BAGHDAD - U.S. officials said Monday they will press forward in the fight against extremists in Iraq a day after the overall U.S. death toll in the five-year conflict rose to 4,000.
The White House called the grim milestone “a sober moment” and said President Bush spends time every day thinking about those who have lost their lives in battle.
“He bears the responsibility for the decisions that he made,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “He also bears the responsibility to continue to focus on succeeding.”
(...U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 4,000...Bush says outcome of war will 'merit the sacrifice')
(a poem by thepoetryman)
Four thousand rolled away,
Warriors striding on home.
Four thousand rolled away,
Packed down beneath the loam.
Blind are the men of warring.
Deaf are the men of policy.
Dumb are imperial leaders,
Crippled of a thirst for music.
Four thousand rolled away,
Warriors striding on home.
Four thousand rolled away,
Packed down beneath the loam.
Songs go unsung among bones;
No ears heed the joyous choir,
No eyes observe the living score,
No blood left within their delight.
Four thousand rolled away,
Warriors striding on home.
Four thousand rolled away,
Packed down beneath the loam.
Leaders, blind and wicked are those
With no wings painted upon them;
Only hoisting their wretched talons
Should the music ever change.
© 2008 mrp/thepoetryman
Rolling along "U"...
un blogger SCEPTIK - UnAmerican Revolution - uncomfortably numb - Urban Unrest
The letters were sent a few days after Christmas to more than 5,100 Army officers who had recently left the service. Included were letters to about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.
"Army personnel officials are contacting those officers' families now to personally apologise for erroneously sending the letters," the army said in a statement.
It said the database normally used for such correspondence with former officers had been "thoroughly reviewed" to remove the names of dead and wounded soldiers.
"But an earlier list was used inadvertently for the December mailings," it added.
Dispatched lifeless things. Painful expressions
landing impassive upon the gaping face of loss.
Words teetering drunkenly, hand to hand to eye
newly dampened with woe and numbing queries
of how, what, when, where, why…
Wounds reopened to the fresh pinch of grief
and the smoldering task of remembrance;
tracing the whispering shape of their face,
recalling the laughter spill forth their red lips.
Slowly now in immense shuddering, like a gale
reaching under the rafters, it lifts them,
forcing love to its knees once again.
It is astounding, indefensible, and rather dreadful,
and there is a terrible irony woven within it;
the fact that the regrettable letters were sent
to those already dead... isn't the real tragedy.
Copyright © 2007 mrp / thepoetryman
US Army urges dead to re-enlist
Army asks dead to sign up for another hitch