Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 153

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.

images and poem below the fold

Iraqi women huddle in the corner of the courtyard of their house as US soldiers from Delta company 1-184 Infantry Regiment interrogate the men of house due to suspicious activity during a patrol in southern Baghdad.
(AFP/David Furst)

Iraqi shop owners look at the scene of a suicide attack in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday Oct. 23 2005.A suicide car bomb in central Baghdad hit two police vehicles in Al-Tahrir Square at 11:30 a.m., killing two officers and two civilians, said police Maj. Mohammed Younis.
(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

The Quality of Mercy is not Strain’d
by William Shakespeare
from The Merchant of Venice
Act IV Scene 1

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence ‘gainst the merchant there.