I'm the child that died in Iraq today.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

I liked American music.
Especially rap.

It made me want to dance.

I had friends.
We played outside the house.

We talked and we dreamed.

Oh, how we dreamed.

until

I dreamed about my first love
which I am sure was right around
the corner.

until

I dreamed about how I would become
a doctor.
And save a million lives.

until

I dreamed about how I would
one day,
Dine in a restaurant
with foods my mother
has told me about.

until

I dreamed about how I
would score a winning point
in football.

until

I dreamed.



My one eye works
and I see the
fluids
darkening
the sand.

I dream
to dream
again.

finis







Dedicated to the children of Iraq that have died for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And to the hearts here that are breaking with the knowledge that we are the cause.


Peace, for god's sake, peace.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

1. Thanks for the rec, stranger.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. And thank you to the second stranger who recommended.

:hi:

[Sydnie]

3. no annon rec here

:cry: thanks for this and for sharing! :hug:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. Thank you...

This one came out of an odd place.

[Imagevision]

31. Is this one of the suspected insurgents killed today?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

46. This is an older photograph.

[Mikimouse]

4. You're such a hippie...and as soon as...

I can see my keyboard again, I'll give you the K and R. Be well, my friend, you touched an old chord.:cry:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Too many of us have been through this before.

We won that time and we can only hope that we will win again.

[madokie]

23. Tom we are going to win again, my unborn grand children deserve it.

[brer cat]

24. My young grandchildren deserve it and the born and unborn

children and grandchildren if Iraq deserve it. Peace...the greatest gift we can give our loved ones.

[glitch]

5. I wish everyone could still feel for others. K & R nt

[Divernan]

6. That little boy was not in the wrong place at the wrong time-the U.S. was

That child was growing up in his home country (the right place) during his childhood (the right time.) He was with his loving family. It was Bush/Cheney's pre-emptive war to benefit Big Oil, and the violence which that war spread throughout Iraq which killed that child - whether directly from an attack by the coalition forces, or from the religious civil war fomented by Bush/Cheney's actions.

The hallmark of a racist is his or her ability to revel in the death and destruction of children whose religion or color is different than his or her own.

[Nictuku]

7. I can't stop crying

[cassiepriam]

8. It is my fault, little one, that you are dead.

I am an American and you were killed in my name, and I paid for your killing.

I failed you. Your blood is on my hands and in my soul.

I will not ask for forgiveness because I deserve none, I did not work hard enough to save you.

Too late I put you in my heart and thoughts; I hope that heaven finds a special place for you and that you are safe and warm at last.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

12. Wow. Beautifully said, cassiepriam.

Thank you.

[cassiepriam]

15. I say the same to you my friend. Thank you for your good work, nt

[IndyOp]

11. Please.

Contemplating a single life and a single death, with love, is an absolute necessity and I thank TYJ from the bottom of my heart. :hug:

After 9/11, I remember someone asking how anyone could mourn 1,000's of deaths. The reply was that we can't. No one can. We can only mourn 1 death at a time, one after another, until we have mourned them all.

TYJ's post is a perfect expression of this... :hug:

Please, also consider - to express the unspeakable devastation in Iraq - please consider the number 1,000,000.

Real Shock & Awe: After 15 Years War, Sanctions 1,000,000 Iraqis Dead.

Persian Gulf War: 150,000
Gulf War Aftermath: Many thousands
UN Sanctions: Primary cause of 600,000 deaths
Iraq War: 250,000

The Persian Gulf War did not have to happen: Hussein did not invade Kuwait until after he had received an assurance from April Gillespie that the "US had no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts." Even if he had invaded, alternatives to war were available. link

The Gulf War Aftermath Encouraged by American radio broadcasts to rise up against their ‘dictator’, the Kurds of northern Iraq rebelled against a nominally defeated and certainly weakened Saddam Hussein in March of 1991. Fear of being drawn into an Iraqi civil war and possible diplomatic repercussions precluded President Bush from committing US forces to support the Kurds. Within days Iraqi forces recovered and launched a ruthless counteroffensive including napalm and chemical attacks from helicopters. They quickly reclaimed lost territory and crushed the rebellion. By the first week of April, 800 to 1,000 people, mostly the very young and the very old, were dying each day. link Al Franken has said that many 100,000's of Kurds and Shia were slaughtered, but I do not have a printed source.

UN (US/UK Sanctions) The United Nations Security Council has maintained comprehensive economic sanctions on Iraq from August 1990 until March 2003. Sanctions in Iraq hurt large numbers of innocent civilians not only by limiting the availability of food and medicines, but also by disrupting the whole economy, and reducing the national capacity of water treatment, electrical systems and other infrastructure critical for health and life. The oil-for-food program provided an average of $200 per year for each of 23,000,000 Iraqis - well below the international poverty level. In the UN Security Council, countries urged the US and UK to allow the sanctions to be lifted, but the US/UK would not allow this.

Iraq War A Johns Hopkins University study published in the British medical journal The Lancet in October, 2004. // The figure of 100,000 had been based on somewhat "conservative assumptions", notes Les Roberts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, U.S., who led the study. That estimate excludes Falluja, a hotspot for violence. If the data from this town is included, the compiled studies point to about 250,000 excess deaths since the outbreak of the U.S.-led war. // Eman Ahmad Khamas.... said: "This occupation has destroyed Iraq. Americans don't know that tens of thousands of Iraqis are in prisons. Americans don't know how many have been killed. Lancet reported 100,000 in 2004, not counting Falluja. Now it is something like double this number."

Important: Whether or not you believe that US foreign policy caused/contributed to all of these deaths - the death toll is a valid, conservative estimate of Iraqi deaths in the past 15 years in excess of what would have been expected if there had been peace. PLEASE TELL PEOPLE THIS NUMBER -- maybe it is big enough to shock the American public awake and cause them to realize the true devastation in Iraq: 1,000,000 lives lost.

1,000,000

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

17. You pulled the essence of the piece out.

There are no mass deaths, only mass deaths of individuals.

Every child, every soldier, every parent that ever dies is an individual woth dreams and hopes.

Too many are being squashed in this short sighted Illegal war that Bush has decided to wage.

I cannot think of one benifit worth the death of a child that this war can produce.

[Breeze54]

13. So, are you going to post this on Free Repuke site? n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

20. Uhmmmm.... I'm not a member there.

And I doubt they like to think about things like this anyway.

[Breeze54]

21. er..that was sort of my point!...... lol n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

57. *chuckle*

I caught it!
:toast:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. Thanks For Making Me Cry.

Very moving thread. Saddens me more than words could ever say and is going to make me run upstairs right now and hug my sons.


Recommended with a heavy heart.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

49. Thanks, OPERATIONMINDCRIME.

I hope your sonse were well.

[AuntiBush]

16. Yes.

For God's sake please, peace! This is so heartbreaking...

[entanglement]

18. Kicked and Recommended, TYJ

We need a few more Americans like you...no, make that a 100 million more :patriot:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

58. Thanks, entanglement!

[Pushed To The Left]

19. This is something people don't think about enough

Every time a bomb is dropped on a country, totally innocent lives are lost. Just imagine how many innocent lives will be lost if Bush drops a nuclear bomb on Iran. Kicked and nominated.

[Bluerthanblue]

22. Oh....

my....
so eloquently painfully beautifully spoken.

Peace----- for everythings sake.

thank you Tom-
K&R

blu

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

35. Thanks for the words, Bluerthanblue. n/t

[fooj]

25. Oh God......

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[earthmama]

48. OMG I can't stop the tears

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

26. Painful...and much needed words. Thank you. nt.

[Poll_Blind]

27. Chilling....sad....and very, VERY powerful.

I am grateful to DU for the incredible personalities I am able to witness the thoughts and creations of. You are definitely one of those persons...

PB

[w8liftinglady]

28. Tom-you are very gifted

I have really loved your writing.it touched me in many ways.keep writing.please.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

42. Thanks so much, w8tliftinlady.

I plan to.

[Theduckno2]

29. I probably won't cry until......

.....the next time I hear a SUV owner complain about how the war in Iraq has raised the price of gasoline, while their child of the same age looks on. This country can sure expend lives in order to maintain its 'expensive' lifestyle

Thank you for your postings, Tom Yossarian Joad. K/R

[Clarkie1]

30. Only the Iraqis can bring peace to their country now. It's up to them. nt

[ClayZ]

32. .

:cry:

[spuddonna]

33. I always steel myself before I read your poems...

Because they break my heart with their truth, their beauty, and their clarity... :cry:

Peace, for all of our sakes, peace...

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

50. Thanks, spddonna. n/t

[file83]

34. It's amazing how much pain a $500 billion defense budget can create.

A never ending supply of pain and heartache. All in the name of "freedom".

Look at those people suffering in that photo. I can't imagine their loss.

[patdem]

36. I was thrilled the recommend time had not lapsed, thanks

my tears have finally cleared...

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

47. Thank you. It went up last night.

[Mnemosyne]

37. I cry each day for the innocents that are dying

in our name.

Good piece Tom! Thank you.

38. I hope Bush ratings drop to 0 soon n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

51. That works for me.

[Douglas Carpenter]

39. Thank you - Let's not have any more base on packs of lies....

http://www.dontattackiran.org

[autorank]

40. What your doing is so excellent, words are not adequate. K&R

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

53. Thanks, Autorank. The message has to be kept in the forefront.

[Midlodemocrat]

41. TYJ - Thank you. Thank you.

:cry:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

54. You're welcome and thanks.

[yellerpup]

43. Beautiful and heartbreaking.

Never stop telling the truth, Tom Y. Joad.

[Mad_Dem_X]

44. Powerful, heartbreaking...

:cry:

[ComerPerro]

45. Posting from beyond the grave! Someone call the Sci-Fi Channel, quick!

[robertpaulsen]

52. Proud to give the 80th recommend.

You always seem to do the right thing, Tom Yossarian Joad. This is the perspective we all need to take to remember why our presence there is so wrong.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

56. Wow. Thanks.

Believe me, I probably do more wrong than right...

But I try.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

55. "I'm the child that doesn't know how to apply logic.*"

Cry for me, as well.













*Disclaimer: Not a shot at the OP. Just a single enumeration of one of the tragedies in Life.

[AlamoDemoc]

59. K & R.... n/t