image: Heath Calhoun, a soldier who lost his legs when a rocket propelled grenade landed in the rear of the truck he was riding in, prepares to get on his bike during a stop Monday, July 11, 2005, in Annapolis, Md., as part of Soldier Ride 2005. A group of wounded soldiers are nearing the end of a 4,200 mile ride across the country to raise money for fellow soldiers wounded in Iraq. The journey, which began in Los Angeles on May 21, 2005 will end in Montauk, New York on July 18, 2005.
(AP Photo/Matthew S. Gunby)
Cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, and European Tribune.
image and poem below the fold
Let the Memorial Hill Remember
by Yehuda Amichai
Let the memorial hill remember instead of me,
that’s what it’s here for. Let the par in-memory-of remember,
let the street that’s-named-for remember,
let the well-known building remember,
let the synagogue that’s named after God remember
let the rolling Torah scroll remember, let the prayer
for the memory of the dead remember. Let the flags remember
those multicolored shrouds of history: the bodies they wrapped
have long since turned to dust. Let the dust remember.
Let the dung remember at the gate. Let the afterbirth remember.
Let the beasts of the field and birds of the heavens eat and remember.
Let all of them remember so that I can rest.
– – –
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 Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
read this soldier’s blog
witness every day