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
Norma Mendez, the mother of U.S. Army soldier Antonio Mendez, who was killed recently in Iraq, embraces an American flag which was ceremonially folded and given to her, at her son’s burial, in Rincon, western Puerto Rico, Friday, Dec. 2, 2005. Antonio Mendez, age 22, was killed in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Nov. 11, according to Army authorities.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Iraqi women grieve during a funeral ceremony of Sheik Norzad Taher, a prominent member of the Guidance and Islamic Call group, in the northern city of Kirkuk December 2, 2005. Iraqi soldiers discovered on Thursday the body of a Kurdish cleric four days after he was kidnapped in the northern city, police said.
REUTERS/Slahaldeen Rasheed
The Hand That Signed The Paper
by Dylan Thomas
The hand that signed the paper felled a city;
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.
The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder,
The finger joints are cramped with chalk;
A goose’s quill has put an end to murder
That put an end to talk.
The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand that holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.
The five kings count the dead but do not soften
The crusted wound nor pat the brow;
A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven;
Hands have no tears to flow.
– – –
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