Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 227

Posted by RubDMC | Jan 23, 2006 | 20 |

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, and My Left Wing.

images and poem below the fold

U.S. Army Honor Guards carry the American flag wrapped coffin of U.S. Army Sgt. Myla Maravillosa during her funeral Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006 in Inabanga, in Bohol province in central Philippines. Sgt. Maravillosa was the first Filipino-American woman killed in Iraq.
(AP Photo/Pat Roque)

Widow Rosali Rodon, left, cries as she is presented with a box containing an American flag and the honor medals of her husband, U.S. Army Sgt. Jason Lopez Reyes, at his burial ceremony in his hometown of Hatillo, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006. Lopez died of wounds sustained Jan. 5 when a roadside bomb exploded near his convoy on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. At least 47 Puerto Rican soldiers have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars since 2001.
(AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Alaska Army National Guard Spc. Jacob Melson’s mother, Teresa Melson, left, his widow, Sarah Melson, center and his father Alaska Army National Guard Capt. Mark Melson, center right, hold the flags given to them during a funeral for the fallen Guardsman at the Fort Richardson National Cemetery in Anchorage, Alaska, Friday Jan. 20, 2006. Melson died when an Army National Guard helicopter crashed in Iraq on Jan. 7, 2006 killing him and three other Alaska Army National Guardsmen. The four Alaska Army National Guard crew members were among the 12 people who died in the helicopter crash.
(AP Photos/Al Grillo)

Vietnam Epic Treatment
by Donald Revell

It doesn’t matter
A damn what’s playing–
In the dead of winter
You go, days of 1978 –
79, and we went
Because the soldiers were beautiful
And doomed as Asian jungles
Kept afire Christ-like
In the hopeless war
I did not go to in the end
Because it ended.

The 20th-century?
It was a war
Between peasants on the one side,
Hallucinations on the other.
A peasant is a fire that burns
But is not consumed.
His movie never ends.
It will be beautiful
Every winter of our lives, my love,
As Christ crushes fire into his wounds
And the wounds are a jungle.
Equally, no matter when their movies end,
Hallucinations destroy the destroyers.
That’s all.
There has never been a President of the United States.

And the 21st-century?
Hallucination vs. hallucination
In cold battle, in dubious battle,
No battle at all because the peasants
Have gone away far
Into the lost traveler’s dream,
Into a passage from Homer,
A woodcutter’s hillside
Peacetime superstition movie.
On a cold night, Hector.
On a cold night, Achilles.
Around the savage and the maniac
The woodcutter draws a ring of fire.
It burns all winter long.
He never tires of it
And for good reason:
Every face of the flames is doomed and beautiful;
Every spark that shoots out into the freezing air
Is God’s truth
Given us all over again
In the bitter weather of men’s
Hallucinations. There has never been
A President of the United States.
There has never been a just war.
There has never been any life
Beyond this circle of firelight
Until now if now is no dream but an Asia.
– – –
put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet

read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story as well her comprehensive series on PTSD and Iraq War vets.

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

About The Author

RubDMC

I'm a PROUD Massachusetts Liberal who lives just a short stroll from the site of the first armed resistance to another insane tyrant named George in 1775.

20 Comments

RubDMC on January 23, 2006 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
shermanesqe on January 23, 2006 at 2:47 pm
ask on January 23, 2006 at 2:48 pm

Iraqi rebels in western city turn against Qaeda
dada on January 23, 2006 at 2:53 pm

Peace
jimstaro on January 23, 2006 at 3:15 pm

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

Tom Engelhardt | Two Letters from Vietnam Vets on “Collateral Damage” in Iraq
Tom Engelhardt publishes two letters from Vienam Vets. Wade Kane writes: Killing innocent women and children is okay, “just” collateral damage…. If this is “okay,” then why wasn’t what Lt. Calley did in Vietnam okay? Similarly, why were Hiroshima and Nagasaki okay, but My Lai wasn’t? Somehow, when our soldiers shoot innocents at close range we are appalled, but when it is done via bombs or artillery it’s “okay.”

IRAQ BODY COUNT FACES CASH CRISIS
(20 jan 2006) The Iraq Body Count – a small volunteer team started
that methodically counting all non-combatants killed in the invasion
and military occupation of Iraq – is running out of funds and
appealing for money. It currently puts the toll at between 28,069 and
31657.

WHAT WOMEN WANT: AN END TO GLOBAL POVERTY
(20 jan 2006) Women surpass men in almost every measure of charitable
behaviour, according to new research by Oxfam.

Tribunal Indicts Bush:

Newsday

Revolution
- jimstaro on January 23, 2006 at 3:19 pm
  - jimstaro on January 23, 2006 at 4:41 pm
    
    A group of students at Baylor University are inviting their neighbors in Waco, Texas, for a State of Our Values watch and discussion at a local church as President Bush delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 31. At St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Riverside, California, Bible study groups are organizing a watch and inviting others to join. At Lee Heights Community Church in Cleveland, Ohio, teenagers and children are encouraged to join with adults and offer their opinions.
    These are just a few of the many State of Our Values watches that Sojourners supporters around the U.S. have organized. We hope you will join us!
    + Search for a State of Our Values watch near you
    Can’t find one in your area?
    + Organize a State of Our Values watch near you
    In last year’s State of the Union address, President Bush proclaimed boldly that “Over the next several months, on issue after issue, let us do what Americans have always done, and build a better world for our children and our grandchildren.” Did the actions carried out after that speech line up with your values?
    We do not yet know what the president will say in his address this year. Will the president proclaim his vision for reducing or ending poverty in our time? Will he advance moral budget priorities? Will he lay out a plan for peace abroad and in our neighborhoods? Will he talk about restoring honest government? Most importantly, will he present a moral vision for our country that is in line with your values?
    This speech will likely occur one day before the House of Representatives votes on a budget that harms low-income families and children by cutting vital services such as child support, Medicaid, and assistance for disabled persons. We believe this is the real moral scandal in Washington, yet it is receiving little attention.
    As people of faith who believe in justice and compassion, we must ensure that our moral values are represented and our prophetic voices are heard.
    + Search for a State of Our Values watch near you
    + Organize a State of Our Values watch near you
- jimstaro on January 23, 2006 at 5:41 pm
  
  MoJo has picked up on this, The Devastation We Inflict-Two Letters from Vietnam Vets
  
  This ones a Three Page WriteUp with some Great Embedded Links!!
  
  Anyone want to Diary This? I’m too Pooped and wouldn’t do it justice, you should be able to get some good information from the links let alone the Two Letters which the link is posted above for!
  
  Just received the MoJo E-News in my box abit ago.
BrendaStewart on January 23, 2006 at 3:20 pm

What else can I say….PEACE
Damnit Janet on January 23, 2006 at 4:01 pm

Let Jenna and NotJenna drink the same water they give our troops.

Let Jenna and NotJenna serve each and every Christmas abroad.

Let Jenna and NotJenna take off their body armor that their parents and entire communities helped to purchase and then tell them to take them off.

Let Jenna and NotJenna be an army of One…er Two.

Fuck them all to hell.
- jimstaro on January 23, 2006 at 4:06 pm
  
  Janet!
  
  “Jenna and NotJenna”
  - Damnit Janet on January 23, 2006 at 4:14 pm
    
    There was this one poster on the Big Orange who would ream me out for using “Jenna and NotJenna” basically they’d say it was unfair to make fun of “children”…
    
    Uh the Twins are not children and personally I’d like to know just what the fuck they are doing to support their Daddy’s war crimes.. er I mean war. If not suited up then why not at least in a Red Cross, Humanitarian capacity? Why didnt’ they help Marla Ruszicka?? Where are they?
    
    Oh yeah.. .too busy getting tossed out of nice restaurants and establishments.
    
    So I’m tickled pink you liked the term, ((((Jim))))
- alohaleezy on January 23, 2006 at 4:18 pm
  
  Exactly! Let us go one step further. let ever person in America that supports George W. Bush’d war crimes that have childre of 18-40 have that child sign the fuck up!
  
  Out of Iraq NOW!
  - Damnit Janet on January 23, 2006 at 4:30 pm
    
    There was a sampling of young, able bodies counter-protesters in DC and I was able to holler at them, “suit up or shut up”.
    
    But I’ve heard tell that they seem to think they can “better serve the troops over HERE” (excuse me while I go vomit)
    - alohaleezy on January 23, 2006 at 5:14 pm
      
      Sounds similar to what I shouted at the Prowar contigent of five at the San Diego protest that same weekend…”Go sign up”! They immediatley flipped me off. Same thing in Crawford only there we were asked not to engage with the prowar people.
      
      ((((((janet))))) glad we are on the same team huh?
Man Eegee on January 23, 2006 at 4:02 pm

…day by day.
DuctapeFatwa on January 23, 2006 at 4:29 pm

In a dispatch posted at 5:20pm Mecca time Sunday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier, US forces had stormed into a maternity hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, arresting one 27-year old Iraqi woman.

The Mosul correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US troops burst into the hospital and went into the maternity ward where they arrested the Iraqi woman, claiming that her husband was involved in armed Resistance activities against the American occupation.

A physician at the Mosul Woman’s Teaching Hospital who asked that his name not be revealed told Mafkarat al-Islam that more than 20 US soldiers raided the hospital looking for an Iraqi woman named Iman Muhammad. They had with them an Iraqi who kept his face covered in a scarf and who apparently was able to recognize the woman.

The doctor said that the Americans arrested the woman and took her away to one of their bases in Mosul. The doctor said that the reason she had been in the hospital at the time was that she was in her third month of pregnancy.

The correspondent reported local residents in Mosul as saying that the woman is the wife of a commander of one of the Iraqi Resistance groups operating in the city.

nerdified link
- Damnit Janet on January 23, 2006 at 4:32 pm
  
  there goes another “tick” off of Bush’ “sanctity of life” crapola.
supersoling on January 23, 2006 at 6:19 pm

We are all living in difficult times. My husband served in this war, and the effects it had on him will live with him for the rest of his life. We do not intend to dishonor the service of all the military personnel still serving, each will have to make the choice for themselves of how to live with their beliefs and their conscience. We will not say that the beliefs of those still fighting are wrong. We can only say for certain that what my husband was ordered to continue to believe, by his command, is very wrong for him. This is the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Sirs, my husband freely volunteered to serve in the United States Army because he believed it was right. He gave 10 years of honorable service because he believed it was right for him. After seeing war firsthand, he knew that he could not participate any longer; because he KNEW war was the wrong choice for him. The stand he has taken, to say NO to war and to lay down his weapon in the face of so many who do not understand, is what I believe gives him the right to live in this “home of the brave,” as one of the bravest.

Monica Benderman

True Courage
Oui on January 24, 2006 at 6:14 am
.
Talking Basketball with the chimp is always rewarding ::

George 'Slam Dunk' Tenet, Tommy Franks, George W. Bush and L. Paul Bremer III. Ron Edmonds - AP

Presidential Medals of Failure
Washington Post by Richard Cohen – Dec. 16, 2004

… One by one these images flicked by me, each man wearing the royal-blue velvet ribbon with the ornate medal — one failure after another, each now on the lecture circuit, telling insurance agents and other good people what really happened when they were in office, but withholding such wisdom from the American people until, for even more money, their book deals are negotiated. (Frank’s book, “American Soldier,” was already a bestseller.)
Europe’s Torture Chambers Today in the USA – A reversal of 400 years enlightenment to a setting before the Mayflower’s Flight of the Pilgrim Fathers and the French Revolution. Support Democratic Action 2006 – Paul Hackett in Ohio and Tim Dunn in W-Va

Dems’ Template for Success: Follow Jack Murtha …

LEAVE Iraq to the Iraqis

“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY

Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 227

About The Author

RubDMC

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