"This is the War Story that's never truly told."

[mojowork_n]

That's the summary sentence of the first paragraph, and it's the best way to introduce this commentary.

Be forewarned, there are some gut and psyche-wrenching paragraphs behind this link (or maybe it's just my weak "Y" chromosomes), but there are three themes here that need to be known.

• As the technology and destruction have evolved, "collateral damage" to civilians -- women, children, old folks -- has increased.
  
  
• There may be a peace treaty that's been signed, the newspapers may have concluded the war's over, but the war against women never ends.
  
  
• It doesn't matter what continent you're on -- Europe, Asia, Africa, the America's -- any woman may be targeted by any man, from any side.
  

Link:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021708G.shtml

WARNING-- Some of this stuff is horribly graphic, but it shouldn't be ignored or forgotten, either.

Excerpt:

"I'm checking in from West Africa, where I've been working with women in three neighboring countries, all recently torn apart by civil wars: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire. The Iraq debacle has monopolized attention and obscured these "lesser" wars - now officially "over" - but millions of West African women are struggling to recover. For them, the war isn't really over at all, not by a long shot. This is the war story that's never truly told. Let me explain.

Surely you remember these conflicts. Liberia's war came in three successive waves lasting 14 years altogether, from 1989 to 2003. Sierra Leone's war started in 1991 when guerillas of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone, trained in Liberia, invaded their own country. The war drew many players and lasted until January 2002, a decade in all. In Côte d'Ivoire, a civil war started in 2002 when northern rebels attempted a coup to oust President Laurent Gbagbo, but by that time the international community had decided..."

[Triana]

1. I thought about this today - how in war, famine, disaster, economic downturn...

..whatever - women and children are the first to suffer, suffer most, and suffer longest. This SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED.

You NEVER hear about it - it's never or rarely reported on the news - it's invisible - we want to pretend it just doesn't exist - doesn't happen - that these humans are "just" women and children - who cares about them?

They're not even worthy of a mention or rarely so. In all the talk about war and disputes in all the areas of the world - those who suffer most are mentioned least.

[mojowork_n]

2. I know.

I was still a kid when my Mom started to tell me about life in the Balkans during the second world war. Where, for the longest time, ultimately, citizens only had two officially sanctioned choices -- to embrace the Stalinists, or the Nazis. (Or those among their own people who were on one of the two ideologically opposite poles, or the other.)

We left. Or, that is to say, my parents left, separately. I was one of the last boomers and came along almost a decade after the end of official hostilities. My Mom was a pediatrician. She was 41 years old when she had her only child. My Dad was 47.