Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 185

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.

images and text posted in accordance with the ‘fair use’ of copyrighted material as provided for under U.S. Copyright Law, specifically U.S. Code Title 17, Section 107, that allows such material, with attributions to original sources, to be viewable for educational and intellectual purposes.

images and poem below the fold

Undated private photo released by the family, of kidnapped German archeologist Susanne Osthoff with her daughter Tarfa. The kidnapping took place in northern Iraq last Friday and became known Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005. Susanne Osthoff had worked for a relief organization.
(AP Photo/ho)

from a series of photos by Alan Chin/Gamma. New Orleans. 2005

from the commentary Katrina Aftermath: And Then I Saw These at BagNewsNotes

Until last night, I thought the news images we had seen from New Orleans during the worst days of Katrina were fundamentally unvarnished. And then I saw these.

Among his peers, Alan Chin is regarded as one of the finest photojournalists in the field — and I say that not just because he is a friend of this site. What these photos do is bear witness to much of the information that was reinforced through the written word. At the height of the disaster, we saw scenes of suffering, but were primarily told how bitter, annihilating and incomprehensible it was. We saw death, but were told it was everywhere. Also, we saw scenes of dignity and of contempt — but not quite as boldly as this.

Entre L’Amour et L’Avenir
words/music by David Greely and Jimmy Domengeaux
as performed by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys

Dans lan nuit et tout le monde est apres dormir.
Entre hier et demain
Entre l’amour et l’avenir.
Ca fait froid, ca fait noir
Et des fois ca me fait fremir
D’etre tout seul entre l’amour et l’avenir

The dead of night and everyone is sleeping.
Between yesterday and tomorrow
Between love and the future.
It’s cold, it’s dark
And sometimes it makes me tremble
To be alone between love and the future.

– – –
read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story

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

10 Comments

RubDMC on November 29, 2005 at 2:33 pm

Click on the candle to copy the image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment.

” I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”
from Dirge Without Music
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

DuctapeFatwa on November 29, 2005 at 2:48 pm

The $100 bills were all new. They came wrapped in plastic and loaded on wooden pallets. Altogether, the money weighed 15 tons, enough to fill three U.S. military helicopters. It totaled $1.4 billion.

In a little-known operation during the final days of the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, U.S. military helicopters flew the shipment of cash to Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan’s largest city.

U.S. troops were waiting on the ground at the airport to unload the money and take it under heavy guard to the headquarters of the province’s Central Bank in the center of the city.

The cash payment, which was approved by outgoing U.S. Administrator L. Paul Bremer, was delivered on June 23, 2004, five days before he handed over sovereignty to a new Iraqi government in Baghdad and left the country. The money came from pre-war oil revenues and was given to top officials of Iraq’s two Kurdish provincial governments.

“For us, it was so strange,” said Rashid Taher, general director of finance in Irbil province. “We received it as cash at the airport. Paul Bremer delivered it to us, and we still have the money.”

Kurdistan officials say the secret, last-minute shipment of cash highlighted the sometimes-questionable handling of billions of dollars by the United States during the 14 months that Mr. Bremer ran Iraq.

They say the cash was only part of $4 billion the region was owed under the United Nations’ oil-for-food program. And they contend that Mr. Bremer improperly spent Kurdistan’s remaining $2.6-billion share of the U.N. fund for other purposes during his administration of Iraq.

Mahmoud Othman, an Iraqi Kurd who served on the U.S.-appointed Governing Council during the Bremer era, charged that airlifting $1.4 billion in cash to Irbil was an attempt to win the silence of Kurdish leaders after Mr. Bremer had squandered the rest of the money. Mr. Othman has called for an investigation into the handling of the funds.

“He did this, which is not normal, because he himself had made a mess,” said Mr. Othman, who now serves in the transitional Iraqi National Assembly. “He had spent part of the $4 billion, and he had to do this to keep their mouths shut about it.”

Efforts to reach Mr. Bremer, who has said little in public since leaving Iraq, were unsuccessful….

nerdified link

ask on November 29, 2005 at 3:04 pm

Iraq video shows Western hostages

Man Eegee on November 29, 2005 at 3:24 pm

…the future of our world depends upon it.

supersoling on November 29, 2005 at 7:10 pm

The day we win that battle will be the day that we will have finally evolved and fullfilled our potential…

shermanesqe on November 29, 2005 at 3:44 pm

dada on November 29, 2005 at 4:05 pm

Peace

alohaleezy on November 29, 2005 at 5:25 pm

Bring The Troops Home

Nothing will be different tomorrow, next month, next year, ten years from now. There is only one thing to do in order to bring peace to Iraq. LEAVE

jimstaro on November 29, 2005 at 5:34 pm

Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!

A Journey That Ended in Anguish Must Read

Quote
‘I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. Death before being dishonored any more.’
— From a note found near Ted Westhusing’s body
‘He could not shift his mind-set from the military notion of completing a mission irrespective of cost, nor could he change his belief that doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do should be the sole motivator for businesses.’
— Lt. Col. Lisa Breitenbach, psychologist who reviewed Westhusing’s e-mails and interviewed his colleagues

Col. Ted Westhusing, a military ethicist who volunteered to go to Iraq, was upset by what he saw. His apparent suicide raises questions.

By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer

“War is the hardest place to make moral judgments.”

Col. Ted Westhusing, Journal of Military Ethics

EU States That Held CIA Jails Could Face Sanctions
by Mark Trevelyan

For Most Understand ‘What You Do You Receive In Return, Retaliation On Your Fellow Soldiers’!

James Starowicz
USN ’67-’71
’67-’68: Meridian Mississippi/Naval Air Station
’68-’70: GMG3, Panama Canal Zone/Rodman Naval Base
’70-’71: GMG3, Coronado Calif – CounterInsurgency/S.E.R.E. School, Vietnam — In-Country COMNAVFORV
Member: Veterans For Peace

BrendaStewart on November 29, 2005 at 8:40 pm

Love and Peace to all……….

RubDMC on November 29, 2005 at 2:33 pm

Click on the candle to copy the image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment.

” I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”
from Dirge Without Music
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
DuctapeFatwa on November 29, 2005 at 2:48 pm

The $100 bills were all new. They came wrapped in plastic and loaded on wooden pallets. Altogether, the money weighed 15 tons, enough to fill three U.S. military helicopters. It totaled $1.4 billion.

In a little-known operation during the final days of the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, U.S. military helicopters flew the shipment of cash to Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan’s largest city.

U.S. troops were waiting on the ground at the airport to unload the money and take it under heavy guard to the headquarters of the province’s Central Bank in the center of the city.

The cash payment, which was approved by outgoing U.S. Administrator L. Paul Bremer, was delivered on June 23, 2004, five days before he handed over sovereignty to a new Iraqi government in Baghdad and left the country. The money came from pre-war oil revenues and was given to top officials of Iraq’s two Kurdish provincial governments.

“For us, it was so strange,” said Rashid Taher, general director of finance in Irbil province. “We received it as cash at the airport. Paul Bremer delivered it to us, and we still have the money.”

Kurdistan officials say the secret, last-minute shipment of cash highlighted the sometimes-questionable handling of billions of dollars by the United States during the 14 months that Mr. Bremer ran Iraq.

They say the cash was only part of $4 billion the region was owed under the United Nations’ oil-for-food program. And they contend that Mr. Bremer improperly spent Kurdistan’s remaining $2.6-billion share of the U.N. fund for other purposes during his administration of Iraq.

Mahmoud Othman, an Iraqi Kurd who served on the U.S.-appointed Governing Council during the Bremer era, charged that airlifting $1.4 billion in cash to Irbil was an attempt to win the silence of Kurdish leaders after Mr. Bremer had squandered the rest of the money. Mr. Othman has called for an investigation into the handling of the funds.

“He did this, which is not normal, because he himself had made a mess,” said Mr. Othman, who now serves in the transitional Iraqi National Assembly. “He had spent part of the $4 billion, and he had to do this to keep their mouths shut about it.”

Efforts to reach Mr. Bremer, who has said little in public since leaving Iraq, were unsuccessful….

nerdified link
ask on November 29, 2005 at 3:04 pm

Iraq video shows Western hostages
Man Eegee on November 29, 2005 at 3:24 pm

…the future of our world depends upon it.
- supersoling on November 29, 2005 at 7:10 pm
  
  The day we win that battle will be the day that we will have finally evolved and fullfilled our potential…
shermanesqe on November 29, 2005 at 3:44 pm
dada on November 29, 2005 at 4:05 pm

Peace
alohaleezy on November 29, 2005 at 5:25 pm

Bring The Troops Home

Nothing will be different tomorrow, next month, next year, ten years from now. There is only one thing to do in order to bring peace to Iraq. LEAVE
jimstaro on November 29, 2005 at 5:34 pm

Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!

A Journey That Ended in Anguish Must Read

Quote
‘I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. Death before being dishonored any more.’
— From a note found near Ted Westhusing’s body
‘He could not shift his mind-set from the military notion of completing a mission irrespective of cost, nor could he change his belief that doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do should be the sole motivator for businesses.’
— Lt. Col. Lisa Breitenbach, psychologist who reviewed Westhusing’s e-mails and interviewed his colleagues

Col. Ted Westhusing, a military ethicist who volunteered to go to Iraq, was upset by what he saw. His apparent suicide raises questions.

By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer

“War is the hardest place to make moral judgments.”

Col. Ted Westhusing, Journal of Military Ethics

EU States That Held CIA Jails Could Face Sanctions
by Mark Trevelyan

For Most Understand ‘What You Do You Receive In Return, Retaliation On Your Fellow Soldiers’!

James Starowicz
USN ’67-’71
’67-’68: Meridian Mississippi/Naval Air Station
’68-’70: GMG3, Panama Canal Zone/Rodman Naval Base
’70-’71: GMG3, Coronado Calif – CounterInsurgency/S.E.R.E. School, Vietnam — In-Country COMNAVFORV
Member: Veterans For Peace
BrendaStewart on November 29, 2005 at 8:40 pm

Love and Peace to all……….

Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 185

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RubDMC

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