Good morning...
this is a link for my friend Susan`s blog.
its new one,but i like it,i feel realy she is very close,and we both
have same language and same vision,even she is American,and i`m Iraqi
.
well that gives me hope,we all can participate to make peace one day.
her link is : www.dancewater.blogspot.com
and this article is from her link.
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War is costly. Peace is priceless.
Memorial for the dead of the war on IraqAfter the counter inaugural,
Linda and I had lunch, then we went to the EYES WIDE OPEN exhibit at
the National City Christian Church. This was the second day I worked
on the exhibit. I worked behind the table at the entrance, and spent a
fair amount of time trying to straighten out the tee shirts and find
the right sizes for people, and answering questions. The tee shirts
had the slogan "War is costly" on the front and "Peace is priceless"
on the back. We moved some of the soldier's boots to the front steps
of the church, and placed candles besides them. We handed out candles
to the people gathered. Several parents of soldiers killed in Iraq
spoke about their attempts to talk to Rumsfeld that day, and about
their pain and loss over this war. They spoke of the senselessness of
this war. While they spoke, I kept relighting the candles. I felt it
was important that they be lit. I got to meet Cindy Sheehan, whom I
had emailed several times over the past few weeks (her son Casey died
in Iraq). Amy Goodman was there to interview the families. As they
spoke, stretch limo after stretch limo after stretch limo drove by the
memorial. One of the speakers commented on this... how these people
are here in DC to party and live it up, while they are totally
oblivious to the pain this president's policies have brought.After the
military families spoke, we started reading the names of the American
troops and Iraqi civilians who have been killed in this war. The
people who were doing the readings were planned in advance, but they
could not find them in time, so I got to read the names of the US
troops from Arizona. I did the best I could with some of the names
(some I didn't know how to pronounce) but the common English and
Spanish names I had no trouble with, and I acted confident on the
pronunciation of the non-typical names. I read out their ages too....
age 19, age 20, age 26, age 21, age 19, .... my God, they were so
young. And again, limo after limo after limo drove by.... endlessly,
it seemed. Some Americans have so much wealth, and no hesitation about
spending on frivolous things on themselves, while others suffer so
much. And they are blind to this reality.Then I went back to lighting
the candles that had been blown out by the wind. This reminded me of
the last antiwar protest before the war started. It was on Sunday
evening in March, and it was a prayer vigil. I remember standing at
Vance Monument and singing "Give Peace a Chance" and relighting the
candles. I remember at that point in time listening to the song "Lay
Down Candles in the Rain".... and feeling it was so hopeless to stop
this madness. Now, almost two years later, I mark the deaths of the US
troops and the innocent Iraqis in this war. And I listen to, and cry
with, the US parents who lost their young children forever..... while
those children were only trying to serve their country. They were
misled and misused by the current administration.It brings tears to my
eyes, as I continue to lay down candles in the rain. The rain is the
tears of those who lost their loved ones.
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# posted by Faiza Al-Arji @ 10:52 AM
Good morning...
my friend Susan sent me this letter.
well i can see the other side of great America.
the poor people who are the parents of soliders being killed in the
war of Iraq.
huh....
and the celebration for re-election of presedent Bush.
as im seeing a familier movie...Saddam hussien and poor iraqi families
who had lost their sons in his wars against Iran and Kuwait for his
own agenda, and telling Iraqis its for their dignity.
hehe..
i can see the history is repeating itself always,but in another place.
faiza
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The Dangerous Gold Star Families
Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld continues to astound us Gold
Star Families with his heartlessness, callousness and disrespect in
the faces of our children who are being killed in the mindless
invasion and occupation of Iraq.
I am one of the founding members of a group called Gold Star Families
for Peace. Some of us families who have lost loved ones in this
illegal and immoral war in Iraq have organized to use our collective
voices to bring the tragedy of war to the fore front of America's
hearts and souls like it so tragically is in ours. We families are
amazed that so few of our fellow citizens are touched by the horrors
of the invasion and occupation of a sovereign country. It seems to us
like the only people who are asked to sacrifice anything for the war
effort are our brave young men and women fighting this so-called war
and their families. There are some families in our nation like us,
that have paid the ultimate price for the lies and betrayals of this
current administration.
I, and some other Gold Star Families, have been writing and calling
the Department of Defense for over three weeks. We were all meeting in
DC to protest the inauguration and we thought it would be a good time
to meet with Donald Rumsfeld. We have many questions to ask him about
our loved ones' deaths and we deserve to have some answers. I think it
is our right as Americans and grieving families to have these answers.
For example, why were the children of this country sent to fight a war
without the proper training, equipment or armor? Why were our children
sent to fight a war that had no basis in reality? Why are American
children still over there fighting a war, and dying in a war, when all
the reasons for the war have been proven false? When is this
administration going to bring the rest of our children home before
it's too late for their families?
If we were granted an audience with him, we didn't really expect Mr.
Rumsfeld to be truthful with us or even polite to us considering his
past history of being so sarcastically untruthful and blatantly rude.
The real reason I wanted to meet with Rumsfeld was so he could see the
face of my son, Spc Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Sadr City on
04/04/04. I wanted him to look me in the face and see my red swollen
eyes and to see all the lines that grief has etched. I wanted him to
see the unbearable pain his ignorance and arrogance has caused me and
my family. I wanted him to know that his actions have terrible
consequences.
Our letters, phone calls, faxes, and e-mails to the Pentagon were to
no avail: we received no response. So in conjunction with Military
Families Speak Out (MFSO) we decided to go to the Pentagon and try and
meet with someone, anyone. We were met at the parking lot by a couple
of dozen of police officers blocking our way. We were told that we
weren't allowed to go into the Pentagon because we didn't go through
the proper protocol to request a meeting!!
I find it so ironic that with all the tight security for the events in
DC this week that enough time and energy was mustered to stop families
in mourning so forcefully at the Pentagon. I also find it ironic that
if I were a wealthy Republican who had donated large sums of money for
the "re"-election of the President, I could have had access to all the
big wigs at the lavish parties...but I, whose son paid the ultimate
price of his precious life to this country, can't even get within a
half of a mile from the man who sent him to die.
We Gold Star Families for Peace are not giving up the fight to hold
someone in this administration accountable for the quagmire in Iraq
and the more important struggle to bring the rest of our children home
from this devastating occupation now. It takes most of our energy just
to get out of our beds in the morning and mourn our horrific losses.
We need all Americans to wake up and start lobbying their elected
officials for an end to this immorality in Iraq and to join our voices
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