Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 349

this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters

we honor courage in all its forms – today in recognition of David T. Harris, TX-06

we love and support our troops, just as we love and support the Iraqi people – without exception, or precondition, or judgement.

cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, My Left Wing, and TexasKos.

image and poem below the fold

Christina Menchaca, 18, center, and other family members visit the flag draped casket of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca during a public viewing in Brownsville, Texas, Tuesday, June 27, 2006. Menchaca was one of two soldiers apparently captured and killed by insurgents earlier this month in Iraq. Menchaca’s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

from Cement Guitar
by Michael Carlson

Mother of foster-wit, father of straw,
I can see how silence takes the place of those
who cut their thoughts in stone before they need them.
Stone is the past, and the past is a form of flattery.
Last winter, groups of children sent letters
in sadness for the late Christmas suicide.
Addressed to those who managed the fishery,
who named the docks and decided the colors of unfinished boats,
the only way to read them was alive.
To think out loud about those children’s names
was to forget what you meant by dying.
– – –
a personal note: I sat next to David and Michelle Harris during lunch one day at YearlyKos. I don’t envy either of them for the time and effort they are making in the run for TX-06.

David wears a herobracelet, a fact I commented on as we were each leaving the table that day in Las Vegas. You just don’t see many such bracelets, or any other signs that we are at war and that so many people are suffering deeply as a result of it.

Michelle has posted a photograph that includes a bracelet that they recently found at the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

If serving is an honor, then running is a sacrifice. I wish them the best, and have been pestering my sister and brother in law, who live in Arlington, to support Harris’ run.

additional note: at the risk of sounding like a shill, or embarrasing the Harris’, today seems to be turning into a kind of David Harris TX-06 Day, with an ePulribus Media interview on the recc list and a cross-posted piece by Michelle Harris at TexasKaos.

But I guess that’s just how it works out here on the internets, eh? Serendipity, and everything’s connected.

Peace. Courage. Compassion.
– – –
join CIVIC’s “I Care” photo campaign

support Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

support a young heart with an old soul peace takes courage (multimedia)

put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet

read Ilona’s important blog – PTSD Combat

poetry matters poets against war

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

While speaking at the YearlyKos 2006 Convention in Los Vegas, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner said (and I paraphrase from memory): “George Bush, incompetent idiot, blah blah blah, went to war in Iraq when the real threat is in Iran.” (my emphasis)

There was a brief pause after his statement, and I regret that I wasn’t brave or quick-witted enough to yell “Bullshit!” into the silence. But the moment passed, Warner picked up his next thread in perfect cadence, and I bit into my box lunch apple.

So now what?

I’m gonna let him know that I think his statement is bullshit, and why. I’m starting here. If anyone knows of other ways, please put them in this thread.

Thanks.

11 Comments

RubDMC on June 30, 2006 at 11:36 am

The candle that DianeL first lit many months ago, and which has become such an important part of these diaries since, is still available here.

You can copy that image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), craft your own image, and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment – as a sign that you know, but do not approve, and are not resigned.

“It is like trying to ignite – to pass on the responsibilities as much as possible to everyone else.”
Ravi Shankar

ask on June 30, 2006 at 11:40 am

US ‘to probe new Iraq killings’

dada on June 30, 2006 at 11:43 am

jimstaro on June 30, 2006 at 11:53 am

Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost,
And Future We May Have Given Them!

WAR!

By Flang B. Gemring a.k.a. Dylan Emrys Hand-Boniakowski

War!
You withhold freedom
While concealing
The disturbing
Truth and reasoning

Strife!
You hold back our rights
Eliminate who we were
Give the vulgar aristocrats
Profit at the cost of lives

Battle!
You’re only a tool
To manipulate others
To mess peoples’ minds
Destroy peoples’ families

Antagonism!
You cannot defend us
Against Terrorism
For you are a terrorist
Destroying the world

Destruction!
You cannot understand Peace
For she thinks differently
Respecting peoples’ lives
Having a better goal

Wage Peace!

“He that always gives way to others will end in having no principles of his
own.” — Aesop

The Children Weep

By Karen Carlisle

Photos of children assault my dreams.
A child’s leg swirls up from darkness,
a flailing hand streams past.
It is a small brown hand
that led a milk goat home.

They float through the air–heads without faces, hands that plead and reach
for me like vines whose tendrils snake
around my neck, choking me into wakefulness.
They float before my eyes still, the flat blank eyes
of children in the streets of Bagdad, Kandahar, Jenin.
Palestinian children huddled together waiting.

After the smoke of bombs, mines, firles, grenades
disappears into the innocent day,
they are left, legions of half-things
inheriting waterless homelands
where love might never root.

The children weep night and day.

“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” — Tacitus, Roman
senator and historian (A.D. c.56-c.115)

The Lie

By Carrie Campbell
Where is the honor our country once knew
Reason lost in the quest for battle
Morality merely cast aside
Men’s egos served up with pride
The war machine march’s on
The world watching with distrust
Men women and children no more than targets
Too be bathed in a sea of fire
Authors of the war safely far away
Blanketing their families from the horror
Small children eyes filled with terror
So many wounded and dying
The smell of burning flesh all around
What is this hell we have found
Oil flowing with the blood of so many
Bathing our democracy in shame
This war preempted in a fathers name
History shall not be kind
Nor will history hide the lie
There was never a reason for so many to die

“You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is
wrong, no matter who does it or says it.” –Malcolm X (1925-1965)

War Wounds

By Jim Bush

Quietly, he sits in his wheel chair
Missing one eye, one arm, and one leg
“Could have been worse”, he thinks
“At least I can walk on one leg, use one arm, and see with one eye”

“Imagine losing two eyes, two arms, or two legs”
“Or two eyes, one arm, and one leg”
“Or one eye, two arms, and one leg”
“Or one eye, one arm, and two legs”

“And then there’s the worst case”
“Losing two eyes, two arms, and two legs”
“Or would the worst case be losing your face as well?”
“Or would it be losing your Dick?”

“How about losing only your face or your Dick?”
“How would that be?”
“And who decides these things?”
“Who sets it up?”

“I mean, who decides where the shrapnel hits?”
“Who decides what, or whom, it will take?”
“An eye, an arm, a leg, a face, or a Dick?”
“One dead, two wounded, three OK”

He sits there, with one eye, one arm, and one leg
“At least they’re balanced”, he says out loud
“Right arm, left leg, not so bad”
“Wish I could get back to my unit”

His mother weeps
“At least he’s alive”, she thinks
His father, arm around her, says, “I’m proud that he did his job”
His girlfriend, sitting nearby, wonders what it will be like

He returns to sitting quietly
The TV is on
The News reports that another Humvee has been hit by an IED
He listens for unit designations and the names of friends

He fidgets in his wheel chair
“My head hurts”, he says
He grabs the TV remote
And turns to the Cartoon Channel

He starts to laugh uncontrollably
Courage the Dog is being blown to bits on the TV
He leans forward, laughing
While his family sits back and watches, quietly

GI SPECIAL 4F26: ‘Terry Lisk’

shermanesqe on June 30, 2006 at 12:38 pm

Man Eegee on June 30, 2006 at 12:41 pm

…”I care” – thanks for the link to that campaign above, Rub. I plan to upload my picture of support over the weekend.

olivia on June 30, 2006 at 1:15 pm

Such will be a great lesson of peace; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war; teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war.
~Abraham Lincoln

peace

alohaleezy on June 30, 2006 at 6:08 pm

children die!

Out of Iraq Now!

supersoling on July 1, 2006 at 7:09 am

Damnit Janet on July 1, 2006 at 6:10 pm

KILL
KILL
KILL
Torture
KILL
KILL
KILL

That’s Bush and his brainwashed lemmings version of “peace”.

Damnit Janet on July 1, 2006 at 6:45 pm

to take to Ft. Lewis WA

I like the her little pink hands she put on it. Hands of peace rather than hands with blood on them.

We must stop this.

RubDMC on June 30, 2006 at 11:36 am

The candle that DianeL first lit many months ago, and which has become such an important part of these diaries since, is still available here.

You can copy that image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), craft your own image, and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment – as a sign that you know, but do not approve, and are not resigned.

“It is like trying to ignite – to pass on the responsibilities as much as possible to everyone else.”
Ravi Shankar
ask on June 30, 2006 at 11:40 am

US ‘to probe new Iraq killings’
dada on June 30, 2006 at 11:43 am
jimstaro on June 30, 2006 at 11:53 am

Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost,
And Future We May Have Given Them!

WAR!

By Flang B. Gemring a.k.a. Dylan Emrys Hand-Boniakowski

War!
You withhold freedom
While concealing
The disturbing
Truth and reasoning

Strife!
You hold back our rights
Eliminate who we were
Give the vulgar aristocrats
Profit at the cost of lives

Battle!
You’re only a tool
To manipulate others
To mess peoples’ minds
Destroy peoples’ families

Antagonism!
You cannot defend us
Against Terrorism
For you are a terrorist
Destroying the world

Destruction!
You cannot understand Peace
For she thinks differently
Respecting peoples’ lives
Having a better goal

Wage Peace!

“He that always gives way to others will end in having no principles of his
own.” — Aesop

The Children Weep

By Karen Carlisle

Photos of children assault my dreams.
A child’s leg swirls up from darkness,
a flailing hand streams past.
It is a small brown hand
that led a milk goat home.

They float through the air–heads without faces, hands that plead and reach
for me like vines whose tendrils snake
around my neck, choking me into wakefulness.
They float before my eyes still, the flat blank eyes
of children in the streets of Bagdad, Kandahar, Jenin.
Palestinian children huddled together waiting.

After the smoke of bombs, mines, firles, grenades
disappears into the innocent day,
they are left, legions of half-things
inheriting waterless homelands
where love might never root.

The children weep night and day.

“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” — Tacitus, Roman
senator and historian (A.D. c.56-c.115)

The Lie

By Carrie Campbell
Where is the honor our country once knew
Reason lost in the quest for battle
Morality merely cast aside
Men’s egos served up with pride
The war machine march’s on
The world watching with distrust
Men women and children no more than targets
Too be bathed in a sea of fire
Authors of the war safely far away
Blanketing their families from the horror
Small children eyes filled with terror
So many wounded and dying
The smell of burning flesh all around
What is this hell we have found
Oil flowing with the blood of so many
Bathing our democracy in shame
This war preempted in a fathers name
History shall not be kind
Nor will history hide the lie
There was never a reason for so many to die

“You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is
wrong, no matter who does it or says it.” –Malcolm X (1925-1965)

War Wounds

By Jim Bush

Quietly, he sits in his wheel chair
Missing one eye, one arm, and one leg
“Could have been worse”, he thinks
“At least I can walk on one leg, use one arm, and see with one eye”

“Imagine losing two eyes, two arms, or two legs”
“Or two eyes, one arm, and one leg”
“Or one eye, two arms, and one leg”
“Or one eye, one arm, and two legs”

“And then there’s the worst case”
“Losing two eyes, two arms, and two legs”
“Or would the worst case be losing your face as well?”
“Or would it be losing your Dick?”

“How about losing only your face or your Dick?”
“How would that be?”
“And who decides these things?”
“Who sets it up?”

“I mean, who decides where the shrapnel hits?”
“Who decides what, or whom, it will take?”
“An eye, an arm, a leg, a face, or a Dick?”
“One dead, two wounded, three OK”

He sits there, with one eye, one arm, and one leg
“At least they’re balanced”, he says out loud
“Right arm, left leg, not so bad”
“Wish I could get back to my unit”

His mother weeps
“At least he’s alive”, she thinks
His father, arm around her, says, “I’m proud that he did his job”
His girlfriend, sitting nearby, wonders what it will be like

He returns to sitting quietly
The TV is on
The News reports that another Humvee has been hit by an IED
He listens for unit designations and the names of friends

He fidgets in his wheel chair
“My head hurts”, he says
He grabs the TV remote
And turns to the Cartoon Channel

He starts to laugh uncontrollably
Courage the Dog is being blown to bits on the TV
He leans forward, laughing
While his family sits back and watches, quietly

GI SPECIAL 4F26: ‘Terry Lisk’
shermanesqe on June 30, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Man Eegee on June 30, 2006 at 12:41 pm

…”I care” – thanks for the link to that campaign above, Rub. I plan to upload my picture of support over the weekend.
olivia on June 30, 2006 at 1:15 pm

Such will be a great lesson of peace; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take by a war; teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war.
~Abraham Lincoln

peace
alohaleezy on June 30, 2006 at 6:08 pm

children die!

Out of Iraq Now!
supersoling on July 1, 2006 at 7:09 am
Damnit Janet on July 1, 2006 at 6:10 pm

KILL
KILL
KILL
Torture
KILL
KILL
KILL

That’s Bush and his brainwashed lemmings version of “peace”.
Damnit Janet on July 1, 2006 at 6:45 pm

to take to Ft. Lewis WA

I like the her little pink hands she put on it. Hands of peace rather than hands with blood on them.

We must stop this.

Iraq War Grief Daily Witness (photo) Day 349

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RubDMC

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