PORTLAND DIE-IN

Defenseless Iraqi men, women and children have been caught in currents of Empire, greed, hate and revenge far beyond their ability to understand or, unfortunately, escape.

We have unleashed a firestorm in a country whose demographic landscape is prone to sectarian violence. This apparently was not considered when the lies were told which seduced us into accepting this atrocity.

We need these reminders. We need to remember those who have died, even if they may be nameless and faceless half way around the other side of the globe.

Our Democracy, we the people, have permitted this war; we have funded and justified an occupation both heartless and heartbreaking. Our taxes supply the weapons doing so much of the killing on both sides, and in many other conflicts around the world.

As a nation, we cannot hide behind the fact that the majority of Iraqi deaths are at the hands of their own people, of their own religion. A bloody drama has been set in motion in Iraq, a drama which consumes both them and us, and which offers no way out.

This day, perhaps laying down in solidarity with the dead can in some small way resurrect the heart of a nation. Perhaps our grief added to the anguish felt by the families of the dead will swell and rise and reach a kindling temperature whose heat will purify each premature death, each tortured family, each heart seared by the injustice of it all.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• IRAQ
• WAR