this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
we honor courage in all its forms
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
image and poem below the fold
An Iraqi man weeps after his shop was destroyed by a car bomb attack in the Shi’ite Shaab district in Baghdad January 21, 2006. One person was killed and two were wounded when the car bomb exploded close to a market in the Shi’ite district of eastern Baghdad on Saturday, police said. Authorities have warned of an upsurge in violence by Sunni Arab rebels after the publication of election results on Friday that confirmed the continued dominance of Shi’ite Islamists.
REUTERS/Ali Jasim
Yesterday
by W. S. Merwin
My friend says I was not a good son
you understand
I say yes I understand
he says I did not go
to see my parents very often you know
and I say yes I know
even when I was living in the same city he says
maybe I would go there once
a month or maybe even less
I say oh yes
he says the last time I went to see my father
I say the last time I saw my father
he says the last time I saw my father
he was asking me about my life
how I was making out and he
went into the next room
to get something to give me
oh I say
feeling again the cold
of my father’s hand the last time
he says and my father turned
in the doorway and saw me
look at my wristwatch and he
said you know I would like you to stay
and talk with me
oh yes I say
but if you are busy he said
I don’t want you to feel that you
have to
just because I’m here
I say nothing
he says my father
said maybe
you have important work you are doing
or maybe you should be seeing
somebody I don’t want to keep you
I look out the window
my friend is older than I am
he says and I told my father it was so
and I got up and left him then
you know
though there was nowhere I had to go
and nothing I had to do
– – –
put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet
read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story as well her comprehensive series on PTSD and Iraq War vets.
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
a Vietnam veteran finally at peace in his last days, in his home with his son and Hospice. Peace to all those over whom “the shadow of war” casts its darkness.
I am a witness. I weep.
At Least 23 Iraqis Die in Spate of Attacks
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
William Rivers Pitt | Democrats: Get Up and Walk Out
When George W. Bush delivers the State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 31, a little more than a week from now, William Rivers Pitt proposes that every single Democrat present in the House chamber for the speech should, at a predetermined moment, stand up and walk out in silent protest.
Cindy Sheehan | Matriotism
A mother, a woman, a leader, and a martyr. Cindy Sheehan identifies with the term “Matriot,” defining it as a new paradigm for true and lasting peace in the world.
On this one Visit the site, Newsweek Picks a Perfect Pic of rummy, read cap under photo of where he is!!
The Other Big Brother: The Defense Department
Late on a June afternoon in 2004, a motley group of about 10 peace activists showed up outside the Houston headquarters of Halliburton to protest the corporation’s war profiteering. To US Army analysts at the top-secret Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), the “peanut-butter” protest was regarded as one of many potential threats to national security and began warrantless civilian monitoring.
I will call my two Senators today and ask them to walk out of the Misstatement Of The Union lies.
.
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at a policeman’s home northeast of Baghdad, killing his four children and his brother and raising to at least 23 the number of Iraqis killed in attacks this weekend.
Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of nearly two dozen men abducted last week north of Baghdad after being rejected entry into a police academy, officials said.
The violence continued as Iraq’s political parties began gearing up for talks on a new coalition government that U.S. officials hope will win the confidence of disaffected Sunni Arabs and undermine support for the insurgency. That would hasten the time when U.S. and other foreign troops can go home.
There was still no word on the fate of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll two days after a deadline set by her captors. They had threatened to kill the 28-year-old freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor unless all Iraqi women detainees were freed.
Iraqi officials have said they expect the Americans to free six of the nine women they are holding this week. U.S. authorities have not confirmed the claim.
An Iraqi man cries for a wounded relative at the scene of a roadside bomb that targeted an Iraqi patrol, today in Baghdad. The morning roadside bomb injured four Iraqi policemen and four civilians. AP Photo/Hadi MizbanLEAVE Iraq to the Iraqis
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Peace
peace, unto the human race