Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 100

11 Comments

1. 

   Militarytracy on August 25, 2005 at 10:05 am

   And I don’t understand how anybody could think that this child’s family wouldn’t join whatever forces were against those who had killed their children.  How many of THE TERRORISTS in Iraq are really just THE TERRORIZED?  My son is five, next year if someone bombs us and kills him and tries to tell me that it was for my own good….what kind of person would I become when I arise out of those ashes?  Would I wear black and plot murder and film torture and beheadings of those who had killed my son?  Would I dress very carefully one day in my most beautiful attire and carefully coif my hair and flawlessly apply my makeup and join my son’s killers with a smile on lips before I set off the bomb hidden in my clothing?

2. 

   Alice on August 25, 2005 at 10:31 am

   Every day I look for your diary and recommend it. Today along with Tracy’s comment it becomes the perfect marriage of truth and beauty.  I am grateful for your work here.  The photos are usually more truth than I want to accept, and the poetry makes my heart soar with the wonder of the expressiveness of humanity.

   Today I must express my thanks to you RubDMC for all the work you do here always.

   • 

     RubDMC on August 25, 2005 at 8:19 pm

     ksh01 at dKos today asked if the images haunted me. Here’s my attempt to answer, which applies here, too:

     …for your thoughtfulness and concern.

     Do the photos haunt me? Yes, I guess they do. They certainly affect me – some more than others, and also sometimes more than at other times, like when I think I’m a little more emotionally labile (like right now – I just got off work, and this is a also particularly difficult image).

     I work with death, it’s a big part of my job, so I’m sensitive to it, and aware of it, in ways that I otherwise might not be if I were doing something else for a living.

     I lost a patient last week, a woman who came to us for a bone marrow transplant as her last resort in the face of a particularly aggressive leukemia. She had a hard 7 weeks, but I hope that she got something for her time.

     And I expect to lose another, if she hasn’t already died by the time I go back tonight. She’s also had a very difficult time, marked by several severe complications. I admitted her to our unit just after the 4th of July, and she was fearful of what lay ahead.

     Death has always been with us, and I guess what I’m trying to work through with this series is my own need to confront death honestly, in all of its forms; and to think about it with the help of some very artfully ambiguous and ambivalent poets.

     But the risk here, too, is for this all to degrade into runaway voyeurism – for me to be so callous as to seek personal growth at the expense of others.

     So, I guess the short answer to your question is  – yes, but I can’t let ghosts run my life, either.

     But most importantly, and unexpectedly, this series has turned into a public sharing – with you and others who comment, or visit without commenting, and with the people who directly suffer because of this war –  which gives me much more than I give.

3. 

   Damnit Janet on August 25, 2005 at 11:35 am

   A 6 year old child…

   There is nothing NOBLE about a child being killed by US bombs.

   Fuck this war and fuck bush Supporters.

   • 

     Salunga on August 25, 2005 at 12:17 pm

     Janet, I agree!
     There is the reality of this war.
     Its breaking my heart.

4. 

   alohaleezy on August 25, 2005 at 1:41 pm

   These pictures should be sent to the likes of hannity, O’Leilly, Drudge, Limbaugh, brit Hume and last but not least George W. Bush. I wonder if he ever cries? I love my son and daughter in law and grandaughter so deeply. It sometimes scares me to think of what I would do if someone did this to one of my loved ones.
   I also feel that this should be front paged but what do I know. If more people saw the horror maybe they wouldn’t be so prowar.
   If the counter protesters are there tomorrow when I arrive at Camp Casey I will hand them flowers and if I had more time this picture would be attatched to each flower i gave them.

   • 

     Damnit Janet on August 25, 2005 at 2:08 pm

     My daughter sent a similiar picture to several democrats, UNICEF and others and she got ONE reply. From our state senator Wesley Chesbro. That. Was. It.

     She asked them what the killing of kids had to do with her freedom. Lemme get the link… Danni’s own words speak louder. Was my first diary. —

     Many of us were stopped in our tracks over the pictures of the children who were instantly orphaned when their parents’ car failed to stop. My daughter wanted to do something. Anything. So she decided to draft out several please, protests and “whys”. After a week (lots of stuff going on at school and martial arts commitment) she finally got a letter she liked.
     Today her dad will copy it off and she’ll handwrite in the To: field and address each envelope herself. She has several listed out in her sparkly journal to receive this.

     Unicef, Howard Dean, John Kerry (who she contacted once and mailed him campaign posters she made herself in a school mock election) Her teacher and principal, Nickelodian, AirAmerica, Barbara Boxer. We’ll be sending it out to several papers, too.  

     Here are her words:
     ——
     “Last week a car in Iraq with two parents and five kids were on their way home.  The soldiers shot the front of the car and the parents died.  Then the five kids were alone.  Shouldn’t this be on all the news? It wasn’t.

     

     Kids have to stop the killing of kids. That’s because adults don’t believe each other and grown-ups aren’t doing their jobs. Killing an Iraq kid is just like killing a kid from the United States.

     How can I help?  Writing a letter is all I know what to do.  Kids are suffering and nobody’s doing anything about it. Please help me find a way to stop the killing.  It’s just not right.  People shouldn’t just kill people.  Killing kids has nothing to do with freedom.

     Thank you so much.
     Sincerely,

     Danni Nicole snipped –  10-year-old 5th grader

     P.S.  I’m writing this to a lot of people but not George Bush because he won’t do anything and he doesn’t care.  Again, thank you very much! “

     • 

       alohaleezy on August 25, 2005 at 2:33 pm

       What a magnificent child you have raised my friend. I am so proud of her. Keep us posted as to any responses she may get. You have a future activist on your hands. bravo to you both!!

     • 

       Militarytracy on August 25, 2005 at 6:04 pm

       this fucking Southern lunatic community with “Never Forget” pasted all over the church sign boards.  I won’t forget you insane bastards!  I will never forget!

     • 

       RubDMC on August 25, 2005 at 8:24 pm

       Never give up, never give up, never give up.

       It’s like the story of the kid on the beach that was littered with stranded starfish. He was picking them up, one at a time, and tossing them back into the water.

       Another guy came along and said, “Hey, c’mon, that’s not going to make any difference – there’s too many of ’em.”

       The kid picked up another starfish and tossed it in, saying, “Well, it just made a difference to that one.”

       Your daughter’s got  the right idea…

5. 

   Oui on August 25, 2005 at 6:31 pm

   .

   Iraqis Miss Third Constitution Deadline  

   
   Iraq President Jalal Talabani left meets with Saleh al-Motlaq right a Sunni member of the constitution drafting committee and a group of Sunni Arab leaders on today in the heavily fortified Green Zone area in Baghdad, Iraq.
(AP Photo / Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images/Pool)

   BAGHDAD, Iraq – The speaker of Iraq’s Parliament announced a one-day extension early Friday in talks on Iraq’s new constitution — a fourth attempt to win Sunni Arab approval. But he said that if no agreement is reached, the document would bypass parliament completely and be decided in an Oct. 15 referendum.

   Hajim al-Hassani, speaking minutes after the midnight deadline, said after meeting for three days, “we found that time was late and we saw that the matters will need another day in order to reach results that please everyone.”

   Earlier, however, a negotiator said Shiites didn’t even show up for a late-night meeting.

   Although the constitution requires only a simple majority in the referendum, if two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq’s 18 provinces vote against it, the charter will be defeated. Sunni Arabs are about 20 percent of the national population but form the majority in at least four provinces.

   If voters reject the constitution, parliament will be dissolved and elections held by Dec. 15 to form a new one. The new parliament then starts drafting a new constitution.

   The deadlock on the constitution came as Shiite leaders called for an end to fighting between rival Shiite groups, and police found the bodies of 36 men, bound and shot in the head, near the Iranian border — apparent victims of Iraq’s worsening communal tension.

   The violence was a clear sign of the need for a stable, constitutional government in Iraq — something all sides agree on. But a formula that pleases Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and other groups has proven elusive.

   
   An Iraqi grieves outside the emergency room of the general hospital in Baquba. Iraqi police found the bodies of 36 men executed with a bullet to the head and dumped in a stream south of Baghdad.
(AFP/Ali Yussef)

   ~~~