Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 242

10 Comments

1. 

   RubDMC on February 9, 2006 at 6:03 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

2. 

   dada on February 9, 2006 at 6:11 pm

   
   Peace

3. 

   supersoling on February 9, 2006 at 6:17 pm

   

   • 

     supersoling on February 9, 2006 at 7:45 pm

     With thoughts of Terence Raymond Roach Jr. and his daughter.

4. 

   ask on February 9, 2006 at 6:20 pm

   
   Report Says Number of Attacks by Insurgents in Iraq Increases

5. 

   jimstaro on February 9, 2006 at 6:49 pm

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

   Below is an E-Mail sent out by Veterans For Common Sense relating to recent reports, I just sent it out to my E-List.

   The War on Veterans
   February 9, 2006

   This is what I added to the beginning:
   Not Waiting Till They Become Us Older Vets, Getting Them Fresh Out Of Theater As Their Buddies Are Being Killed!!
   And the ‘Majority’ in this Country ‘Could Care Less’, Nothing New There Though, That’s How It’s Always Been!! Send them off to Invade a Small Country, who’s people didn’t deserve the Death and Destruction, for those on these shores their Military is Out Of Site-Out Of Mind, In Theater and At Home!!!!

   This is the VCS E-Mail Body:

   “I last saw my armor when it was pulled off my bleeding body,” says First Lieutenant William “Eddie” Redbrook, a 25 year-old West Point graduate injured when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb last year. The West Virginia resident was shocked when, on his medical discharge from the Army last week, he was stuck with a bill: $700 to replace body armor which was damaged and bloodied, then torn off his body following the injury.

   For Rest of Above

   This is not the first time this has occurred. Early last year, Mark Benjamin of Salon reported on the move made by Walter Reed Army Hospital to charge injured soldiers for meals eaten at the hospital, at a potential cost of hundreds of dollars per month. “I think it sucks,” said a soldier from West Virginia who broke his neck in Iraq after falling off a roof. “I think that people should be able to eat. They get us over there, get us wounded and shot up and then tell us: Fend for yourself. You are all heroes, but here you go.”

   For Rest of Above

   Iraq War veteran Jason Thelan wrote of the Dallas VA hospital almost a year ago: “unclean and had foul odors, walls had buildups of grime, and stretchers had dried residue of bodily fluids. The administration did not collect or analyze mortality data, and patient injuries such as falls were not recorded. Waiting times for an appointment can stretch up to a year. There was no evidence of a plan for better management, and the director of the North Texas VA system quit several weeks ago.”

   For Rest of Above

   In another article by Mark Benjamin, a young soldier is quoted: “I’ll sign anything as soon as I can get my hands on it,” he told me several days before being released from the hospital. “I loved the Army. I was obsessed with it. The Army was my life. Fuck them now.”

   For Rest of Above

   Most of us would expect that news of this nature would make waves in Washington. Heads would roll, budget priorities would change, and we would do everything in our power as a nation to provide the best for the young men and women whose lives and bodies have been shattered by this war.

   Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

   Despite repeated defeats by Congress, the administration has once again gone back to Congress with a budget that will “cut costs” at the VA by increasing fees and payments — doubling co-pays and introducing enrollment fees. The American Legion has hailed the budget for increasing the VA healthcare budget by $3 billion, but criticized it for raising the fees. Additionally, VA’s current budget includes saving $1.1 billion in “management” efficiencies, which the General Accountability Office said were baseless in a report issued only a week ago.

   HERE

   and HERE

   Congress and the administration repeatedly say they “support the troops.” But actions speak louder than words. For a review of just how they support the troops, see our brief survey of articles to the right.

   It’s time to get in front of this train attacking returning war veterans and put it a stop. Veterans for Common Sense will continue to fight to ensure returning veterans get the help they need. We’d like you to join us in the fight.

   Visit: Veterans For CommonSense

   
   CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict) is a Washington-based nonprofit organization founded by Marla Ruzicka, who was killed on April 16, 2005 by a suicide bomb in Baghdad while advocating for the families of Iraqi civilians killed and injured in the conflict. CIVIC believes that civilian casualties should be counted and their families assisted by the governments responsible, and is working to identify victims and help their families.

   ^^^^^^^^^^

   “All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for thir future security.” :
   The Declaration of Independence (1776)

   • 

     jimstaro on February 9, 2006 at 8:36 pm

     Know A Veteran w/Combat Related PTSD, Especially Those Returning Now.

     Visit ‘Soldiers Heart’, find out about it, than Pass On To A Vet, after you ‘Welcome Him/Her HOME’!!!!

     Call for Artists!

     Soldier’s Heart is a website dedicated to
     information and resources for combat-related PTSD. In the spirit of “wellness
     through the arts”, the site provides a gallery of artwork by veterans. This
     art can take any form that can be presented on the web: photography, poetry,
     prose, videography, painting, images of sculpture, etc.

     Recently given an award of excellence by “The Poet Watch” website, and in
     anticipation of upcoming publicity for the site, I am pushing out this call
     for veteran artists to apply for inclusion in the artists’ gallery.

     Soldiersheart makes very few editorial judgements; if the work is original
     and not pornographic, it should fit right in. It does not necessarily have to
     follow a “military” or “veteran” theme; the goal is to show the full spectrum
     of artwork by veterans.

     If it is work that you already have up on the web, sending a URL would be
     fine for perusing it. It’s up to you.

     Peace and solidarity,
     Sean T Lewis

     Support troops, support veterans: Soldiers Heart
       Veterans for Peace: VFP Chapter 72
       The Angry Patriot

     “No, war is not Hell. War is worse than Hell. There are no innocent bystanders
     in Hell, but war is full of them.”
       – CPT Benj. Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, 4077th M*A*S*H

6. 

   alohaleezy on February 9, 2006 at 9:05 pm

   No more lies, no more lives.

   Out of Iraq Now!

   Impeachment NOW!

7. 

   shermanesqe on February 9, 2006 at 9:15 pm

   

8. 

   songbh on February 9, 2006 at 11:12 pm

   It is a beautiful, vibrant country now.  It gave me such hope.  I think seeing it was very healing for the Vietnam War-era members of our (mostly American) group.  

   In a tourist shop, I bought a beautifully carved Buddha head, with the most peaceful expression.  I sent it to my nephew, who was then deployed with his Nat’l Guard unit in Iraq.  I wanted him to know that the most wartorn place could yet be transformed into a peaceful and thriving land.