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, book excerpt, and poem below the fold
An Iraqi man cleans off the blood from the stretcher which carried the dead body of the Director General of museums and antiques in the Ministry of Culture Nabil Yasir al Musawi, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2005. Nabil Yasir al Musawi was killed by unidentified gunmen along with his driver in al Shurta district west of Baghdad while heading to work, Police Captain Talib Thamir said.
(AP Photo/Mohammed Uraibi)
What does it feel like to be shot?
Here is George Orwell’s account of being shot by a sniper in the Spanish Civil War:“Roughly speaking it was the sensation of being at the centre of an explosion. There seemed to be a loud bang and a blinding flash of light all round me, and I felt a tremendous shock – no pain, only a violent shock, such as you get from an electric terminal; with it a sense of utter weakness, a feeling of being stricken and shriveled up to nothing. I fancy you would feel much the same if you were struck by lightning. I knew immediately that I was hit, but because of the seeming bang and flash I thought it was a rifle nearby that had gone off accidentally and shot me. All this happened in a space of time much less than a second. The next moment my knees crumpled up and I was falling, my head hitting the ground with a violent bang which, to my relief, did not hurt. I had a numb, dazed feeling, a consciousness of being very badly hurt, but no pain in the ordinary sense.”
from What Every Person Should Know About War
by Chris Hedges
Chapter 4, Weapons and Wounds
Page 42
The Grain of Sound
by Robert Morgan
A banjo maker in the mountains,
when looking out for wood to carve
an instrument, will walk among
the trees and knock on trunks. He’ll hit
the bark and listen for a note.
A hickory makes the brightest sound;
the poplar has a mellow ease.
But only straightest grain will keep
the purity of tone, the sought —
for depth that makes the licks sparkle.
A banjo has a shining shiver.
Its twangs will glitter like the light
on splashing water. But the face
of banjo is a drum of hide
of cow, or cat, or even skunk.
The hide will magnify the note,
the sad of honest pain, the chill
blood song, lament, confession, haunt,
as tree will sing again from root
and vein and sap and twig in wind
and cat will moan as hand plucks nerve,
picks bone and cell and gut and pricks
the heart as blood will answer blood
and love begins to knock along the grain.
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view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)
support veterans for peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Gold Star Families for Peace
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
witness every day
Click on the candle to copy the image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment.
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance and Understanding
Peace
Watch The Full Program Online
90min. in 6 Parts
In mid-August, a FRONTLINE documentary crew made the perilous journey to the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Entering the 280-acre compound in the middle of the night, escorted by helicopters and a convoy of armed Humvees, the crew was following 50 detainees fresh from the battlefield. As they were ordered to kneel in formation on the concrete floor, one detainee nervously asked the FRONTLINE cameraman, “Is this Abu Ghraib?” The answer brought a shudder.
SNIP:LINK
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For most understand ‘What You Do You Receive In Return’!
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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
If that is true than
2000 Speaks VOLUMES!!
PS: And while you're at it, think about 58,000 Plus Faces Of Vietnam
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…that our light will finally shine bright enough to stop its needless spilling
In a hundred years time, we, and our children and their children will not be able to wipe away all the blood our country has spilled in our name. This is a different world we now find ourselves in, and we will pay a heavy price for our agression and inhumanity.
Oh, yes, and black is white, up is down, heat falls and cold rises, gravity causes us to float. In short, nothing that we ordinarily accept as true without thinking is to be considered true unless we also accept Bush’s words as true.
Then why is mourning not joy?
I’d like to force Bush to be stripped and have the blood of all he has killed, starved, and reduced to nothingness… be poured over him like the War Pig he is.
He and all of his ilk who have prospered from the death and agony of others.
He is stained. Forever.
As anyone knows who has ever worked in the medical field in a time of war, or an area of large amounts of blood and body fluids, the smell is like none other. Sorry for the words today. I am so sick of this nonsense! When someone dies, they are gone forever..this is not a fairytale..this is for real! I get the feeling somedays that the bad ppl do not get it!!!!!! It simply dismantles in my mind!
Thanks RUB.
…of rust and rot.