I don't find myself agreeing with Kossack david mizner all that often. In fact, I will go as far as to say he is one of those posters I often find myself at serious odds with. He is what a pragmatic progressive (a.k.a. sycophantic Obamabot) such as myself might call a "firebagger" or an "emoprog" ;-)
But, I'll give credit where credit is due- he wrote one of the best, albeit heartbreaking, diaries I've ever read here tonight: I Would Very Much Like The United States to Stop Killing Children
In it, he lays out in explicit, sometimes hard to read detail, how our foreign policy- be it drones, or cluster bombs, or nightime raids, or artillery fire- have resulted in the death of innocents. Including, most heartbreaking of all, children.
I read it, and was heartbroken. And angry. And I thought "this is going to be on the rec list, it's so good, and so poignant"
But, it never happened. Only 23 recs, and 14 comments so far. And I'm trying to figure out why?
"Why is this news?" I hear some of you asking. "What a downer" I here others of you saying.
Yes, the fact that or "War on Terror" has resulted in a proxy "War on Children" is not news, nor is it the kind of thing that brings us holiday cheer. And I admit, as an Obamabot Obama supporter, it is not comfortable talking about this when the guy in the white house is one of our own.
But, the fact is it needs to be talked about. We can never, ever, become complacent when it comes to the bloodshed of innocents. If we do that, we become the very evil we are supposed to be fighting.
So I am writing this diary to ask you to give Dave's diary a read. Even if it's hard, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it breaks your heart (and it should) the innocent victims of our wars deserve to be acknowledged, and have respect paid to them, just as much as our soldiers are routinely honored on these pages. This is not about partisanship, it is about respect for human life.
So please, read and rec this diary. Not mine, but Dave's's. Because no matter what our differences may be, we should be able to agree on one thing- we would all very much like the United States to stop killing children.
UPDATE- As of 12 ish AM EST, dave is rocking the rec list, so this diary is kind of useless now. So, just use it as an open thread. Or talk shit about me behind my back, cuz I'm going to bed. I won't look, I promise!