this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war
with special love and honor for Cindy Sheehan and the residents of Camp Casey
image: An Iraqi police officer grieves at the hospital in the northern oil rich city of Kirkuk, after unknown gunmen shot at his patrol. Three of his colleagues were killed in the attack. A crucial national meeting of Iraqi leaders scheduled to resolve constitutional problems was postponed for two days as US military casualties mounted and Al-Qaeda issued new threats to the West.
(AFP/Marwan Ibrahim)
Cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
image and poem below the fold
Equinox
by Joy Harjo
I must keep from breaking into the story by force
for if I do I will find myself with a war club in my hand
and the smoke of grief staggering toward the sun,
your nation dead beside you.
I keep walking away though it has been an eternity
and from each drop of blood
springs up sons and daughters, trees,
a mountain of sorrows, of songs.
I tell you this from the dusk of a small city in the north
not far from the birthplace of cars and industry.
Geese are returning to mate and crocuses have
broken through the frozen earth.
Soon they will come for me and I will make my stand
before the jury of destiny. Yes, I will answer in the clatter
of the new world, I have broken my addiction to war
and desire. Yes, I will reply, I have buried the dead
and made songs of the blood, the marrow.
– – –
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