Eyes Wide Open, the American Friends Service Committee's widely-acclaimed exhibition on the human cost of the Iraq War, features a pair of boots honoring each U.S. military casualty, a field of shoes and a Wall of Remembrance to memorialize the Iraqis killed in the conflict, and a multimedia display exploring the history, cost and consequences of the war.
I was born in 1965.
I was somewhat insulated from the outrage over Vietnam by my parents and grandparents, but I was aware of it. My earliest memories include Walter Cronkite
with the stick-men body counts behind him, draft lotteries,
and flag-draped coffins coming off the planes at Dover. then now
My children are not being insulated in a similar fashion. They were in DC with us on that first Saturday in January,
and in my home, we are taught that this war is a crime and this President is a criminal.
I have much to live up to with them.
Today, I took my children to see "Eyes Wide Shut", the American Friends Service Committe's exhibit on the cost of the Iraq war and subsequent occupation.
Ninety pairs of combat boots were arranged on the front lawn of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, VA, each representing the life of one Virginian lost to George Bush's illegal and unjustified war based on lies.
also represented were a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis that have lost their lives, represented by another field of shoes. Tennis shoes, sandals, dress shoes, flip-flops, house shoes - each tagged with the name of an Iraqi man, woman, child, or in some cases, an entire family, snuffed out by this obscenity of George W. Bush's making.
I apologize for the fact that I don't have more pictures, but my batteries crapped out on me and the spares I pulled out of something else weren't as hot as I thought they were.
Minds need to change. And bullshitting needs to stop. NOW.
Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Scott R. Bubb 19, of Grottoes, Virginia.
Bubb died from small-arms fire while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Rutbah, Iraq. He was assigned to the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II MEF (Forward). Died on October 17, 2005.
I want to digress for a moment, and give you an example of how minds need to change.
Recently, at Blue Ridge Community College, there was a debate on the merits, or lack thereof, of Bush's Iraq policy. Had I known about it, I'd have been ther. but I read the writeup on it in a local news magazine after the fact. And there was this kid. Josh, I think his name was, told how he knew Danny Bubb, lamented that the media never covers "all the good we're doing in Iraq", talked about his friendship with Danny Bubb, lauded Bush, bashed those who speak for peace....you know the drill.
Had I been there, I would have offered to pick him up the next morning and drive him to the recruiting office.
About 19 years old, but when it comes to signing up for his hero George Bush's war, he apparently, like Dick Cheney, has "other priorities."
THINGS LIKE THIS MAKE ME WANT TO VOMIT.
A baby chickenhawk. Just what the world needs.
This is my son Julian with his (decapitated, sorry babe) mother.
As I was explaining to him what it was he was seeing, he suddenly asked me, "Daddy, when I grow up will I have to go to the war too?"
I'm sorry if that sounds contrived - but it's the truth.
I nearly cried.
All I could do is hug him, hard, and say, "Not if I can help it, baby. That's why we're here now. You will never, never fight in a war if I can help it."
From RenaRF's "Section 60" comment thread today:
Born in 1988! Oh my Lord. May that (36+ / 0-)
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soldier rest in peace. What a tragedy to lose one so young. I am in tears.
by blue jersey mom on Sun May 27, 2007 at 01:10:38 PM EDT
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* 19 years old. I saw a 1989 as well. (25+ / 0-)
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Also 1984, etc. All young. All gone. For what?
When, at last, will essential humanity win out over greed?
by RenaRF on Sun May 27, 2007 at 01:12:36 PM EDT
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# * [new] I have a SON (4+ / 0-)
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born 4/9/88.....
Magic 95.5 (800)296-9267 And I'da gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.
by kestrel9000 on Sun May 27, 2007 at 03:15:55 PM EDT
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GOD DAMN IT!
Enough lives lost to George Bush and the Republican's meat grinder - their war and occupation based on lies. ENOUGH. PAST enough.
We saw last Thursday that we cannot depend on the Democrats we elected to do what we elected them to do.
* [new] How I wish (5+ / 0-)
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Maybe the capitulation cowards have done us a favor by firing our opposition and strengthening our resolve
I could make myself believe that was all part of the Master Plan.TM
But I don't.
I think they want politics as usual.
Most of them can't conceive of doing business any other way.
It is time that they be shown another way.
Magic 95.5 (800)296-9267 And I'da gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.
by kestrel9000 on Sun May 27, 2007 at 11:20:46 AM EDT
Imagination is more important than knowledge - Einstein
by One Pissed Off Liberal on Sun May 27, 2007 at 11:31:29 AM EDT
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Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. Dwight D. Eisenhower
Magic 95.5 (800)296-9267 And I'da gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.
by kestrel9000 on Sun May 27, 2007 at 11:47:11 AM EDT
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I have said it before, and I will say it again. When the streets call, I will come.
I owe it to my children, and to my country's children.
Because I have had enough.
My eyes are wide open, and I could not close them if I wanted to.
OPOL's diary from today has some of the latest action stuff in it. If you missed it, PLEASE go check it out.
Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.
- Hermann Goering
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
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