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.
3 images and poem below the fold
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan (R) reaches out to comfort Juan Torres after he was speaking about the death of his son during a memorial ceremony in Crawford, Texas November 25, 2005. Sheehan became an icon for the peace movement after her son Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq and she held a 26-day vigil near U.S. President George W. Bush’s ranch during the summer.
REUTERS/Jim Young
An Iraqi woman cries as she visits her wounded son Abdullah at a hospital in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad. Abdullah is one of 13 Iraqis who were wounded in yesterday’s car bomb attack in a busy shopping district of Hilla.
(AFP/Qassem Zein)
A boy is consoled by his mother as he is treated at Yarmouk hospital, in Bahdad, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005. A car bomb detonated outside Mahmoudiya hospital in the center of a town south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 30 and wounding 35, a doctor said. Among the dead were four police guards, three women and two children, said Dr. Dawoud al-Taie, the director of the Mahmoudiya hospital. Medical condition of this boy is unknown.
(AP Phoot/Mahmoud al Badri)
The Other Place
by William Logan
The leaves had fallen in that sullen place,
but none around him knew just where they were.
The sky revealed no sun. A ragged blur
remained where each man’s face had been a face.
Two angels soon crept forth with trays of bread,
circling among the lost like prison guards.
Love is not love, unless its will affords
forgiveness for the words that are not said.
Still he could not believe that this was Hell,
that others sent before him did not know;
yet, once his name and memory grew faint,
it was no worse, perhaps, than a cheap motel.
It is the love of failure makes a saint.
He stood up then, but did not try to go.
– – –
read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story
view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)
take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)
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 Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support Iraq Veterans Against the War
support Military families Speak Out
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.
” I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”
from Dirge Without Music
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Good morning Rub, and good morning to DtFatwa below.
I just woke up and opened this to recommend. I normally do this anyway when I see these, but this morning I will simply tell you, honestly, shit I’m crying man. I gotta go. Glad for sure that all my babies are asleep, safe in their beds.
Thanks
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!
‘Mercenaries’ Hired/Paid By U.S., Taking ‘Pride’ In Killing ‘Innocents’ Randomly, Putting ALL In Graver Danger!!
Glad you put this Atrosity Up, I was going to use the Article Myself!!
There is No More saying “Why Do They Hate Us So”, i.e. After 9/11, for that has been Answered In Spades, what was once Hidden is Now In The Light!!!
AMERICA IN DISTRESS
For Most Understand ‘What You Do You Receive In Return, Retaliation On Your Fellow Soldiers’!
.
≈ Posted earlier in my diary ::
Explosives Used in London 7/7 Bombings ‘originated in the Balkans’ ≈
“According to a confidential report produced the day after the bombing by a private London security firm, Aegis Defense Services, Ltd., which was seen and read by Pentagon officials, the team was probably four to six strong . . . The Aegis report says it is possible that the explosives were ‘constructed by an experienced bomb maker, possibly coming to the U.K. for that very purpose.'”
Aegis and its chief Tim Spicer are intimately involved with the Pentagon’s Iraq operations. Spicer is also implicated for murders in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. Aegis is also tied to the sponsoring of an aborted coup in the West African nation of Equatorial Guinea, which resulted in the arrest of Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Tim Spicer involved in civil warsSierra Leone and Papua New Guinea.
How did Aegis conclude that the foreign origin for the bomb maker, when no such evidence was available? What role does this British security firm serve in helping drive Washington-London “war on terrorism” planning, and what was this confidential report “seen and read by Pentagon officials”?
● PBS – Analysis London Bombing
● The Nation – Tim Spicer’s World
● America’s Deal With the Devil
[Article has been edited with additional links – Oui]
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!
Revolution
By John S. Hatch
There is within the mythology America finds so indispensable something so sick
and downright evil, but so pervasive that even after all the revelations of
torture and rape and murder sanctioned at the highest levels of government, even
now the numbness persists, and writers still insist on thinking that America is
somehow a shining example of decency
Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In Bush’s War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered In Bush’s War 2107
Iraq abuse as bad now as under Saddam -former PM
26 Nov 2005 23:08:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
And Now Young Men/Women In Iraq
Our brave young men are dying in the swamps of Southeast Asia. Which of them might have written a poem? Which of them might have cured cancer? Which of them might have played in a World Series or given us the gift of laughter from the stage or helped build a bridge or a university? Which of them would have taught a child to read? It is our responsibility to let these men live…. It is indecent if they die because of the empty vanity of their country.
RFK, Vietnam War speech, 3-24-68
James Starowicz
USN ’67-’71
’67-’68: Meridian Mississippi/Naval Air Station
’68-’70: GMG3, Panama Canal Zone/Rodman Naval Base
’70-’71: GMG3, Coronado Calif – CounterInsurgency/S.E.R.E. School, Vietnam — In-Country COMNAVFORV
Member: Veterans For Peace
Know your enemy,
Rage Against The Machine
Allawi: Iraq Abuses As Bad As Under Saddam
Peace
peace…………
parent for their children crosses all barriers. My heart weeps for these parents as I think of my own beautiful sons who are warm, safe and healthy.
I am greatly saddened to leave this holiday weekend with feelings of loss and no joy or comfort to offer, particularly for those who have suffered the deaths of their loved ones. Whatever the historic purposes of this holiday, it’s current state is one of family togetherness and thankfulness. Yet most of that thankfulness is, for me, tinged with guilt and deep sadness and anger over the wanton destruction of human lives in the world.
I have burned out my candle for the night, but I see by your lights, still, a measure of hope. Pressing on in that hope; we are pressing on in that hope – Old Appalachian song.