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
The family grieve over the body of a market dove-seller at al-Kindi hospital, after two bombs struck in quick succession at a pet market in central Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 57 in Iraq Friday, June 2, 2006. The explosives were left in bags at the entrance and the center of the al-Ghazil market, where Iraqis can go every Friday to buy dogs, birds, snakes and other animals.
(AP Photo/Mohammed Hato)
alphabet (an excerpt)
by Inger Christensen
translated by Susanna Nied
3
cicadas exist; chicory, chromium
citrus trees; cicadas exist;
cicadas, cedars, cypresses, the cere-
bellum
4
doves exist, dreamers, and dolls;
killers exist, and doves, and doves;
haze, dioxin, and days; days
exist, days and death; and poems
exist; poems, days, death
– – –
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
Gunmen kidnap 50 in Iraqi capital
PEACE NOW……ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
“Most Americans aren’t the sort of citizens the Founding Fathers expected; they
are contented serfs. Far from being active critics of government, they assume
that its might makes it right.” : Joseph Sobran (1946- ) Columnist
~~~~~~~~~~
It’s About Building A Movement
Watch the new video from the Campaign for America’s Future plugging their conference next weekend, Take Back America 2006.
~~~~~~~
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 2475
The War in Iraq Costs $286,030,487,316 See the cost in your community
~~~~~~~~~~
“A State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments
in its hands — even for beneficial purposes — will find that with small men no
great thing can really be accomplished.”: John Stuart Mill – (1806-1873) English
philosopher and economist
~~~~~~~~~~
The Media’s Bloody Footprints
By Mike Whitney
The persistent slaughter in Iraq is not just the work of right wing fanatics and
neocons, but of the information-managers who pumped their lies through the
public air-waves and made the war a fati accompli. They’ve played a central role
in decimating Iraqi society and putting America on the fast-track to ruin.
~~~~~~~~~~
“I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready
booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be
ridden.”: Richard Rumbold – (?-1626) British Colonel – Source: His final words
on the scaffold before he was hanged in 1685.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sheehan: From My Lai to Haditha
The Abominations of War
By Cindy Sheehan
This is the most difficult article that I have ever had to write, but I have to
write it anyway, unfortunately.
~~~~~~~~~~
IRAQ BODY COUNT: Death Toll Continues to climb in third year of occupation: 30 Per day in Year 1, 31 per day in Year 2 and 36 per day in Year 3 Warning: these figures could be low:
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FOCUS | Army Manual to Skip Geneva Convention Detainee Rule
The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans “humiliating and degrading treatment,” according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marjorie Cohn | Stop the Beast
“In an annual security conference on Saturday, Donald Rumsfeld assured the audience, ‘We don’t intend to occupy [Iraq] for any period of time. Our troops would like to go home and they will go home.'” Marjorie Cohn asks, “Why, then, would the United States be building an enormous embassy in Baghdad and a base so large it eclipses Kosovo’s Camp Bondsteel, which had been the largest foreign US military base built since Vietnam?”
a dove-seller …
peace