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, poem, and audio link below the fold
Relatives grieve near the coffins of their loved ones, killed by an explosion in the Shiite village of Huweder, about 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005, where a bomb hidden in a truck loaded with dates exploded Saturday evening, killing 26 people and injuring at least 34.
(AP Photo/Mohammed Adnan)
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Dear Friends:
I was driving home a little later than usual this morning, and heard this piece on the better of our two local NPR stations, 89.7 FM – WGBH. It’s a reminiscence by Vaughn Short, a WWII veteran. Vaughn recalls the death of a Japanese soldier in his arms, and tells how his initial reaction changed when he grew older.
Let’s see if this works, technically and otherwise. I welcome any feedback you may have.
Thanks,
RubDMC
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from Have Mercy on My Soul
a reminiscence by Vaughn Short
Unknown, unwanted, and unwept
Far from Nippon’s cheery skies,
In a grave shallow and unkept
My worthless carcass lies.
May the demon nymphs of hell,
As they shovel the burning coal,
Know that I served them well,
And have mercy on my soul.
Listen to the streaming audio
(sorry, but the audio file includes a mildly annoying introduction)
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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.
Last week Cindy Sheehan said (and I’m paraphrasing as I can’t find the exact quote or date) that
…
When the news says that 60 insurgents were killed… ask how many of those insurgents were 6 year olds.
Stop the insanity and torture.
Soon they’ll come for us.
Soon you and I will be called “insurgents of Democracy”
Martial law for after natural disasters.
Martial law for quarranteens.
Bush has a hard on for martial law – he wants it real bad.
Peace
There is no word(s)in our language(s) as a nation(s) that really can be spoken for the feelings of this war, or any war, for that matter. So very sad to even reflect upon, today. This is and has gotten to be the most horrible of horrors. What can we do, as a nation, to ever repair this atrocity……PEACE, I pray.
I weep in my soul that someone, some place will please stop this madness!!!!!!!!!!!!
Copy and paste this to light your own candle:
<img src=”http://www.jsoucy.org/iraq/images/candle_flame_1.gif“ height=”68″ width=”52″ />
I wrote this on 5/13/05. Little did I know, there was so much more to come. I know more now and wish that I didn’t.
From the Living to the Dead
I see you in my sons’ eyes
reflected there, your mothers’ grief
transposed on my own image
Last night we went roller skating
I hadn’t been on skates in 25 years
“Just do your best, mom,” my six-year-old said.
When I fell, he helped me up
Am I doing my best?
Little by little parts of me grow cold
Sons, daughters, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and strangers
are dying
I cannot help you up
I do not know you, or even of you
As I make breakfast
drive to little league
and tuck my boys into their bunks at night
Your names are not posted on a list
Pinned to bulletin boards in the hall
Like the ones my mother looked at anxiously
on her way to class every day when she was in high school
Your passing is not noted in the
Halls of power
Your aborted lives unknown to us
As we work, and spend and
tend to living
Dark stains spread over my soul
like the soldier who covered herself
in black tattoos
Cover my good intentions with sticky tar
Yet
I see you in my sons’ eyes
Thank you, RubDMC, for your vigilance.
.
AMAZING ARTICLE ::
By chance came across this article today, I haven’t completed reading it, but it has a lot of traction IMO.
by E. Michael Jones, Ph.D.
“This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation. . . . [This is] good old American pornography.”
Rush Limbaugh in response to a caller discussing the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, on May 6, 2004.
“Americans . . . should not flinch from this fact: That pornography is, almost inevitably, part of what empire looks like. . . . Empire is always about domination. Domination for self defense perhaps. Domination for the good of the dominated arguably. But domination.”
George F. Will, “Who has paid for mistakes?” SBT, 5/12/04
Quote from one part of article —
Read article »»
Cross-posted earlier ::
Abu Ghraib – When the Iraq War Was Lost
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
.
Jeroen Bosch (1450-1516) is a painter in the period between Middle-Ages to the Renaissance, and certainly one of the most intriguing painters of his generation.
Jeroen Bosch Paintings on Birds
Wikipedia Jeroen Bosch
The original painting “Hell”, the right panel from the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
to the cause of peace.
Who shall be the last to die?
PEACE
….Caught in the Cross-Fire
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!
Psyches of Iraq’s Children Caught in the Cross-Fire
Thirteen-year-old Mohammed Khalaf and his younger brother Ahmed had taken a break from their soccer game to collect candy from American soldiers when a suicide bomber turned his SUV onto the boys’ narrow street. Tires screeching, the vehicle sped toward the children at the end of the block. In an instant, there was a massive explosion and 28 people were dead. Among them was Ahmed, whose body was ripped open in front of his older brother. Mohammed hasn’t recovered since that terrible July morning, said his father, Ali Dalil Khalaf, putting a protective arm around the silent boy with large, searching brown eyes. “What can I tell him?” Khalaf said as he sat with his family on the concrete floor of their small living room.
SNIP
^^^^^^
The World Can’t Wait
by Russ Baker, TomPaine.com
Bush’s support is flagging. Indictments abound. And tomorrow, protests are scheduled around the nation. Could this be the start of something big?
^^^^^^
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AMERICA IN DISTRESS
^^^^^
For Most Understand ‘What You Do You Receive In Return’!
^^^^^^
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River - the blogmaster of Baghdad Burning - has composedan open letter to the American People (October 2004)
Read on Baghdad Burning
Some other interesting Iraqi blog links-
Free Iraq (Imad Khadduri’s blog), A Star from Mosul (another girl blog from Iraq- but this time from Mosul), Treasure of Baghdad (a guy blogger in Baghdad), and an Iraqi blogger abroad, Truth About Iraqis.
Everything from ideology to execution of attacks is different. Iraqi resistance target US, UK and mercenary forces, while the foreign fighters want to transform Iraq into some Sunni caliphate by killing everyone, including Muslims, who beg to differ.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
.
extinguished? Keep the candles burning.
BURNING CANDLES
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
I cannot think of much this week without tears, especially for the children.