this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war
two images and two essays below the fold, but no poem today
Carmen and Roy Velez of Lubbock, Texas, hold a frame, Wednesday, July 26, 2006, with photos of each of their sons who have been killed in military action in the Middle East. The couple was notified this week of the death of their son, 22-year-old Army Spc. Andrew Velez, right photo, in Afghanistan. His brother, Army Spc. Jose ‘Freddy’ Velez, 23, was killed in Iraq in 2004.
(AP Photo/Joe Don Buckner)
I can not express in words the urgency I feel. So I may lose my job. I may lose my home. I may not eat on a regular basis. Since I started on this mission of peace I have been evicted (some landlords don’t like when you post the number of dead) I have had an IRS audit. I have had people look at me with so much hate at times it was unnerving. So What? There our people dying as I write this and another Mother cries.
I am driven; my spirit will not let me rest. I will still stay in the frontlines. I will engage in acts of civil disobedience if necessary, I will not let a politician say they can not see me. And I will always be of peace. I have hugged the recruiter in my town and we have shed tears together. I have hugged the Speaker of the house. I must always show that I am of true peace. I shake the hand or hug every soldier I see. And the soldiers that have made it home, if I come into contact with them I tell them if they ever need help I am here. If there is a soldier who wants out , I will find you refuge.
from Iraq Combat Vet’s Mom Diary, “Iraq”
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Iraqis walks away from the site of a bomb attack in central Baghdad July 27, 2006. The death toll from a car bombing and mortar attacks in central Baghdad on Thursday has risen to at least 25, Ministry of Interior sources said. They said 45 people were wounded in the attacks.
REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud (IRAQ)
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
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