Faces of the Dead

[Selena_Kitt]

Faces of the Dead

This is powerful... all of the soldiers lost in the war...

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Faces of the Dead

This is powerful... all of the soldiers lost in the war...

Very touching...reminds me of the second verse of "In Flanders Field"

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

 

[Huckleman2000]

And with over 3000 now dead, it seems that Bush is planning to send more troops. The theme of his 'new' plan? - Sacrifice.

Bush 'to reveal Iraq troop boost'
By Justin Webb
BBC News, Washington

US President George W Bush intends to reveal a new Iraq strategy within days, the BBC has learnt.

The speech will reveal a plan to send more US troops to Iraq to focus on ways of bringing greater security, rather than training Iraqi forces.

The move comes with figures from Iraqi ministries suggesting that deaths among civilians are at record highs.

The US president arrived back in Washington on Monday after a week-long holiday at his ranch in Texas.

The BBC was told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush's Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week.

Its central theme will be sacrifice.

The speech, the BBC has been told, involves increasing troop numbers.

The exact mission of the extra troops in Iraq is still under discussion, according to officials, but it is likely to focus on providing security rather than training Iraqi forces.

The proposal, if it comes, will be highly controversial.

Already one senior Republican senator has called it Alice in Wonderland.

The need to find some way of pacifying Iraq has been underlined by statistics revealed by various ministries in the Iraqi government, suggesting that well over 1,000 civilians a month are dying.

Here is a link to Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the topic. It's blistering, and it's right.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

And with over 3000 now dead, it seems that Bush is planning to send more troops. The theme of his 'new' plan? - Sacrifice.

soooo twisted.

 

[rgraham666]

soooo twisted.

You have to remember, these are people who would let others die rather than admit they made a mistake.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

You have to remember, these are people who would let others die rather than admit they made a mistake.

I remember a line in a book by Douglas Reeman...an older man is describing war to a younger man....

"War is like the theatre, the best seats are up high, and at the rear."

 

[rgraham666]

I remember a line in a book by Douglas Reeman...an older man is describing war to a younger man....

"War is like the theatre, the best seats are up high, and at the rear."

From All Quiet On The Western Front.

Give 'em all the same grub,
and all the same pay,
and the war would be over,
and done in a day.



I think one of the main reasons there hasn't been another World War, with atomics, is that for the first time in history the people that make the decision to go to war were in as much danger as the people at the front line.

More, since the missiles are aimed where the big wigs are.

 

[shereads]

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honors out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round the early-laureled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl’s

~ Alfred Edward Houseman, "To An Athlete Dying Young"

 

[cumallday]

3k

When the “number” reaches 3,000 today, or tomorrow, another pain-draped coffin will be coming home to a mother whose heart will be forever folded in abject despair, whether she agrees with Bloody George’s war or not. Another mother’s head will be bowed with grief as the flag that covered her child’s coffin is handed to her, after it has been as carefully folded as her child was carelessly sent to war. The father will age 10 years in a few hours, and perhaps a husband or wife will lose a life’s companion, or a child will have to endure the pain of losing a mother or father way too early.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I hope Bush sees these faces in his nightmares every night for the rest of his life. That's no less than he deserves.

 

[shereads]

I hope Bush sees these faces in his nightmares every night for the rest of his life. That's no less than he deserves.

He's doing God's will. Once you've give up power to a higher authority, you're blameless. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Etcetera.

 

[shereads]

When the “number” reaches 3,000 today, or tomorrow, another pain-draped coffin will be coming home to a mother whose heart will be forever folded in abject despair, whether she agrees with Bloody George’s war or not. Another mother’s head will be bowed with grief as the flag that covered her child’s coffin is handed to her, after it has been as carefully folded as her child was carelessly sent to war. The father will age 10 years in a few hours, and perhaps a husband or wife will lose a life’s companion, or a child will have to endure the pain of losing a mother or father way too early.

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

~ Stephen Crane, 1899

 

[shereads]

Not all of the casualities come home in coffins. This may take a minute to load, but it's worth seeing. It's a Washington Post photo study of life after Iraq for the Marines of Lima Company.

WHEN THE WAR COMES HOME

 

[minsue]

Not all of the casualities come home in coffins. This may take a minute to load, but it's worth seeing. It's a Washington Post photo study of life after Iraq for the Marines of Lima Company.

WHEN THE WAR COMES HOME

Damn.

 

[cumallday]

Where were the 'casualties' in that slideshow? Oh, wait, there weren't any? The Washington Post? You might as well be reading Archie Comics.

 

[shereads]

Where were the 'casualties' in that slideshow? Oh, wait, there weren't any? The Washington Post? You might as well be reading Archie Comics.

You're right. The Washington Post hired actors to portray veterans of the Iraq war, and then wrote scripts to make it appear that many of them are emotionally wounded in a significant way.

You're the only one who caught it. How astute.

Edited to remove an insulting reference to the obvious, and note that apparently cumallday looked at the pictures but didn't read the captions or the accompanying article.

"HM1 "Doc" George Wentworth, Lima Company's wounded warrior coordinator, listens to a Marine in need. Many Marines in Lima Company called Wentworth at all hours of the day looking for someone who could listen, understand where they've been and get them help if need be."

"You come back and, literally, you're lost," says "Doc" George Wentworth. "There's no timeline for anybody to get over this."

"The chief psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center recently told Congress that 10 to 15 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"Sgt. Chad Watkins holds Christian Kreuter, the baby of his best friend, Sgt. David Kreuter, who died in combat while they were in Iraq."

"Many of the Lima Company survivors suffered flashbacks after leaving Iraq. For relief, some turned to counselors, some to God and others to the solidarity and beery narcotic of the VFW hall."

"Lance Cpls. Benjamin Adams, Jeffrey Montee and Timothy Carter take shots at a local bar. It was the anniversary of the day 11 men from Lima Company perished in a makeshift bomb explosion."

""If it fails," one Lima Marine says of the Iraq campaign, "that doesn't change the fact that we were trying, we were making an effort."

"The whole reason I didn't stay in Iraq was I would've killed people that didn't deserve to die," Staff Sgt. Zierk says, "and it wouldn't have served any greater good."

"Staff Sgt. Brian Taylor tells his son goodnight in their Columbus, Ohio, home. "I don't feel we were defeated, but I wish I could've killed a lot more. They got a lot of us," says the sniper, who works as a physical therapist at an assisted living facility."

"Sgt. Travis Brill reads the paper while his son dresses up for his attention. "I went there with the right mindset that I wanted to help these people, and they changed it pretty quickly. They don't give a damn, and all they want to do is blow you up when you're not looking," he says."

Nope. No casualties here.