this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
we honor courage in all its forms
we love and support our troops, just as we love and support the Iraqi people – without exception, or precondition, or judgement.
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, My Left Wing, and TexasKaos.
four images and a poem below the fold
Local Iraqis gather around the wreckage of a car bomb attack, Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in the Shiite holy city of Kufa, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. A suicide car bomber Tuesday detonated explosives among a crowd of laborers across the street from a major Shiite shrine, killing 53 people and wounding 105, officials and witnesses said.
(AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)
Iraqi men gather around the wreckage of a minibus at the site of an explosion in Kufa July 18, 2006. A car bomb hit a group of labourers after they boarded a minibus in a market in a Shi’ite city in Iraq on Tuesday, killing 59 people and sparking clashes between protesters and police, witnesses and officials said.
REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish (IRAQ)
Local Iraqi men mourn over the body of a relative in a car bomb attack, Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in the Shiite holy city of Kufa, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. A suicide car bomber Tuesday detonated explosives among a crowd of laborers across the street from a major Shiite shrine, killing 53 people and wounding 105, officials and witnesses said.
(AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)
An Iraqi woman mourns over the body of a relative killed in a car bomb attack, Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in the Shiite holy city of Kufa, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. A suicide car bomber Tuesday detonated explosives among a crowd of laborers across the street from a major Shiite shrine, killing 53 people and wounding 105, officials and witnesses said.
(AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)
Blankets of Bark
by Sherwin Bitsui
Point north, north where they walk
in long blankets of curled bark,
dividing a line in the sand,
smelling like cracked shell,
desert wind, river where they left you
calling wolves from the hills,
a list of names
growling from within the whirlwind.
Woman from the north,
lost sister who clapped at rain clouds.
We were once there
holding lightning bolts
above the heads of sleeping snakes.
Woman, sister, the cave wants our skin back,
it wants to shake our legs free from salt
and untwist our hair into strands of yarn
pulled rootless from the pocket of a man
who barks when he is reminded of the setting sun.
At 5 A.M., crickets gather in the doorway,
each of them a handful of smoke,
crawling to the house of a weeping woman,
breaking rocks on the thigh of a man stretching,
ordering us to drop coins into her shadow,
saying, “There, that is where we were born.”
Born with leaves under our coats,
two years of solitude,
the sky never sailed from us,
we rowed toward it,
only to find a shell,
a house,
and a weeping woman.
– – –
The pity I once had for foreign troops in Iraq is gone. It’s been eradicated by the atrocities in Abu Ghraib, the deaths in Haditha and the latest news of rapes and killings. I look at them in their armored vehicles and to be honest- I can’t bring myself to care whether they are 19 or 39. I can’t bring myself to care if they make it back home alive. I can’t bring myself to care anymore about the wife or parents or children they left behind. I can’t bring myself to care because it’s difficult to see beyond the horrors.
from Riverbend’s blog, Baghdad Burning, July 11, 2006
– – –
read This is what John Kerry did today, the dKos diary by lawnorder that inspired this series
love and support the Iraqi people
join CIVIC’s “I Care” photo campaign
raed in the middle’s blog
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
love and support our troops
read Ilona’s important blog – PTSD Combat
support Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
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
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 a young heart with an old soul peace takes courage (multimedia)
poetry matters poets against war
support the troops and the Iraqi people
witness every day
