Baghdad's survivors

[sway2sway]

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/middleeast/index.html

I can't link the actual multimedia deal, but if you go halfway down the page, on the right, there is a picture of the torso of a man lying on a table. The title is Baghad's Survivors. There is about a dozen pictures of war 'survivors', for lack of a better word I guess. You can flick through them with the sound off and read about their experiences and pain. If you put the sound on there is an audio translation. Human suffering is just another price to pay, perpetuation of the same old atrocities, covered up with grandiose mission statements, it makes no sense to me.
How do you measure success in war, when there is so much death and devestation? civilian deaths attributable to USA occupation at about 100,000?
Think of the people you love, transpose yourself for a moment...it's just not right.

[sway2sway]

I've looked at those pictures and read the quotes three times now.

(do you ever, when you're feeling crummy, surround yourself with the same? I do. I don't think it's a misery loves company thing. I don't think it's wallowing or trying to maintain a depressed state. I think it's more of a coping mechanism to get myself back out of the hole, an attempt to feel the thankfulness and stay on.)

Anyway, I think I'm gonna go look at those people all again a fourth time. Most of them have children looking on in the picture, which just magnifies the sadness. It's not like one guy's missing limb is no biggie, cause you know the US have a prosthetic clinic, they'll slap a hand me down USA forearm on anyone lacking, probably a complementary sharpie tattoo "MADE IN USA". This guy has to work to feed his family that are already in poverty. I feel like if I imprint them on my brain, at least it's something, recognition, remorse, respect. It can't go unnoticed.

[tinkerlion]

don't know if it's my computer or the site, but it wouldn't go past the first picture. i'll try again tonight when there may not be as much traffic.


(do you ever, when you're feeling crummy, surround yourself with the same? I do. I don't think it's a misery loves company thing. I don't think it's wallowing or trying to maintain a depressed state. I think it's more of a coping mechanism to get myself back out of the hole, an attempt to feel the thankfulness and stay on.)



i do the same from time to time. thinking about how truly fortunate i am, even when it seems like nothings going right and such.

of course sometimes it also seems so overwhelming, and i begin to wonder what can i do? it's easy to forget that sometimes an action that might seem small to me can make a big difference to someone else.

[lietuvaite]

the pictures sure are poignant. yeah, we don't really get an idea of what is going on there liveing here...

[the duke]

I guess when you live in the outside western world, you know that people are dying and innocent civillian's lives are being destroyed, but in our little world (especially at the bottom of the world) we can pretend it's not going on if we want to...which is probably what everyone else does...