing down the road from Nineveh
Death paused a while and said ‘Now listen here.
You see the names of places roundabout?
They’re mine now, and I’ve turned them inside out.
Take Eden, further south: At dawn today
I ordered up my troops to tear away
Its walls and gates so everyone can see
That gorgeous fruit which dangles from its tree.
You want it, don’t you? Go and eat it then,
And lick your lips, and pick the same again.
Take Tigris and Euphrates; once they ran
Through childhood-coloured slats of sand and sun.
Not any more they don’t; I’ve filled them up
With countless different kinds of human crap.
Take Babylon, the palace sprouting flowers
Which sweetened empires in their peaceful hours –
I’ve found a different way to scent the air:
Already it’s a by-word for despair.
Which leaves Baghdad – the star-tipped minarets,
The marble courts and halls, the mirage-heat.
These places, and the ancient things you know,
You won’t know soon. I’m working on it now.’
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
support the fallen
support the troops
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read `This is what John Kerry did today,’ the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s blog – `Bagdhad Burning’
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
witness every day
.
BRAHMA PARK, IRAQ: This 25 January, 2005 US Department of Defense
handout image released 30 January, shows a Marine scanning an Iraqi
citizen’s retina in Fallujah, Iraq.
JONATHAN C. KNAUTH - DODFALLUJAH, 24 May 2005 (IRIN) – Reconstruction of Fallujah, the city which was the scene of fierce battles between US forces and insurgents between November 2004 and January 2005, has been slow according to local officials. Little progress has been made despite Washington allocating US $200 million for rehabilitation efforts and compensation for families.
Nearly 80 percent of the population fled Fallujah, which is 60km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad and so far only half of them have returned, aid officials have said. Local people complain that there are still no basic facilities such as sewage systems, adequate electricity and water supplies and there are disputes over how much compensation has been distributed so far. About 70 percent of buildings, many of them houses, were destroyed during the conflict.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) said there were 650 civilian deaths in a report issued in April. However, it has been suggested that the number could be as high as 1,300. US Coalition forces stated that more than 1,200 killed were insurgents.
RECONSTRUCTION MOVES SLOWLY
According to Bassel Mahmoud, director of Fallujah’s reconstruction project, less than $50 million of the $200 million for reconstruction had been released so far. Although the main hospital had been repaired, only three schools out of 40 and four government buildings out of 20 had been rebuilt.
Massive damage was caused by the conflict and repair work could take several years.
Photo Ibrahim Mohammed AFP-Getty Images
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photo makes my skin crawl and I can’t even explain it.
freaks me out too Tracy
I wonder if they are prepping it to use it over here.
Damn, they should not be there.
Some good was done today thanks to Conyers.
The world weeps and Bush is walking…
Thanks Rub!
And Oui
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Click on my diary line below for full story!
PS Excuse if it’s a bit OT – I believe it is worth the exposure – road map to peace in Israel forgotten?
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Thanks Oui, I’ll check it out!
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The latest attacks by insurgents have been largely in the centre and north of the country. There have been attacks in different parts of Baghdad, in Tikrit about 175km (110 miles) to the north, and, further north, in the town of Hawija, near Kirkuk.
There has also been fierce fighting between US forces and suspected Islamic militants in what is often called Iraq’s “wild west”, near the Syrian border. A big US operation is under way against a suspected network of the radical Jordanian Islamist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Remember the quiet days: May 2003 – Mission Accomplished. No one ever heard of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. US Central Command: no more than 2-300 followers. The insurgents are mostly foreigners, not Iraqis. Blame always put on outside causes: open border to Syria. What about the open border to Jordan, Turkey or Saudi Arabia. Do these countries have border guards posted every 5 km?
<bit of snark> US Forces: we got his retina scan in our data base, he’s from Fallujah. We can blow up his parent’s house as punishment.
I wonder if there are any bricks of homes and shops in Fallujah untouched by warfare. The Grozny of Iraq.
US military strategy: we are moving north to Mosul and Tall Afar where the insurgents have gone!
Baghdad Sadr city – open sewage enkel deep in the streets, hygiene cause of illness by Iraqis. Lack of clean water, the basic needs of a household.
Christian Peacemaker Teams
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