Pictures from Iraq go to the Rally and march ... on a cross

[mom cat]

With the help of fellow DUers and other anti war people, I made a cross that carried twelve pictures of injured and deceased Iraqi children. ... six on each side. Hear are the sites that were recommended to me that have pictures of people injured, tortured and/or killed in the war. Some of them are very graphic. I chose not to use the most shocking ones given the fact that children would be present and also knowing that being too shocking can make people dissociate instead of learn anything. I will say moe below about the impact, which was profound, but first let me give you the links to the photos:

Pictures of Children:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x672390

Pictures from Dhar Jamail:
http://209.97.202.24/gallery

Pictures from Abu Ghraib:
http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/introduction

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Australian_TV_station_releases_new_Abu_0215.html

Pictures of the coffins of US troops:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/coffin_photos/dover

Very Graphic pictures of the dead:
http://www.awitness.org/journal/real_iraq_war.html

Four galleries of Iraq War pictures:
Gallery One:
http://www.krysstal.com/democracy_iraq_war01.html
The other galleries can be accessed from the bottom of Gallery One

Very graphic pictures of victims of white phosphorus:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=Iraq+phosphorus

Images from the war zone - mostly children:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x686999

If you have any other links to pictures from Iraq, please post them below or PM me with the links.

THE RALLY AND MARCH:

Even before I get to the rally, I knew that the pictures were going to have the impact that I had hoped for. I took the bus over to the rally, and he even there, people were commenting on how important it was for us to see the real impact of this war. Once I got to the rally, people kept coming up to me to say thank you, God bless you, and ask me where I got the pictures. I told them they could check mom cat's Journal at DU
and that the pictures had been a collaborative effort. One person even ask me if I could bring the cross with the children's pictures to his church next week when they will be showing the film Beyond Treason, a political documentary about the use of depleted uranium in Iraq. I can't tell you how many times the cross with the children's pictures was photographed and videotaped, I completely lost count. I gave several interviews, one was to New England cable news, and also to the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and several independent media producers, one of whom said he would me the footage. As soon as I get that I will post it.

During the rally, one if the speakers pointed at the cross and said "Look at that! It's about the children! Look at the children! Look at them! This is why we must stop the war!" Needless to say, everybody looked, and me were filled with deep compassion. As I was leaving the rally, I came to a man in his wife who were holding up a framed picture. It was an enlargement of one of the pictures that I had on my cross. We were all too choked up to even try to talk, but hugged each other like old friends.

After we had marched for a little while, my old legs got a bit tired, so I thumbed a ride on the sound truck. Besides sparring my legs, the pickup helped to make the cross with the children's pictures even more visible. So many people are giving a thumbs up, flashing a peace sign, nodding their heads, or just looking with sincere compassion. I felt as if at least some of the children's pain was being witnessed.

The only negative feedback we've received was from a very small group of hecklers by the State House. As we turned the corner, I moved over to the side of the truck where they were. As our sound truck was approaching, they had been screaming out: "Shame! Shame! Shame!". I intentionally held the cross in a way that they would be most likely to see it and stared at them. It actually silenced them, at least for the period of time when the truck was passing by.

Today demonstrated what I had expected, that the pictures of the children who have been harmed by this war can make a powerful statement. The resistance to the war in Vietnam increased after the photo of that poor napalmed girl running in Vietnam. The Iraqi children have a story to tell to, if we will only take their story to the people.

I wanted to give special thanks to everybody who collaborated on this project by supplying links to pictures. It was the collective effort that brought all of this together so the children could tell their stories.:hug:

[fooj]

1. Thank you for standing up for what you believe in.

You were a voice for the children who could not speak. Bless you, mom cat.:hug:

Peace.

[mom cat]

2. Thanks for the support you gave. A lot of people helped me do it.

:grouphug:

[babylonsister]

3. You've done quite a service to educate, mom cat! Nominated, and

thank you for opening up people's minds! And bookmarked! :hug:

[mom cat]

9. What I love about it was that it was a collaborative effort. I never could

have put it together without the support of you and people like you. It was my fellow DU'ers who provided the valuable information and the moral support to make it happen. Without the feel of the community behind me, I would not have had the courage to try it, nor would I have had the information resources to do the job. This is the power of the internet and the power of collaboration. :hug:

[lumpy]

14. Blessings. I hope you have started a trend

by using graphics to get the truth out.

[mom cat]

26. I do too lumpy. I am going to keep working on it. I sure hope I get the

video of it soon! I will let everyone know.

[omega minimo]

4. K/R Bless you mom cat, for using your heart to craft a powerful message

:yourock:

[mom cat]

15. It is something we all can do. I am going to start taking mine to

rallies and protests. There is the march coming up in NYC in April, and before that there are vigils here. We can all encourage our local peace groups to do this. I happened to choose a cross, but any depiction will do. We can "adopt a child" and bring them to people who need to hear their story.

[EFerrari]

5. Thanks for being the Memory so people could witness, mom cat.

:kick:

[mom cat]

18. I was overwhelmed how powerful it was. It was well worth the time to

put it together. Those children and all the other victims of this war deserve to be remembered.

[EFerrari]

21. Yes. It's hard to hold, but those were people with lives

with hopes and dreams.

[mom cat]

22. And for most, those dreams have turned into nightmares,

made in the USA.

[understandinglife]

6. K&R.

Be The Bu$h Opposition - 24/7

[mom cat]

19. We got to be the opposition 24/7. It will be hard, but living under

oppression will be a lot harder.

[understandinglife]

32. ".... but living under oppression will be a lot harder." Indeed.

Thank you again for the photos and all you are doing - to ...


... Be The Bu$h Opposition - 24/7

[mom cat]

37. This is something that we can all be doing: be the media.

We can all dowwnload pictures, put them on a stick and show what the media refuses to show.

[Kurovski]

7. Thank you for thinking of all children in your choices.

I agree that it is important for adults to witness the reality of what we have done. To many children attending or passing protests in the country, while a photo may appear to represent a sleeping Iraqi child, we will know the reality.

Thank you for this, and for bringing all photos to light on this thread.

[mom cat]

23. I think that it can be done with care. We must stop this war. The

children in Iraq have to see things a lot worse than a few pictures everyday.

[Kurovski]

28. Agreed.

Thank you for your powerful efforts. :hug:

[FogerRox]

8. nice work-- Kn R

[mom cat]

30. Nice work in your protest too! WOOT!

[fooj]

10. Look at what they did in Hungary...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11896834/displaymode/1168/rstry/11887714/rpage/1/

Wow. Just wow.

Peace.:kick:

[Kurovski]

11. A chill ran through me as it appeared on my screen.

Beautiful! Thanks, fooj. :hug:

[mom cat]

12. The people united

sure make a beautiful picture! Thanks for the lift!

[Terran1212]

16. Great!

[globalvillage]

17. That's fantastic.

Great pic, thanks.

[Solly Mack]

13. Thank you, momcat!

for showing what caring for the weakest among us really means.

You gave Iraqi children a voice in a country whose government is all too willing to take away their lives.

[mom cat]

24. Thanks. I felt that they were with me today. We can all help give them

a voice. I will be posting more in my journal about this. I think that it will make a difference.

[Roland99]

20. It is brave spirits like you that are the true patriots in America!

[mom cat]

25. Not really bravery, though it did take a little courage to get on the

bus by myself. Every one of the children has shown more courage than me.

[Breeze54]

27. Thank you momcat!

I'm touched and very proud of you!
Get them in the heart!
That's the way to do it...melt the ice surrounding it!
Kudo's to you and all that marched today and will tomorrow!!
:grouphug:

:yourock:

[mom cat]

38. I still believe that most people would care if they really knew what is

happening. The sanitized war "news" does not tell the story, so we must do the job. We can put the pictures everywhere, our offices, churches, mosques, synagogs, temples, and circles. They can go on sweatshirts, in our homes, on community bulletin boards, in our e-mails, sig lines and activist headquarters. We can take the next step, every one of us. We can overcome the media silence. We must.

[welshTerrier2]

29. thank you ... that's all ... just thank you ...

you spoke for many of us ...

[mom cat]

39. This is something we can all do. People really respond to this.

I am thinking of starting a pictures project to help spread the idea. Any updates will be posted in my journal. I am going to keep it solely for this purpose. We have time to spread the word before the next big protest in NYC, but can use the pictures even before then.

[autorank]

31. One of the very best posts ever on DU. You are the TIA of the war issue.

I can't thank you enough for this collection of threads. I've seen some but not all of them. The power they express offers the best persuasion on this issue. "The Acts of the Democracies", stunning title and collection.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

RECOMMENDED.

[mom cat]

41. You can help by sending this idea out to your circles and by asking

them to spread the word. I will keep updating the my journal with posts about how we can do this.

[livvy]

33. Great post, mom cat!

I think you've hit on a very powerful strategy. The most innocent in any population of people are the children. Yet, they are suffering so much, in Iraq with their lives and the lives of their families, and here with the lives of their parents, aunts, uncles, and family friends. The children here also suffer from the insecurity that a war, though not in their backyards, exists at all.
Great job. I look forward to seeing the pictures. Thanks for all you do to:

[Judi Lynn]

34. Beautifully written account of a very meaningful event, mom cat.

Don't know how you arrived at the idea of a cross, but it was dynamic, and far more likely to get attention to those poor faces than anything else.

Powerful symbol, bringing a powerful message about what _Bush has done to helpless human beings, and done ONLY by lying to the world.

It sounds like an idea you can use again so successfully, if you're so inclined.

I'll be looking foward to hearing more about your observations of that event, if you post them anywhere.

Thank you for your hard work, done with love. You've probably touched far, far more lives than you will ever know.

[mom cat]

43. The idea came from another poster:

That poster - spacebuddy - included this quote that made me realize that we are crucifying the children over there:

"War is as outmoded as cannibalism, chattel slavery, blood-feuds, and dueling, an insult to God and humanity
...a daily crucifixion of Christ."

~Muriel Lester

See that post at: http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=18827

Here is more:

"HELP STOP a war ON IRAN BEFORE IT BEGINS ! *Photo OPeration*"

spacebuddy008
Sun Mar-12-06 05:29 AM

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

"War is as outmoded as cannibalism, chattel slavery, blood-feuds, and dueling, an insult to God and humanity
...a daily crucifixion of Christ."

~Muriel Lester

"War would end if the dead could return."

~Stanley Baldwin

That post also contains pictures of happy, beautiful Iraqi children. It is a beautiful collection.


This has been a broad collaborative effort.
I want to thank you again for your contributions to this project. You provided many of the links to the pictures that I ended up using, as well as many that were much more graphic.These will be in my journal so people will know where to look for the pictures and for updated on the project. :hug: Thanks for all that you do on this site.

[Judi Lynn]

35. Kick!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[_dynamicdems]

36. Thank you. A very inspirational post.

:kick:

[meganmonkey]

40. Just reading about it has me in tears

and reminds me who I am doing back-to-back rallies today.

Thank you for doing this, for representing the innocent victims of this war, and for doing it in a way that will hit people in their heart. Anyone with a conscience can't look away from these images, they become ingrained as part of who we are, and the legacy we are leaving in this world. We can't let this go on.

:cry:

:grouphug:

:patriot:

[mom cat]

44. I was astonished that even the small band of hecklers was silenced.

One of those men looked as if he had seen war and looked like had been hit by lightening. We can all do this one. It is just a matter of printing and pasting or taping as the case may be.

[BrklynLiberal]

42. If they can ride around in trucks with pictures of aborted fetuses, they

SHOULD have to look at what this war they support has done to children and other living things around the world! What hypocrites they are!!!!!

Thank you for this incredible post, and the magnificent job you did at the march.

[mom cat]

45. Thanks. I will be taking it to the march in NYC if at all possible.

You are so right about those hypocrites. We must keep showing the world that we have deep values too.

[mom cat]

46. Here is a link to the sources of the pictures that I used:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2523130&mesg_id=2523130

When I figure out a way to put the pictures on a post, I will show them more directly. Sorry that I am such a technoclutz. If anyone wants to tell me how to do it, send me a PM or respond below.

[Ian David]

47. We need to take a page from the pro-fetus playbook

We need to get in the faces of chickenhawk warmongers with these people as often and as invasive ly as we can.

And we need to get them in front of people who are thinking about joining the military.

Joining the military and defending your country is an un-selfish, patriotic and noble act.

But when the commander-in-chief's goal is not to defend the country but to endanger it and has other ignoble goals, then enlisting becomes a foolhardy, misguided and destructive exercise.

If someone is thinking of enlisting, they should wait until we elect a Democrat as our new Unitary Executive.

Let's do to recruiters across the country what the anti-choice sperm-worshipers did in South Dakota.

Within the limits of the law, of course.

Peace is pro-life!

[mom cat]

48. Absolutely right. We know that kids are being killed and maimed at

alarming rates in Iraq. we must put that truth in the faces of the war supporters.