Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 136

this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters

cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.

image and poem below the fold

Iraqis cry as they sitting (sic) around the coffin of a police colonel killed by suspected insurgents together with his one-year old daughter in Kirkuk, Iraq, Thursday , Oct. 6 2005. Insurgents using suicide and roadside bombs killed at least 21 people, including a U.S. soldier, on Thursday in the latest of a series of attacks aimed at wrecking Iraq’s constitutional referendum next week.
(AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

The Soldiers at Lauro
by Spike Milligan

Young are our dead
Like babies they lie
The wombs they blest once
Not healed dry
And yet – too soon
Into each space
A cold earth falls
On colder face.
Quite still they lie
These fresh-cut reeds
Clutched in earth
Like winter seeds
But they will not bloom
When called by spring
To burst with leaf
And blossoming
They sleep on
In silent dust
As crosses rot
And helmets rust.

– – –
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support the fallen
support the troops
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
Leonard Clark’s blog has been taken down
witness every day

3 Comments

brinnainne on October 6, 2005 at 4:45 pm

Jerry — it occurs to me that the one year anniversary of this series will be coming up — January 4, is it?

Your steadfastness in this is just amazing — I would like to do something to mark the 1 year of this series — let me know the exact date if you don’t mind.

RubDMC on October 6, 2005 at 10:08 pm

Hi, Brinnainne:

My first diary in this series was in early December on dKos – I wanna say December 3rd, because lawnorder’s diary was on the 2nd, and that’s the one that got me going.

It’s a great diary, if you haven’t already seen it. Here’s a comment I made:

Front Page, Every Day (4.00 / 4)

We must bear witness to what is happening, every day.

Yesterday Kos posted a story and photo.

This one deserves front page placement.

And every day, in the same way, one of us must find and post a photo that tells the same story of what really happens in this war. Kos and the GuestBloggers must insure its placement on the front page.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a young soldier, an old Iraqi man, a kid, a family…

We must bear witness in this way here at dKos every day, because the SCLM and too many people have short attention spans and even shorter memories. It’s the least we can do.

I saw his round mouth’s crimson deepen as it fell,
Like a Sun, in his last deep hour;
Watched the magnificent recession of farewell,
Clouding, half gleam, half glower,
And a last splendour burn the heavens of his cheek.
And in his eyes
The cold stars lighting, very old and bleak,
In different skies.

manuscript source

I’ve missed a few individual days along the way, as well as a complete week twice (March and August), so the days don’t all add up.

The starts were also staggered here, EuroTrib, and MLW, so the dates are out of sync even though I post the same diary each day.

Every once in a while I go back and look at random previous ones.

Anyway, thanks for stopping in so regularly.

Best, Jerry = RubDMC

Damnit Janet on October 6, 2005 at 5:46 pm

We’ve seen several tears here. Many have shed tears here.

It always rips my heart out when I see the little people, the children, with anguish and tears… or G-d forbid the ones that are bloodier, harmed or… dead.

It always stops my breath to see a mother, woman crying. Because that could be me.

But there is something crushing to see a group of men weeping…. I can’t place it or name it but it’s not … I can’t continue… I’ve seen my husband shed tears. And that’s very hard to see and hear. Because it’s usually over something terrible. Norbally he’s quiet or shows it in anger. But when the tears flow down his face… you know it’s bad.

A group of men. Men who are in an illegally occupied country… and they are weeping… It isn’t “natural”. It goes against everything humane and decent.

Thank you for your daily work.

Gawd I wish Bush, Inc can be stopped. We’ll keep trying.

(((Rub)))

brinnainne on October 6, 2005 at 4:45 pm

Jerry — it occurs to me that the one year anniversary of this series will be coming up — January 4, is it?

Your steadfastness in this is just amazing — I would like to do something to mark the 1 year of this series — let me know the exact date if you don’t mind.
- RubDMC on October 6, 2005 at 10:08 pm
  
  Hi, Brinnainne:
  
  My first diary in this series was in early December on dKos – I wanna say December 3rd, because lawnorder’s diary was on the 2nd, and that’s the one that got me going.
  
  It’s a great diary, if you haven’t already seen it. Here’s a comment I made:
  
  Front Page, Every Day (4.00 / 4)
  
  We must bear witness to what is happening, every day.
  
  Yesterday Kos posted a story and photo.
  
  This one deserves front page placement.
  
  And every day, in the same way, one of us must find and post a photo that tells the same story of what really happens in this war. Kos and the GuestBloggers must insure its placement on the front page.
  
  It doesn’t matter whether it’s a young soldier, an old Iraqi man, a kid, a family…
  
  We must bear witness in this way here at dKos every day, because the SCLM and too many people have short attention spans and even shorter memories. It’s the least we can do.
  
  I saw his round mouth’s crimson deepen as it fell,
  Like a Sun, in his last deep hour;
  Watched the magnificent recession of farewell,
  Clouding, half gleam, half glower,
  And a last splendour burn the heavens of his cheek.
  And in his eyes
  The cold stars lighting, very old and bleak,
  In different skies.
  
  manuscript source
  
  I’ve missed a few individual days along the way, as well as a complete week twice (March and August), so the days don’t all add up.
  
  The starts were also staggered here, EuroTrib, and MLW, so the dates are out of sync even though I post the same diary each day.
  
  Every once in a while I go back and look at random previous ones.
  
  Anyway, thanks for stopping in so regularly.
  
  Best, Jerry = RubDMC
Damnit Janet on October 6, 2005 at 5:46 pm

We’ve seen several tears here. Many have shed tears here.

It always rips my heart out when I see the little people, the children, with anguish and tears… or G-d forbid the ones that are bloodier, harmed or… dead.

It always stops my breath to see a mother, woman crying. Because that could be me.

But there is something crushing to see a group of men weeping…. I can’t place it or name it but it’s not … I can’t continue… I’ve seen my husband shed tears. And that’s very hard to see and hear. Because it’s usually over something terrible. Norbally he’s quiet or shows it in anger. But when the tears flow down his face… you know it’s bad.

A group of men. Men who are in an illegally occupied country… and they are weeping… It isn’t “natural”. It goes against everything humane and decent.

Thank you for your daily work.

Gawd I wish Bush, Inc can be stopped. We’ll keep trying.

(((Rub)))

Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 136

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RubDMC

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