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
Iraqi women and children wait as U.S. Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and Iraqi soldiers search their home during an operation in the village of Abu Rayat, 25 km (16 miles) southeast of the western Iraq town of Hit, February 4, 2006. The Marines and Iraqi troops are searching houses and farmland along the Euphrates River valley in an attempt to locate weapons caches and disrupt insurgent activity. REUTERS/Bob Strong
Ancestors
by Cesare Pavese
translated by Geoffrey Brock
Stunned by the world, I reached an age
when I threw punches at air and cried to myself.
Listening to the speech of women and men,
not knowing how to respond, it’s not fun.
But this too has passed: I’m not alone anymore,
and if I still don’t know how to respond,
I don’t need to. Finding myself, I found company.
I learned that before I was born I had lived
in men who were steady and firm, lords of themselves,
and none could respond and all remained calm.
Two brothers-in-law opened a store–our family’s
first break. The outsider was serious,
scheming, ruthless, and mean–a woman.
The other one, ours, read novels at work,
which made people talk. When customers came,
they’d hear him say, in one or two words,
that no, there’s no sugar, Epsom salts no,
we’re all out of that. Later it happened
that this one lent a hand to the other, who’d gone broke.
Thinking of these folks makes me feel stronger
than looking in mirrors and sticking my chest out
or shaping my mouth into a humorless smile.
One of my grandfathers, ages ago,
was being cheated by one of his farmhands,
so he worked the vineyards himself, in the summer,
to make sure it was done right. That’s how
I’ve always lived too, always maintaining
a steady demeanor, and paying in cash.
And women don’t count in this family.
I mean that our women stay home
and bring us into the world and say nothing
and count for nothing and we don’t remember them.
Each of them adds something new to our blood,
but they kill themselves off in the process, while we,
renewed by them, are the ones to endure.
We’re full of vices and horrors and whims–
– – –
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
This could be our future.
Another three years of this Cabal of Fascists in the White House could produce pictures like this of American Families.
…already are in that doorway. Take a look at non-casino Indian reservations.
and the victims of Katrini that no longer have a doorway to stand in but a tent flap if they are “lucky” enough to have even that!
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
Wartime PTSD; What makes Conflict PTSD more Dangerous, the Trauma/Stress 24/7 of a Conflict, like going through other Devestating Events such as getting Brutally Raped over and over, never knowing when it will occur! With Mutiple In-Theater Tours This Country Better Be There For These Iraq/Afgan Vets, This Time!! As a Society who Sends others into Senseless/Illegal Conflicts, They Weren’t There Before!!!!
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Peter Dudar | Camp Casey Flashback
Peter Dudar tells the story of how a Veterans For Peace Medic at Camp Casey experienced a “flashback” when a Secret Service helicopter circled down. It took an hour and four strong Vets to hold and calm him. This episode, triggered by the sound of a low flying helicopter, illustrates that for many soldiers, the war still lives within.
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“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.”: Charles-Louis De Secondat – (1689-1755) Baron de Montesquieu – Source: The Spirit of the Laws, 1748
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Elizabeth Frederick | President Bush’s Words Ring Hollow to Soldiers’ Loved Ones
As the partner of an Iraq War veteran, I pay attention to the news. I watched the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night hoping to hear some good news. Instead, most of what I heard made me frustrated and angry.
I trusted President Bush to make sound decisions, moral decisions that would not needlessly put my loved one in harm’s way. I trusted him, as commander in chief, to have respect for the military as an institution, for the soldiers who serve and for their families who make sacrifices in the name of ideals and values more important than their personal wants and needs.
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“A man’s liberties are none the less aggressed upon because those who coerce him do so in the belief that he will be benefited.”: Herbert Spencer – (1820-1903) British author, economist, philosopher – Source: The Principles of Ethics Bd. II, ed. T. Machan, Indianapolis 1978, S. 242-43
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Jonathan Steele | Bush Just Has to Face It: He is Wrong and Chirac is Right
The crises over Hamas and Iran underline the collapse of the neocon mission and the end of a one-superpower world
‘George Bush’s presidency still has three years to run, but this week’s state of the union address had an unmistakably ebb-tide air. Its tone – “chastened, deferential, modest” in the words of the Los Angeles Times – suggested that the president felt the waves of power were flowing against him.’
‘Like missionaries who find that the heathens are refusing to be converted, he and his neocon colleagues are beginning to realise that their mission of freedom is not as convincing as they expected. It is also having unpredicted effects, forcing them to confront awkward choices: carry on elaborating grand principles, or adjust the message and feel guilty of sinful backsliding.’
‘Yet, as one listens to Bush and his neocon team, their sense of frustration is palpable. They realise they have been ambushed by their own policies. Their zeal for ideological purity pushed them into positions from which it is hard to escape without looking as though they are betraying themselves.’
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“The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes.” : Thomas Paine
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September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows”-Martin Luther King, Jr.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Quarterly Newsletter – Volume 9 Winter 2006
As we remember Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., who passed away on January 30, 2006, we are not only reminded of her tireless work in the cause of peace and social justice, but also the inspiration that she, her husband Martin Luther King, Jr., and son Martin Luther King III have given to Peaceful Tomorrows. In a 1967 speech referencing the war in Vietnam, King said,
“The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. How much longer must we play at deadly war games before we heed the plaintive pleas of the unnumbered dead and maimed of past wars?”
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Number Of Iraqi civilians Slaughtered In America’s War 100,000 +
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Slaughtered (Officially Acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2249+
The War in Iraq Costs $238,325,697,922, and counting by every second, See the cost in your community
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“If Everyone In This Country Lost A Brother/Sister, A Son/Daughter Or Grandson/Grandaughter, Things Would Be Very Different”
Vietnam War History 101:
“The Only Glory In War, Is In The Imagination Of Those Who Were Never There”
Bodies of 14 Iraqis Dumped in Baghdad
From that picture, I can see how much “better” democracy and freedom” are for the Iraqis now that Saddam is gone and the terrorists have taken over<snark>
Let us give the Iraqis their country back…NOW!
Peace!
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The incident occurred in Badakhshan province when German soldiers of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) photographed local women without asking for permission.
© Steve McCurry‘Afghan Girl’ Mystery Solved
National Geographic Photographer Steve McCurry Finds His Most Famous Subject
“To protest unauthorized snap shots, a group of angry women and children who were returning from a wedding party hurled stones at the convoy of German soldiers in Faramughal village of Argo district last week, injuring two troopers,” Daily Cheragh reported.
The Independent Kabul ◊ Daily Cheragh
A fortnight later — an Afghan woman was stoned to death in Badakhshan.
Dems’ Template for Success: Follow Jack Murtha …
LEAVE Iraq to the Iraqis
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Mitchell Moore
Vietnam Veteran
April 22, 1944 – January 30, 2006
Adrenal cancer diagnosed August 5, treated December 23 at VA in Little Rock. Delay due to “scarce resources,” per Dr. Mazen Safar.
He didn’t want to fight the system, in part because he saw all those younger folks waiting for treatment.
Vietnam veterans, who’s got your back?
So he sacrificed his chance for a cure in order to let others be treated before him?
There are no words to describe a soul of his caliber.
In truth, the doctor made the choice for him. After he heard about the “scarce resources,” he just decided not to fight it.
He was the most generous, gentle person I’ve ever known.
Thank you for understanding, supersoling.
Just look at those little ragmuffins in the doorway without any shoes on. and it surely is cold there for the adult is wearing a coat. Just so pathetic. Of course they may be fighting against the powers that be. What else do they have left to do for their own lives depend on it. Lets all come home and leave the Iraqis to determine their own future.
Burying the lede/lead
The media, even al Jazeera, emphasized the insurgent attacks in Baghdad while burying the lead, that is, that the attacks were retaliation for a US helicopter firing rockets into Iraqi homes.
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pacem in terra