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.
image and poem below the fold
In a photo provided by family Army Pfc. Peter D. Wagler, 18, who was assigned to the 1st Batallion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team stationed at Fort Hood, Texas is shown. He served with the Multi-National Division in Baghdad. Wagler died from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Iraq on Monday, Jan. 23, 2006.
(AP Photo/The Hutchinson News, via Wagler family)
Footprints
by Parker Towle
mark the fine red sand beside the trail: a man’s
shoe, horse’s hooves, a paw. Navaho
sandstone looms four hundred feet
to either side streaked white by sea stones,
not snow, striated like sacks of old coins
pocked as with claw prints of quaint
cretaceous birds.
A partridge flushes through
pale blue sage brush. Shadow strikes my face
like a blade of ice. Close to a canyon wall
the stone abrades my fingertips.
A chipmunk
leaves a puff of dust across my path. I turn
back through black volcanic caves, lose
my way for a moment, hum, “All
through the Night,” over and over, hear
bubbling water deep beneath my feet,
enter my history, inscriptions
in the sand.
– – –
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
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
Peace
…in place of fiery eyes gone dim.
.
“Collateral damage” loses the war …
Fri Jan 27th, 2006 at 05:40:51 PM PST
The US Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of “leveraging” their husbands into surrender, US military documents show.
Mowhoush Torture Death Negligent Homicide ¶ 3 Yr. – Updated Reprimanded
Interrogated general’s sleeping-bag death, CIA’s use of secret Iraqi squad are among details
The U.S. military initially told reporters that Mowhoush had been captured during a raid. In reality, he had walked into the Forward Operating Base “Tiger” in Qaim on Nov. 10, 2003, hoping to speak with U.S. commanders to secure the release of his sons, who had been arrested in raids 11 days earlier.
Mowhoush’s ordeal in Qaim, over 16 days in November 2003, and circumstances that led to his death paint a vivid example of how the pressure to produce intelligence for anti-terrorism efforts and the war in Iraq led U.S. military interrogators to improvise and develop abusive measures. Not just at Abu Ghraib but in detention centers elsewhere in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
● Col. Hoggs 2nd Brigade 4th Infantry ¶ From Hi-Tech Shock & Awe to IEDs
Special Ops and rescue of Jessica Lynch in Nasariyah ::
"She was given special care, more than the Iraqi patients."
LEAVE Iraq to the Iraqis
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Kidnappers Threaten to Kill Four Activists
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
In support of our new campaign, beginning next week, we will begin circling Capitol Hill with an enormous billboard truck featuring the following signs. This will be on one side:
This will be on the other side:
We need your help in funding this campaign and the creation of these billboard signs (Not to mention gas for the truck!) Please click here to DONATE to VR to support our efforts! And help spread the word!
VIDEO SPECIAL | Venezuela Day 1: Kickoff at the World Social Forum
A film by Chris Hume and Sari Gelzer
t r u t h o u t is at the World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela. Chris Hume and Sari Gelzer are covering both the events of the forum, and taking a look at Chavez’s Venezuela. Day 1 of our series of reports is about the anti-war march that kicked off the forum, including interviews with Cindy Sheehan. Stay tuned for more reports in the coming days.
FOCUS | Hunger Strikers Close to Death
Despite force feeding by the American military, several hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay may be close to death.
FOCUS | FEMA Workers Arrested for Bribery
Two FEMA disaster assistance employees working in New Orleans were arrested yesterday on federal bribery charges, accused of accepting $10,000 each in exchange for letting a contractor submit inflated reports on the number of meals it was serving at a Hurricane Katrina relief base camp there.
You Don’t ‘PLEDGE ALLEGANCE’ To A President, Political Party, Religion, or Any Single Ideology!
You Do ‘PLEDGE ALLEGANCE’ To The ‘United States of America’ and All That She Stands For, Lady Liberty!!
Robert Fisk | The Problem with Democracy
Original URL Site
And now, horror of horrors, the Palestinians have elected the wrong party to power. Robert Fisk outlines the US’s “democracy,” citing Palestine’s elections as supposed to have given their support to the friendly, pro-Western, corrupt, absolutely pro-American Fatah, which had promised to “control” them, rather than to Hamas, which said they would represent them. And, bingo, they have chosen the wrong party again.
and this one young man look like he is barely over 16. Bet he was just barely 18 too. Bet he was to go to the Army when he graduated last year as soon as he turned 18…you know how they get the young to go in the Army that way. Just so sad! I feel so helpless for the young.
I pledge to fight until the day I die!
Any death is tragic in war. But especially the death’s of innocents. I’m tempted to think that this soldier made a choice and now he’s dead as a result of that choice. But then I think he was a child and how could he have grasped the totality of a soldir’s life. To kill and be killed. In my heart I feel that he is somehow a victim of the machine too.
How do the war for profiteers sleep at night?
Oh that was just so good Rub!
Tell your children about this war.
Take them with you to protests.
Talk WITH them about politics.
Let them write letters to politicians.
…
Let them wear pink, too 🙂
And let them fight against war… that way they may never die in a war.