Oh, God. Voices of the Wounded...LA Times.

[madfloridian]

This should be required viewing and listening for all those who voted for this war, and those who think we should stay. Not easy to view and listen to at all.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wounded/la-na-wounded-series,0,936394.special

PART ONE OF THREE

Bringing Back the Wounded With Heart, Soul and Surgery
Injured troops are swept up in a lifesaving process unmatched in past wars — reaching hospitals in minutes and the U.S. in days. But their agony doesn't end on the battlefield.

The Gallery: Voices from the Front has pictures that need a warning.

But this is what war looks like. And Bush got his war on the backs of so many innocents.

[RedEarth]

1. bookmarking....

[Olney Blue]

2. These troops will suffer forever....

meanwhile, Laura is back in the WH complaining about the shabby rug Hillary left.

Glad this administration has its priorities in order.

[silverojo]

5. Laura B***h (no, I don't mean Bush)

ought to ship her worthless twin whores over there to fight the war that their father started.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

19. That's pretty uncalled for.

The Bush kids might not be Chelsea, but it's not fair to call them worthless whores just because their parents are. Anyway, the kids don't even seem to like their parents. They may be liberals.

[Divernan]

20. Don't insult us liberals by saying Trust Fund Twins may be liberal.

Those two party animals use their family's ill-gotten gains and illegally stolen political office to cover their asses and get special treatment every damn day of their lives. "Worthless" is a very accurate adjective to describe them. They give back NOTHING to this country or society or any worthwhile cause.

And don't try to hid behind those 2 PR scams the WH flacks put out. Jenna is not TEACHING because she is too damn lazy to have acquired even the minimum credentials required by a private school. She is a "teacher's aide" at best and one wonders how regularly she shows up for work. Certainly no credible school would employ in its classrooms a woman publicized for her drinking and dirty dancing at a local Georgetown nightspot (the Thong Dance, as it was described when she was on all fours and waving her butt in the air - google it for details). PR spin two is that Barbara was working in an aids hospital in Africa.
She was in Capetown for 6 weeks, during which she volunteered "a few times a week" in the burns unit at a Red Cross children's hospital. She has no medical training to actually provide any useful assistance and wasn't there long enough to have acquired much useful on-the-job training. From a July, 2005 article in the Zimbabwe Observer:

www.zimobserver.com



Hospital spokeswoman Diana R.B. Ross said she had heard nothing about Barbara Bush working as a volunteer. ''That's news to me," she said yesterday, standing outside the hospital as children streamed in and out of the building.

Nasrina Teladia, director of the Friends of the Children's Hospital, which runs a volunteer program for the hospital, said Barbara Bush did not sign up through her organization. ''I wasn't aware she was with us," Teladia said. ''Of course, she could have come through special channels."


More than 20 hospital employees, asked if they had firsthand knowledge of Barbara Bush's work, said they had not worked with her.A hospital administrator, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that friends had told her that Bush volunteered a few times a week in the children's burn unit.

[Bridget Burke]

21. There is no evidence that either girl has ever taken money!

There's also no evidence that either one has ever had a political thought. They DID campaign for their Dad, but they've been lying low.

In fact, neither one has been arrested for some time now.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Oh wow

Strongly recommended.

[madfloridian]

4. The comments are a mixture...mostly anger and outrage. Link.

http://newsblogs.latimes.com/lifeline/2006/03/stitching_toget.html#comments

[madfloridian]

6. A few of the comments.

"The tragedy of the war is mirrored by the tragedy of the media who look away from its consequences. Thank you."

"Bravo, LA Times. Most of our brave compatriots avoid seeing the realities of war. Tragically, many of our brave men and women in uniform have already and will continue to come back from Iraq with deep psychological wounds that will wreck entire families but will be invisible. All to make George Bush APPEAR to be a strong, resolute leader. Pretty easy with other people's kids."

"Over 50,000 US citizens died in Korea. Over 50,000 US citizens died in Vietnam. Will it take over 50,000 US citizens dying in Iraq and other wars of Bush/Cheney who were not elected, but appointed in 2000 by the US Supreme Court, before the citizens of the United States wake up and take to the streets to protest? If you demonstrate to end this war, will it have any impact if elections are controlled by corporations who manage the voting software in a sufficient number of voting machines in enough states to ensure this group of neocons control of our government for many more elections... if we have elections?"

"I feel very moved by these pictures and also by the courage of the LA Times to publish them. They are the faces of violence. The gripping visibility of politics. Their pain, their suffering, their distance seems so useless. Nothing justifies it. Nothing. They are heroes, real heroes for a very different reason. They are the living image of the human essence.
My thoughts have been with them since March 2003. Every day. Every hour.
I´m sorry. I am. We all should be."

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Why did "Suicide Is Painless" start running through my head?

M*A*S*H redeaux.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[AuntiBush]

8. !

* should be forced to listen to this. Oh wait, like he'd care.

Pitiful.

K/N

[tuvor]

9. Kicking and recommending. The more publicity this gets

the more it'll piss off bush and co.

Besides, it's just the right thing to do.

[LuckyLib]

10. Given that the Bushistas won't show the American people

the coffins, any press coverage of the carnage is one way to get a sense of how senseless this all is. And these are the pictures they chose to show -- no doubt others are simply too gruesome . . . the body parts from explosions, Iraqis picking up their loved ones from the streets. It's such a waste. Bring them all home. And in the meantime, one comment from a father whose son is deployed there hit me:
"Do you support this? Then send your kids, grandkids, and siblings over there,and bring mine back."

[w8liftinglady]

11. make your opinion known,duers

here's mine

Look closely at these graphic images,people.my kid was there,and it made an indelible imprint on his psyche.Does this war carnage offend you?Then vote against everyone who supported this illegal war.All Republicans...and any Democrats who have not spoken out against it.We are destroying the next generation,people.My son will never be the same.Do you support this?Then send your kids,grandkids and siblings over there,and bring mine back.Thank You for having the courage to show the real cost of war.

[Carla in Ca]

12. I read you comment at the link

as well as all the others. I also posted one of my own. I could not believe my eyes when I opened my LAT this morning. My husband and I said a prayer together for all these brave soldiers that are wounded, and for all the ones who will not come back.
We sincerely hope your son will be able to put that horrible time in perspective and find happiness.:hug:
This makes my weekly protest with Code Pink OC all the more important, and necessary. We are doing our best to make sure the people who see us don't forget.

[w8liftinglady]

13. Thank you

I really appreciate your activism.Thanks for sticking your neck out for my kid:hug:

[Carla in Ca]

17. I have been protesting with them for

almost a year. It can get pretty brutal, but in the months since Katrina, we have gotten much more positive responses and a lot fewer gestures and crude comments. And in OC, that is amazing. We will not stop...until the madness of this 'war' does. Count on it.

[w8liftinglady]

14. DUers...find your voice...comment

[Raksha]

15. I don't think I could take it.

I saw the front page of the L.A. Times when I was out shopping today. There was a picture of a wounded soldier lying in a hospital bed, horribly wounded. One eye was gone and his face was all torn up and it looked like most of his teeth were missing. He was clearly in a lot of pain.

That picture must have caught me in an unguarded moment, because I felt so much empathy and pain it was almost overwhelming. I realized how most of the time I shield myself from that kind of thing, not even reading stories about Dubai (for example), because I truly don't WANT to know what's going on there and how much people are suffering.

I was grateful I can still feel compassion, even if it hurts. I'm glad I haven't become completely numb inside. But yeah, I hated Bush all over again, or let's say the picture reminded me WHY I hate him. I wish he could have a big blow-up of that soldier's face across from his desk in the Oval Office, except that he probably doesn't spend that much time there.

[file83]

16. That was sobering.

[shenmue]

18. Just awful

:(

:cry:

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. It's about time

all the ribbon lovers need to see this.

[malaise]

23. About time they show America

the real good news from Iraq. Good fucking grief. Look what they've done to our children.
Edit -sp.

[Faygo Kid]

24. Powerful. Essential. Where has this been the past three years?

One poster comments that the LA Times story reminds him/her of the Life magazine photos of the wounded in Vietnam. I agree, and hope the impact will be similar. The American people must see these, starting with the Bushbots. This is reality; death and dismemberment for an insane neocon dream fomented by those without any knowledge of war (or care about its costs, so long as the "little people" fight it for them). Get angry.

[madfloridian]

25. Part Two: The Journey Through Trauma.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wounded/la-na-wounded-series,0,936394.special
PART TWO OF THREE

The Journey Through Trauma
U.S. troops who survive the critical 'golden hour' after being seriously wounded in Iraq can owe their lives to a fast-acting team of battlefield medics, pilots, nurses and surgeons.

The comments section is a mixed bag of apologetic rhetoric, true concern, and some don't blame Bush stuff. Some seem truly surprised that war brings such pain. A generation in denial.
http://newsblogs.latimes.com/lifeline/2006/03/stitching_toget.html#comments

[mzmolly]

26. Perhaps Laura Ingram should join the military?

K & R

I'm glad the media is finally telling the story of the Iraq War.

[Solly Mack]

27. I wish every time people closed their eyes they could still see

those images.

Every time they opened their eyes they could still see those images.

Every time they looked at their children they could still see those images.

Every time they looked at their SO they could still see those images.

Then I wish they could see those same people, months down the road, still fighting to live. Still struggling to build a life - sometimes without hearing, sometimes without sight, sometimes without limbs. Sometimes without all of the above. Sometimes all that's left is the body - for the brain has been shredded beyond repair.

People need to see the death - all the dead - all the maimed...and then not be able to shut their minds off to what they've seen.

As long as the maiming and the dying continue, the luxury of just putting it out of your mind, even for a minute, is a luxury we can ill afford.

My anger grows at times when I think that some people can look any images from Iraq, express outrage, then go about their day as if that moment in time is gone forever for them. That it's now out of their minds until the next time they happen upon some pictures. I'm not directing this at anyone here - just talking - just expressing the anger that has gone through my own mind for the last 3 years. Every time I see images of the war, I wish people could forever live with those images imprinted on their brains. I know that's horrid of me - I know that's mean...but I don't care.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

28. I can't believe they are running that.

I'm glad they are, I'm glad they haven't caved in and pushed the war is peace BS. I'm just surprised to see such blatant disregard for the WH's decision not to show the reality of war to the public.

I respect the decision of the L.A. Times, if it wakes up even just a few more people who've been blind to the truth it's worth it.

[JohnnyRingo]

29. I just deleted my own post on this

I type slower than most.

I guess The LA Times didn't get Rove's memo that only good news must be reported....Thank goodness.

Every chickenhawk barstool republican who endlessly repeats the party line on Iraq should have to watch this.

War destroys families and should never be a "choice"

[Media_Lies_Daily]

30. And the REALLY sad part is that these guys are only slightly....

...wounded in comparison to a lot of the troops. We didn't see any amputations, and no head injuries. Think about that while you view these pictures, as bad as they are.

[CAG]

31. No doubt O'leilly will be back at it : dem dere libruls in the LA times

"Why does the LA times hate America???"

[flyarm]

32. as tears stream down my face..i cry for our children who have paid

the highest price and for their families who have paid the highest price ..for the corrupt criminal in our white house...

this criminal one in our white house should be hung..for the treason he has committed to our soldiers , their familes, for the innocent lives snuffed out in Iraq..and each and everyone in this administration that was responsible for this crime to humanity should also be hung for treason!


i can only cry for their loss...and continue to fight to get these bastards in our government tried for the crimes they have committed..of that , swear i will never stop the fight to hold them accountable,.,
fly

[SoCalDem]

33. WaPo has "Ward 57" still up and running..It's a heartbreaker too

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16510-2003Jul19.html

[coolslasher]

34. vote for war

i didn't vote for this war :D