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.
4 images and poem below the fold
A Pakistani Shi’ite Muslim cries during a rally in Karachi February 23, 2006. The Imamia Students Organisation held the rally to denounce the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Iraq and to protest against the publication of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad in European newspapers.
REUTERS/Zahid Hussein
Iraqi soldiers are reflected in a pool of blood at the site where a roadside bomb exploded in central Baquba city, northeast of Baghdad. Gunmen have shot dead 130 people in two days of sectarian violence in Iraq after the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine, prompting renewed political paralysis and warnings of civil war
(AFP/Ali Yussef)
ATTENTION EDITORS – VISUALS COVERAGE OF SCENES OF DEATH OR INJURY Bodies of journalists from the Al Arabiya television are wheeled in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad, February 23, 2006. Gunmen killed a correspondent for Al Arabiya television and two members of her crew in the city of Samarra, the Arabic channel’s news editor said.
REUTERS/Stringer
ATTENTION EDITORS – VISUALS COVERAGE OF SCENES OF DEATH OR INJURY A doctor treats a bomb victim at a hospital after a car bomb attack in Baghdad February 21, 2006. A car bomb parked at a Baghdad market killed 21 people and wounded at least 25 on Tuesday in one of the worst attacks for weeks. An Interior Ministry official said the 25 wounded were nearly all civilians, while a hospital source said medics were treating at least 32 people injured in the explosion.
REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani
Transcendental Blues
by Steve Earle
In the darkest hour of the longest night
If it was in my power I’d step into the light
Candles on the altar, penny in your shoe
Walk upon the water – transcendental blues.
Happy ever after ’til the day you die
Careful what you ask for, you don’t know ’til you try
Hands are in your pockets, starin’ at your shoes
Wishin’ you could stop it – transcendental blues.
If I had it my way, everything would change
Out here on this highway the rules are still the same
Back roads never carry you where you want ’em to
They leave you standin’ there with them ol’
Transcendental Blues.
– – –
“I don’t walk about belief – whether or not we should have started this war. Rather, I walk because we shouldn’t live our lives as if all is normal. People are suffering every moment because of this war – U.S. Soldiers and their families, Iraqi soldiers and civilians and their families – and this question of what we can do to end this suffering should be with us every day.”
a Concord (MA) area resident – in a letter to the editor regarding their own participation in a public vigil each Friday morning at the town center – ‘We Walk for All Who Suffer Because of War.’
– – –
put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet
read Ilona’s important new blog – PTSD Combat
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