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Find and post a photo of the Iraq War.
What does this photo say to you about the war?
Do you think this photo could change others' minds about the war?
no- i don't think that the photo- or any photos could change anyone else's mind about the war. the people who want to 'stay the course' are not going to be swayed by the fact that there is no running water or sewer service in many parts of iraq. there is no garbage pickup or electricity. no way to cook or clean amidst rubble and debris. no schools to go to or jobs because it isn't safe- and they have been bombed. this photo to me says that we have disrupted an entire system that we take for granted. this photo says that these people's lives are on hold from daily routine and life- awaiting to see if they will simply survive. before the liars in the bush administration started the iraq war, hussein ruled with an iron fist that was harsh and cruel. but the people survived. they did what they needed to do to survive and the majority of them went about their daily lives. what happened in iraq was not right but it was not our place to step in. particularly in light of the way our country conducts itself. but what we have done to the iraqi people is far worse. we have taken their livelihoods and futures away from them. we have taken their hope and we have taken their money- and we are not leaving them with freedom. we are leaving them with rubble and hatred.
11 comments:
Good post, Betmo. Bush/Cheney, and their evil, nefarious cronies, will someday have to answer for what their illegal, immoral, un-Godly war on the Iraqi people has wrought.
I only hope I live long enough to witness it.
Just as egregious, is what they are doing to THIS country.
Jesus, Himself said, "See that no man deceive you".
Powerful post. That picture is crazy...It is unbelievable that people are living like that and there is not reason why they should be.
Powerful post, betmo.
It is so difficult for me to wrap my brain around the fact that some average Americans (not rich war profiteers) are so focused on "stay the course". Every time I see one of these pictures my heart breaks a little more.
Good post
Also, some food for thought:
I came accross this statistic in an article from.
Some moralist-realists admit that as many as 650,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the March 2003 US invasion. (Lancet, October 11, 2006) Nor do they dispute claims by Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Iraq (a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organizations), showing that malnutrition rates have risen in Iraq from 19 percent before the U.S.-led invasion to a national average of 28 percent four years later. (March 16, 2007) Caritas also claims that the causes of rising hunger relate to high levels of insecurity, collapsed healthcare and other infrastructure,
increased polarization between different sects and tribes, and rising poverty.
Sorry, HTML troubles. It was fine in the preview.
Anyway, it's from Counterpunch
When I was an adolescent I became temporarily obsessed with holocaust literature. Usually autobiographical in form.
I have always been a very imaginative and visual person; a well written book comes alive in my mind. Being empathic as well, I always felt the horror, and then tried to imagine what I would do/feel in those circumstances.
It has always been beyond my ability to truly place myself in those situations, because I don't believe any of us knows the true depths of our spirit and our individual will to survive.
Still, I think that my obsession then was an attempt to understand. To understand something that we cannot understand unless we have lived it.
I'm sorry I'm approaching this in such a roundabout and lengthy fashion; what I'm wondering is how we americans would feel if this were happening to us. We are so spoiled, compared to much the rest of the world. It is so separate from our reality, that I fear we (as a nation, and definitely the war mongers)have in our superiority become even more distant from the reality that many people live.
As an aside, but still relevant: Have you read The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk?
This thing really has to stop. It's beyond tragic, and it's being done in our name.
This picture makes me think of ruin, dispair, and emptiness. Lifeless, it speaks loudly of the casualty of war. Do I think it would change anyone's mind? No. If flag draped coffins, and a country in turmoil doesn't, nothing will.
thorne- no- haven't read it. i know what you are saying- i try to do the same thing. it makes me value and be grateful for what i have. it makes me thankful to live here and it makes me work all the harder to defend the constitution. we have had only the civil war here since the war of 1812- and that was what 150ish years ago or so (haven't had my morning cuppa yet) we have known peace and prosperity here on american soil since world war 2 ended. we led the world for decades and have become smug and self righteous. we should all be thinking about what we are doing to the iraqis, the afghanis, and the many other countries we have screwed over- but perhaps not invaded. now- the dod wants expanded powers. huh.
I, too, don't think that anything would change the minds of people who are so entrenched in their belief that our country is in some way "liberating" Iraq. Your post, though, is great and a picture is always worth more than the words that describe it.
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