Day 152

Day 153

Day 154

Day 155

Day 156

Day 157

Day 158

Day 159

Day 160

Day 161

Day 162

Day 163

Day 164

Day 165

Day 166

Day 167

Day 168

Day 169

Day 170

Day 171

Day 172

Day 173

Day 174

Day 175

Day 176

Day 177

Day 178

Day 179

Day 180

Day 181

Day 182

Day 183

Day 184

Day 185

Day 186

Day 187

Day 188

Day 189

Day 190

Day 191

Day 192

Day 193

Day 194

Day 195

Day 196

Day 197

Day 198

Day 199

Day 200

From Day 151

From Riverbend's Blog for Wednesday, May 18, 2005

The last two weeks have been violent. The number of explosions in Baghdad alone is frightening. There have also been several assassinations- bodies being found here and there. It's somewhat disturbing to know that corpses are turning up in the most unexpected places. Many people will tell you it's not wise to eat river fish anymore because they have been nourished on the human remains being dumped into the river. That thought alone has given me more than one sleepless night. It is almost as if Baghdad has turned into a giant graveyard.

The latest corpses were those of some Sunni and Shia clerics- several of them well-known. People are being patient and there is a general consensus that these killings are being done to provoke civil war. Also worrisome is the fact that we are hearing of people being rounded up by security forces (Iraqi) and then being found dead days later- apparently when the new Iraqi government recently decided to reinstate the death penalty, they had something else in mind...

The bombs are mysterious. Some of them explode in the midst of National Guard and near American troops or Iraqi Police and others explode near mosques, churches, and shops or in the middle of sougs. One thing that surprises us about the news reports of these bombs is that they are inevitably linked to suicide bombers. The reality is that some of these bombs are not suicide bombs- they are car bombs that are either being remotely detonated or maybe time bombs. All we know is that the techniques differ and apparently so do the intentions. Some will tell you they are resistance. Some say Chalabi and his thugs are responsible for a number of them. Others blame Iran and the SCIRI militia Badir.

In any case, they are terrifying. If you're close enough, the first sound is a that of an earsplitting blast and the sounds that follow are of a rain of glass, shrapnel and other sharp things. Then the wails begin- the shrill mechanical wails of an occasional ambulance combined with the wail of car alarms from neighboring vehicles and finally the wail of people trying to sort out their dead and dying from the debris.

From Day 156

Couplets
by Thomas Lynch

Two girls found dead. My sons go to the morgue.
Two cots, thick rubber gloves, two body bags.

Too long stuffed in a culvert, raped and stabbed,
too decomposed to recognize. Too sad.

Two local ne'er-do-wells no doubt abused
too much as children themselves, stand mute.

Two caskets in a room, two families undone.
Two ministers. Two homilies. My sons

too busy with flowers and townspeople
to contemplate the problem of evil,

to shake their fists at God, regard instead
two funerals - the living and the dead

to be transported in their separate griefs -
two hearses to be washed, two limousines.

Today the wakes and paperwork details.
Tomorrow a burning and a burial.

Two girls found dead of known brutalities
together forever, precious memories

too sweet, too savage, too beautiful and bad
to keep at bay by ritual or words.

Two boys about their father's business learn
to number, comfort, witness and keep track.

From Day 158

From the Living to the Dead
by deepintheheartoftx

I see you in my sons' eyes
reflected there, your mothers' grief
transposed on my own image

Last night we went roller skating
I hadn't been on skates in 25 years
"Just do your best, mom," my six-year-old said.
When I fell, he helped me up

Am I doing my best?
Little by little parts of me grow cold
Sons, daughters, husbands, wives, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and strangers
are dying

I cannot help you up
I do not know you, or even of you
As I make breakfast
drive to little league
and tuck my boys into their bunks at night

Your names are not posted on a list
Pinned to bulletin boards in the hall
Like the ones my mother looked at anxiously
on her way to class every day when she was in high school

Your passing is not noted in the
Halls of power
Your aborted lives unknown to us
As we work, and spend and
tend to living

Dark stains spread over my soul
like the soldier who covered herself
in black tattoos
Cover my good intentions with sticky tar

Yet
I see you in my sons' eyes

From Day 188

Sonnet XLIII
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

From Day 197

The evil of the mind is conquered by the goodness of the heart
posted by Leonard Clark
from his blog

July 5th, 2005

"Folks, I have decided to write you this email in response to those who are wondering in their own views why I am apparently violating the "rules". Since I don't have much time here is the gist of it: I believe American soldiers (my brothers and sisters) are being killed needlessy (sic) over here in this lie we call "the Occupation of Iraq". To me it is a great offense to the laws of humanity to have American soldiers die needlessly in a place far from their native home when this evil practice could be stopped. When should a person, a human being if you will, speak out ? Well, for me these fellow soldiers are my loved ones, and if I were ever going to speak out about anything it would be to save the lives of those I love. To have human beings sacrifice their lives for a lie is a violation of their human rights, and so there you have it - I believe that not only are my human rights being violated but those of my fellow soldiers as well."

Leonard Clark is serving on the streets of Baghdad in the National Guard. He is a Kindergarten teacher and a former Democratic Candidate for State House in Arizona. His blog was taken down shortly afterwards as part of a disciplinary action.

- - -

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 Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
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