Observations of War
So once again we are in the position, or rather, non-position based on a report that is essentially a bush blog delivered by a general that is mandated by code to execute the decisions of the commander in chief. But I don't care about any of that nonsense. Nothing is going to change from that end.
But something has begun that is much like the leaking of a dam.
Trickle.
Trickle.
With the exodus of the power elite - and of course I mean this to be Ashcroft, Rove, etc. - our little guy in his ivory tower is seeing that the iron armor of protection that encapsulated him before has turned to tin.
Have you seen the I-Caught? I haven't but my husband has. Essentially the troops have been blogging and podcasting away about the TRUTH in Iraq. And darnit, it doesn't look so swell. They are being edited relentlessly but those young-uns have the annoying way of being leaps ahead of us old fogeys when it comes to technology. And their message is getting out.
Families that have lost their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren are getting their voices documented in print and videos expressing their fury at this pointless loss of life. I was watching George S. this morning and I watched as names of 19,20, 21 year old children's names were listed as released dead this week from the war in Iraq. 19. That's a mere year older than my nephew, 2 years older than my niece and 3 years older than my son. What if I knew that I had but 3 more years with my child? What would I want those years to be for us? Imagine the energy and sacrifice and hopes and dreams that were encased in that young person. With the death of that one person comes the decimation of a family.
I cannot fathom it.
I have been listening all week on my drive into work to the podcast of an Iraqi dentist. He gave me a view into his existence. I grew to enjoy and look forward to his insights and points of view. On Friday, there was a dark turn. His best friend had been kidnapped from the market. An engineer, he had been abducted randomly. The initial heartache came from the lack of word, and then upon hearing from the kidnappers and negotiating the ransom down from 70,000 US dollars to 20,000 (which was paid), the wait to hear back was gut wrenching. While in the market a week later, the dentist heard shots and then saw people gathered in the center of the market around something. It was his friend. His best friend. Decapitated, with broken bones, burn marks from torture. The emotion in his voice haunts me.
In August, 650 people in Iraq were abducted and killed.
As it stands now, there are now more amputees from this combat than in the Civil War.
We need to end this. More money won't make it stop. Our presence there is the agitator. We must rally the surrounding provinces to come in with the UN and help them develop whatever is going to develop there. We need to pull every single solitary leech aka private contractor that is profiting off of this misery and give the Iraqis back their economy. We need to be there with humanitarian relief, anything that an external body deems necessary, from behind the scenes. No fanfare.
No gloating.
No showboating.
Just humble giving.
We have screwed up royally.
An entire generation has been changed forever.
At home and abroad.
This madness must end.
This is the shame of our nation.
So once again we are in the position, or rather, non-position based on a report that is essentially a bush blog delivered by a general that is mandated by code to execute the decisions of the commander in chief. But I don't care about any of that nonsense. Nothing is going to change from that end.
But something has begun that is much like the leaking of a dam.
Trickle.
Trickle.
With the exodus of the power elite - and of course I mean this to be Ashcroft, Rove, etc. - our little guy in his ivory tower is seeing that the iron armor of protection that encapsulated him before has turned to tin.
Have you seen the I-Caught? I haven't but my husband has. Essentially the troops have been blogging and podcasting away about the TRUTH in Iraq. And darnit, it doesn't look so swell. They are being edited relentlessly but those young-uns have the annoying way of being leaps ahead of us old fogeys when it comes to technology. And their message is getting out.
Families that have lost their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren are getting their voices documented in print and videos expressing their fury at this pointless loss of life. I was watching George S. this morning and I watched as names of 19,20, 21 year old children's names were listed as released dead this week from the war in Iraq. 19. That's a mere year older than my nephew, 2 years older than my niece and 3 years older than my son. What if I knew that I had but 3 more years with my child? What would I want those years to be for us? Imagine the energy and sacrifice and hopes and dreams that were encased in that young person. With the death of that one person comes the decimation of a family.
I cannot fathom it.
I have been listening all week on my drive into work to the podcast of an Iraqi dentist. He gave me a view into his existence. I grew to enjoy and look forward to his insights and points of view. On Friday, there was a dark turn. His best friend had been kidnapped from the market. An engineer, he had been abducted randomly. The initial heartache came from the lack of word, and then upon hearing from the kidnappers and negotiating the ransom down from 70,000 US dollars to 20,000 (which was paid), the wait to hear back was gut wrenching. While in the market a week later, the dentist heard shots and then saw people gathered in the center of the market around something. It was his friend. His best friend. Decapitated, with broken bones, burn marks from torture. The emotion in his voice haunts me.
In August, 650 people in Iraq were abducted and killed.
As it stands now, there are now more amputees from this combat than in the Civil War.
We need to end this. More money won't make it stop. Our presence there is the agitator. We must rally the surrounding provinces to come in with the UN and help them develop whatever is going to develop there. We need to pull every single solitary leech aka private contractor that is profiting off of this misery and give the Iraqis back their economy. We need to be there with humanitarian relief, anything that an external body deems necessary, from behind the scenes. No fanfare.
No gloating.
No showboating.
Just humble giving.
We have screwed up royally.
An entire generation has been changed forever.
At home and abroad.
This madness must end.
This is the shame of our nation.
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