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
three images of a symbolic cemetery and one of a soldier’s wake
Cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
images and poem below the fold
Wearing his Marine fatigues, former Marine corporal Mike McNeil, of Fort Worth, Texas, looks at names of soldiers killed in Iraq on crosses placed by protesters against the war along the road leading to President Bush’s ranch near Crawford, Texas, Aug. 12, 2005. McNeil, who served in the first Gulf War, says he plans to read each name to show support for their families. An overwhelming number of people, nine of 10 people surveyed in an AP-Ipsos poll, say critics of the Iraq war should be free to voice their objections _ a rare example of widespread agreement about a conflict that has divided the nation along partisan lines.
(AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
Rowena Jhant, a mother from Waco, Texas, and President Bush supporter, picks up American flags and white crosses, a makeshift memorial erected by protesters, after a truck tore through them the night before in Crawford, Texas, Aug. 16, 2005. Jhant, who disagrees with the anti-war protesters led by ‘peace mom’ Cindy Sheehan, said she did not feel it was right to drive by and leave the American flags and crosses on the ground. An overwhelming number of people, nine of 10 people surveyed in an AP-Ipsos poll, say critics of the Iraq war should be free to voice their objections – a rare example of widespread agreement about a conflict that has divided the nation along partisan lines.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Cindy Sheehan takes a moment after placing her son’s boots at the cross bearing his name at ‘Camp Casey’, named after her 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who was killed last year in Iraq near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005. Sheehan began her vigil Aug. 6 on the road leading to Bush’s ranch, vowing to stay through his monthlong vacation unless he met with her. Bush said Tuesday that he recognizes Sheehan’s right to protest and understands her anguish, although she does not represent the views of many families he has met with.
(AP Photo/LM Otero)
Family members are consoled, right, during a viewing before the start of a funeral for Spc. Toccara Green, left, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2005 in Baltimore. Green was killed during an ambush in Iraq on Sunday. Green is Maryland’s first woman soldier killed in combat in Iraq.
(AP Photo/Chris Gardner)
He wishes for the cloths of heaven
by William Butler Yeats
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.
– – –
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
This is so very sad! The longer this continues, the more there will be bitterness and anger from the public. I was telling my friend last night, if I were a mother whos child or even a husband or wife who came home in a black bag, of sorts, I would definatley invite the press and have the press follow the casket from day one to the end. I would want the American public to share in my sorrow and then ask them if they are still for this damn war!!!
Impeach and charge Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfield, Rove any of the cockroaches involved, charge them with war crimes. Anything less would not be fitting for a country of the “free and the brave”.
Only cowards cause wars for their own personal and political gain.
War, any and all war is for the uncivilized.
Go CINDY!!!!!!
AlohaLeezy is on her way to Crawford today.
I can’t wait! Is she calling in to someone?
I believe so. I put a “shout out” in the FBC to find out.
I got to meet Mike McNeil at Camp Casey. I really love him. He joined in discussions we had about PTSD and the “new anxiety diagnosis” coming home with our guys from Iraq. The Vets at Camp Casey were so supportive and so full of information for me. The evening we squared off with counter protesters in camp, after things calmed down there was a flag flying attached to one of tents and occasionally in the wind it would lick at Mike and he would pretend to threaten it as if it were a living thing. We all couldn’t help but laugh because the Right claims the right to that flag and we are told that we disgrace it and I hate to say so but sometimes I have even believed their garbage and have felt dislike seeing our flag. It’s my damn flag though, they have only taken over my government……not my flag! It was terribly funny though watching a soldier in uniform threaten the flag like it was a naughty child in the middle of this Iraq mess.
Thank you, Tracy. Loved the vignette about Mike.
and blessings on all their parents who are fighting to prevent more death.