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, My Left Wing, and TexasKos.
image and poem below the fold
A morgue worker unloads a cardboard box of severed heads at the morgue in Baqouba, Iraq Saturday, June 3, 2006. Iraqi police on Saturday found eight severed heads north of Baghdad with a note indicating at least one of the men were killed in retaliation for the slaying of four Shiite doctors, authorities said.
(AP Photo/Adam Hadi)
The Remarkable Objectivity of Your Old Friends
by Liam Rector
We did right by your death and went out,
Right away, to a public place to drink,
To be with each other, to face it.
We called other friends–the ones
Your mother hadn’t called–and told them
What you had decided, and some said
What you did was right; it was the thing
You wanted and we’d just have to live
With that, that your life had been one
Long misery and they could see why you
Had chosen that, no matter what any of us
Thought about it, and anyway, one said,
Most of us abandoned each other a long
Time ago and we’d have to face that
If we had any hope of getting it right.
– – –
Join CIVIC’s “I Care” photo campaign
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
The candle that DianeL first lit many months ago, and which has become such an important part of these diaries since, is still available here.
You can copy that image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), craft your own image, and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment – as a sign that you know, but do not approve, and are not resigned.
“It is like trying to ignite – to pass on the responsibilities as much as possible to everyone else.”
Ravi Shankar
Basra car bomb kills at least 28
I am a witness.
I simply can not believe this occurring in today’s world. This is appalling! Not only do we have to stop this massacre, we do have to educate them as to their wrongs. HOly feces! These are rouge humans for doing the things they do. Oh so many wrong things are happening nowadays. We have to…no must stop this madness…..with their mind set! I can ot find it within my language to address this act of revenge.
Peace
Now Pandora’s box is spewing heads. Bush the Idiots box of horrors. I’m sure he doesn’t understand even now the nightmare he has unleashed upon these poor people.
… and the face of evil to see fellow human beings’ heads in a cardboard box like so much rotten fruit … a stark example of the lack of respect for ANY human life and dignity and shows me more than ever that we will never be free of hatred. Never.
peace for what it’s worth
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
“Every evil, harm and suffering in this life comes from the love of riches.”:
Catherine of Siena – (1347-1380) Dominican Tertiary – c.1370
~~~~~~~~~~
Another wave of bombers
BY David Hirst
Patients with chronic kidney disease dying for lack of their routine dialysis;
165,000 employees of the Palestine Authority unpaid for two and a half months;
women selling jewellery for fuel or food … the “humanitarian crisis” of the
West Bank and Gaza.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Were the talents and virtues which heaven has bestowed on men given merely to
make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambition of
a few? Or, were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with a divine purpose
and law, that they should as nearly as possible be equally exerted, and the
blessings of Providence be equally enjoyed by all? — Samuel Adams –
(1722-1803), was known as the “Father of the American Revolution.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America’s War? As Many As 250,000
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2474
The War in Iraq Costs
$285,650,112,782
See the cost in your community
~~~~~~~~~~
“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you
see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce
nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods,
but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by
work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you
– when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice –
you may know that your society is doomed: Ayn Rand – (1905-1982) Author –
Source: Atlas Shrugged, Francisco’s “Money Speech”
~~~~~~~~~~
Return to Ishaqi: The Pentagon’s Shaky Self-Exoneration
By Chris Floyd
It seems that the Pentagon, that veritable fount of veracity, has probed itself
for the alleged execution-style slaying of civilians in Ishaqi, and found that
the operation — which left 11 civilians dead, including five children under the
age of five — was in fact an exemplary feat of arms, strictly by the book.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.”
William Gladstone, 4-time Prime Minister of Great Britain.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bush’s Nuclear Alliance With India at Risk
A proposed nuclear deal with India that the White House considers one of the most important pillars of President Bush’s foreign policy legacy is in jeopardy because of growing objections in Congress and abroad.
~~~~~~~~~~
“As God walks atop this Wall and weeps,
I hear him say, `These were my sons.’
The sound of his tears fall silenced,
As hands are washed in the Potomac,
And it runs red with waste!
The Pontius Pilates of the new Rome,
Repeat history on full automatic.”
Nicholas James Weber
Vietnam Veteran
~~~~~~~~~~
What Happened at Haditha
On her syndicated radio show Democracy Now! Amy Goodman interviews Dahr Jamail, Nancy Youssef, Aparisim Ghosh and John Sifton regarding the Haditha massacre.
that’s really a little too much to bear. That some human has to do this.