Thursday, November 4. 2004
U.S. troops outnumbered by looters who took Iraq explosives, newspaper reports
Associated Press
November 4, 2004
Explosives were looted from the Al-Qaqaa ammunitions site in Iraq while outnumbered U.S. soldiers assigned to guard the materials watched helplessly, soldiers told the Los Angeles Times.
About a dozen U.S. troops were guarding the sprawling facility in the weeks after the April 2003 fall of Baghdad when Iraqi looters raided the site, the newspaper quoted a group of unidentified soldiers as saying. U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen witnessed the looting and some soldiers sent messages to commanders in Baghdad requesting help, but received no reply, they said.
``It was complete chaos. It was looting like L.A. during the Rodney King riots,'' one officer said.<%2/blockquote>
My minister just sent the most beautiful email to the congregation, in re: the election this week. I'd like to reproduce it here for you: Greetings members and friends of First Unitarian,
This first part of this e-mail is a pastoral response to those of you who may be grappling with some difficult emotions in the wake of the election results. If you are happy with the way things turned out, skip to the end (**)
Feelings of despair, hopelessness, disappointment are to be expected after such a hard-fought campaign.
I encourage those of you who are working through these kinds of emotions to not judge them too much. Let yourself feel bad. Grief needs to be sat with...digested...with the knowledge that it can...eventually...open up new understandings and possibilities.
When emotional reactivity and anxiety are running high, the first thing to suffer is our ability to think. Our task, it seems to me, is to keep thinking...to keep making decisions based in the best thinking we can do...and not to be too invested in our reactivity.
If you can't think clearly right now, give yourself a break. I like what a friend told me today when I asked her how she is finding peace: "I'm waiting for my mud to settle so the water can clear." Good advice for us all, I think.
I repeat a portion of the sermon I offered this past Sunday:
(excerpt from "Red, White, Black and Blue")...
OK, so where is the good news in all this? Where is the hope? Well, believe it or not, I still think it resides in the democratic process…the system of governance that ultimately holds each of its citizens responsible for the state of the country. No matter how many times we get it wrong, we still have to eventually get it right…or perish trying. I like how Abraham Lincoln put it. He said, “Elections belong to the people. It is their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.�
Maybe we’ve still got some blister sitting to do. But I rest assured in the hope that eventually those blisters will hurt bad enough to get us up and moving toward a better tomorrow. I think that’s the good part of all this current unease in our country. People on both sides are engaged in this election more than any time in the past thirty years. They are anxious to give direction to our leaders and to reclaim their citizenship, their country, and just maybe, the truth.
[There will always be a need]...for all of us who want to see change to organize ourselves around the things that really matter, for this is the only way to effect real change…lasting change…the kind of change that will meet the needs of the masses…that can get us comfortable with the truth again, comfortable enough that we can elect candidates who can challenge us to be more than we are…the kind of change that will teach us to reach out and work with our brothers and sisters no matter what their political affiliation might be.
And know that regardless of what happens on November 2nd and the days to follow, the sun will continue to rise in the morning and set in the evening, our companions will still need our affection, attention and care, and our country will only be as beautiful and strong as the degree to which we can work together to make it so.
...
At an AMOS event on Sunday, the Rev. Denny Coon offered a closing prayer that has meant a great deal to me over the past few days. His prayer went something like this...
"Dear God [Spirit of Life, Source of Wisdom, Human Promise and Possibility...etc.],
Thank you for messing up our day. We could have done so many better things with our time. But instead you brought us here...at this time and place...because we are needed. Thank you for making us uncomfortable...for agitating us...for insuring that we could not be complacent with the status quo.
Keep working on us, God. Keep stirring...keep agitating...keep making us uncomfortable...
We have work to do.
Amen."
I have found myself repeating that prayer many times...maybe it will be helpful to you, too.
And when your mud settles, let's hope your agitation does not...for your benefit and for the benefit of this great nation.
**
I encourage everyone to come to church Sunday, to choose to be together as a church family, no matter which side of the election you were on.
...Know that in weeks to come, we will persist in pursuing what I understand to be an essential mission of any religious community: to struggle together to work for understanding, justice, and healing in pursuit of the common good.
...This country has seen darker days than these...and it needs people who will continue to believe in its promise and potential.
See you in church!
Mark
A classmate from college, posted this on our alumni listserv and it got me thinking: One lesson I draw from this race came a few months ago from a friend of mine, an unaffiliated voter. While sitting at dinner with me, a Democrat, and a Conservative/Libertarian, he heard me & the other Democrat discussing whether some policy choice was the right choice, etc. And here's what he said:
"You Democrats don't get it, do you? You sit around and debate and ask yourselves what's the right thing to do, what's the best policy, etc. Meanwhile, the Republicans only think about one thing: HOW TO WIN. They understand that at its heart this is a nation of football on Sunday, of winners and losers. So all they focus on is how to get the best outcome for their side. And that's why you Democrats are in such trouble." Another classmate responded: "We can ill-afford the high-ground. Democrats must learn to fight with bare-knuckles in the republican gutter." I would disagree that all Republicans feel comfortable in the gutter--I don't think they do. But everyone, however much they might protest otherwise, likes to win.
I was discussing this same issue with someone last night. Dems (and outside of party affiliations, the moderates and liberals) need to decide what they're willing to do to WIN. I think there's a feeling that doing anything to win is simply a violation of the principles we claim to hold, so the win would not be worth it. And yet...we are upset that we didn't win. Where does that leave us?
It's funny that mention should be made of football. I had this whole great analogy last night (probably fueled by sleep deprivation) about how the dumb jocks who throw the big, beer-filled parties just beat up on the geeky guy from the debate club for the student council race, even though debate guy was being helped by the A/V geeks and the drama club. And if only we'd been able to convince the slackers and wallflowers to vote...
Come on. Don't tell me this campaign season hasn't made you think a little of high school.
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King Jr. [1929-1968]
Thanks Joe. You made my day:
Elizabeth Edwards Has Breast Cancer.
I'll repost here my picture from Labor Day. She's a charming, genuine person. This sucks.
I keep hearing that many people voted for Bush because you "don't change horses in mid-stream" (i.e. you don't change leaders during a war).
My friend and former classmate Mary Lou's response?
"Apparently Americans don't believe in changing horsemen mid-Apocalypse, either. "
We look a lot less different in this electoral map.
Thanks to Tracey for the link.
Ed Helms, in the post-election team coverage on last night's Daily Show:
"If you want to have gay sex or visit a library, it's probably your last night to do those things."
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
-- from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
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