It's a small war after all. What if your baby was the one killed?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

By an American bomb.

What if it were your husband, wife, father son or daughter?

How would you feel about the vendor of destruction?

America has become the largest manufacturer of hate and violence in the world today simply by its actions.

Remember the weeks after 9-11? The entire world wanted to help us.

Now they want to destroy us.

We cannot allow the present course of action to continue.

This administration may be doing more damage than we can recover from.

[acmavm]

1. May be doing more damage from which we may never recover? There's

no 'may be doing' to it. We've now made ourselves enemies that will last for generations. The great grandchildren of the dead will hate us.

[blondeatlast]

2. It's the children, America.

I think about this every time a bomb drops.

While the RW wackos scream "abortion is murder," the ignore the cold-blooded, distant murder of undeniably viable, innocent children.

I look at my son and think about another boy his age in Baghdad or Fallujah, unable to play on the streets as he does every day.

[hopeisaplace]

11. I think this way too, I hold my children and think about the pain other

mothers have to endure while they hold a sick or even passed on child...
it's gut wrenching. This is pain that I don't even want to pretend to comprehend.
My husband and I spend most of our time talking, holding, playing with, helping,
parenting, enjoying and mostly loving our children. There is no other love, for
me, that compares to the love I feel for my children.

I've posted these Song Lyrics I wrote a few times (I won't post the whole thing
again, just the first verse and chorus...cause the first verse talks about what
you mentioned about other mothers,

WHERE HAVE ALL THE LEADERS GONE? (SONG LYRICS)

(VERSE 1)
Beyond the sunset another child smiles
Held in her mother’s arms for a while
Cuddled up with faith her guiding force
She prays to her God for the same things of course;
For leaders to lead us down a path of peace
That her baby will always have enough to eat
That her neighbors get all the help they need
And imprisoned minds will someday be freed

(CHORUS)
We sing for justice in a song
The world in disarray for so long
If right is someone else’s wrong
then who’ll teach us how to get along
With divide and conquer going strong
Where have all the leaders gone?

[teryang]

3. I had a related thought yesterday

What would an American do if their loved one was killed by anthrax or smallpox? I question this from the point of view that the source of such an event would probably be domestic rather than foreign, at least in my estimation.

[upi402]

5. Sounds like you've seen the movie

V is for Vendetta
:toast:

[teryang]

8. No I haven't but I'd like to

Someone told me about the movie, I thought it sounded quite good.

[blondeatlast]

4. Kick for a very thought provoking post. nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. I don't think we ever will recover from the damage that's been done.

We invaded another country...and now, it is proven that there was no cause to do so. We have lost our integrity with the rest of the world...they will never look upon us the same again.

[TahitiNut]

12. I sadly agree. My cousins are killing my cousins.

It takes no imagination of "what if they were your relatives?" They are. I don't need a family tree to tell me that.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. Ka-ching. Spot on.

You said it better than I did.

[uppityperson]

7. nowhere is it written that the american empire will go on forever.

peace and love to you DUers.

[mdmc]

9. .

:patriot:

[countryjake]

10. Watch this video about the Massacre at Haditha...

"In One Village, Video Tells A Story"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/20/eveningnews/main1419509.shtml

to find an answer to your question. The little boy crying over his father, along with the translation of exactly what he is saying, has stuck in my brain all weekend. That child represents every single one of the victims we have created...we're not "spreading democracy", it's sheer terror that is raining down on these people.

I feel that child's hate and I wholeheartedly agree with him. Problem is, there's no separating me from the government that supplied the soldiers and the weapons used to attack those fifteen people. The blood of those children and the blood of their mothers and fathers is just as surely on my hands as it is on the Marine unit who murdered them.

If you'd ask me who I would defend, it would be that lone little boy. He does not give a shit who I voted for in the last election; he doesn't even care who I advocate for President, or what political party I might be partial to. All he knows is that Americans killed his daddy. I am deeply ashamed to fit that description!

[hopeisaplace]

13. thanks for the post, you know I get so upset (even physically) about

suffering children, that I know if I watch this...it will consume my mind (and it
will anyway because I've read your post), but I think I'm not going to click on it?
It's hard to know that on this link is yet another child suffering. The link is haunting.
But these links need to be out there for as many people to see as possible.
Thanks for posting it.

[countryjake]

16. The link is to the CBS story...

you'd have to click on another link on the page to actual watch the video report by Lara Logan about that Iraqi video and see some of the clips that they aired on the news...they are truly disturbing and of grave concern to everyone, honestly. I can understand your anguish because I feel the same way, but this story must be told, before it gets lost in the carnage.

That Marine unit went on a rampage after one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb. They murdered fifteen villagers five hours later, then claimed in official reports that those deaths were also caused by an IED. If the video in the report hadn't surfaced, (filmed by a journalism student the day after the incident) nobody would ever have known what actually happened. It took place last November and several investigations have already been conducted, including studying the Iraqi film for authenticity, and verifying the victims, which included women and children.

The whole nation of Iraq is suffering, at the hands of America.

[w8liftinglady]

19. I'm the same way

-just hearing stories about children crying over their dead parents,losing limbs,etc just kills me.i look at my precious boys and can't imagine the torture those poor parents feel.

[countryjake]

21. It's pretty normal to feel empathy...

it's that strange inhumanity that's often expressed that really scares me...the ones who call us "Anti-this" and "Un-that" when we express dismay at the number of Iraqis who have died during our occupation of their country. There's really much to be said about the ability to imagine walking in another's shoes!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

14. Wow. "Paid compensation." For the dead.

What sick bastards we have become.

Thanks for the link.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

17. "This administration may be doing more damage than we can recover from"

I too share the same fear. In every war there seem to be attrocities, with innocent civilians paying the ultimate price. But I fear that something really dramatic will happen, something shattering like what happened at My Lai, that will permanently tarnish this country because of its particular cruelty and inhumanity. It may have already occurred but we don't even know about it. Like what the Nazis did in World War II. Just in France alone, where fewer of these types of incidents happened than in Eastern Europe, there are monuments at Oradour-sur-Glane where the Nazis rounded up every man, woman, and child in the town (about 650 people) in a church and set it on fire, killing everyone, because of local resistance activity (the scene in the movie "The Patriot" was directly influenced by this event). The same thing happened in the town of Tulle, where every male was hung on the town square in retaliation for Germans killed by the resistance. I don't want America to forever be identified with cruelty and death like the Nazis were. Unfortunately, this event at Haditha and the event of another 10 Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. troops just a few days ago, reported yesterday, may just be the tip of the iceberg.

[w8liftinglady]

18. Listening to sam Seder describe war crimes we may have committed

..I was overcome with a profound sadness.My son,a soldier,is home on leave,and he has changed.There is no soul in his eyes.He loved children and babies.He loved his brothers.Now,he just goes out,drinks,and sleeps.God only knows what he has seen,or what he has done.If my child was killed by this president?...well-a part of him has been killed,for a lie.And,yes-I hate this administration and anyone who defends them.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. 3 year old terrorists, and 11 month old insurgents.

Or, is it "collateral damage"? "Smart bombs"? Or, any of the other euphamisms invented by the warmakers to justify the slaughter.

“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy.” - Gandhi