this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
image and poem below the fold
Iraqis lower the body of a US airstrikes victim into the grave in Ramadi, Iraq, Monday Oct. 17 2005, . U.S. warplanes and helicopters bombed two villages near the restive city of Ramadi, killing an estimated 70 militants, the military said Monday, though witnesses said at least 39 of the dead were civilians.
(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
What kinds of aircraft bombs will be used against me?
There are two types of bombs: fragmentation and blast bombs. Some fragmentation bombs can penetrate armored steel from 50 yards away. Blast bombs include fuel-air mixtures with multiple detonations. The first detonation, 5 to 10 meters above the ground, disperse a concentrated fuel mixture. The second detonation, a fraction of a second later, ignites the fuel while it is in the air. This creates a massive, deadly fireball.from What Every Person Should Know About War
by Chris Hedges
Chapter 4, Weapons and Wounds
Pages 47-48
Thistles
by Ted Hughes
Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men
Thistles spike the summer air
And crackle open under a blue-black pressure.
Every one a revengeful burst
Of resurrection, a grasped fistful
Of splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up
From the underground stain of a decayed Viking.
They are like pale hair and the gutturals of dialects.
Every one manages a plume of blood.
Then they grow grey like men.
Mown down, it is a feud. Their sons appear
Stiff with weapons, fighting back over the same ground.
– – –
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