From the Darkness (1/17/10 Afghanistan Head-Lines)

THE NATION

The Shadow War
Tom Engelhardt & Nick Turse
The secret war that lies behind the CIA's recent intelligence disaster in Afghanistan.

We were warned by the slogging retreat of the bear, the escape from the mountains and caves, leaving shadows of our making in a proud and mournful beam.

Two Blackwater Guards Arrested on Murder Charges
Jeremy Scahill : Blackwater
The Blackwater guards are charged with killing two Afghan civilians in May 2009.

Amid our insolence, murderers pinched the flame. We’ve made our way to the gallows, heads bent, war has given birth to our shame.

Blackwater and the Khost Bombing: Is the CIA Deceiving Congress?
Jeremy Scahill : Blackwater
Two Blackwater contractors died in a December 30 suicide bombing at a CIA station in Afghanistan, suggesting that the company is more enmeshed in CIA business than the agency admits.

Onward into another secret, a new shadow, up, up, up. Beckoning our weary and exposed legs the dismal general commands that we pursue the darkness even as our eyes have gone missing.

Why War Will Take No Holidays in 2010
Tom Engelhardt : Afghanistan
From the point of view of peace or de-escalation, 2010 will be a year of no significance.

As we observe the hours travel upon their floating dust and wait upon the sun to signal a wearisome slumber our compass reads ‘turn back’, our hearts taste of home, war calls out to our tumbled cause and whispers ‘victory’.

Afghan Lobby Scam
Aram Roston : War Profiteering
Has a major military contractor in Afghanistan created an Astroturf organization to promote long-term US engagement?

We hear eternal profit traded for human flesh. Brooding hounds await our arrival upon the crag, their fangs honed in vengeance, backs unwilling to bend.

How to Exit Afghanistan
Selig S. Harrison : Afghanistan
A timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan should set the stage for the military neutralization of the country.

Our escape from the mountains and caves shall wield the shadows of our journey with a dim and mournful light.

~

We were warned by the slogging retreat of the bear, the escape from the mountains and caves, leaving shadows of our making in a proud and mournful beam.

Amid our insolence, murderers pinched the flame. We’ve made our way to the gallows, heads bent, war has given birth to our shame. Onward into another secret, a new shadow, up, up, up. Beckoning our weary and exposed legs the dismal general commands that we pursue the darkness even as our eyes have gone missing.

As we observe the hours travel upon their floating dust and wait upon the sun to signal a wearisome slumber our compasses read ‘turn back’, our hearts taste of home, war calls out to our tumbled cause and whispers ‘victory’.

We hear eternal profit traded for human flesh. Brooding hounds await our arrival upon the crag, their fangs honed in vengeance, backs unwilling to bend.

Our escape from the mountains and caves shall wield the shadows of our journey with a dim and mournful light.

........•SHRIEKING MACHINE•........ •HEAD-LINES• •RIP• ---(“Russian missiles blast Ukrainian military academy and hospital, killing more than 50, officials say”)--- There are no more lessons to learn here, no more beds to hold the human wounded, just missile’s shrieking their grotesque ode, The Death of Humankind! RIP, children of God… ---(“Hundreds attend Mercer Island vigil, march for murdered Israeli hostages”)--- Dear mourners, this is the brutal vacuum of a genocidal, terror-filled, indiscriminate war-machine made of fear and we are all hostages to its deafening roar! RIP, children of God… ---(“10-year-old allegedly confesses to fatally shooting 82-year-old man and his daughter”)--- I must confess, this is part of war’s shrieking, children lost with a we...

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FAULT METER

FAULT METER When you get a question wrong you will hear three loud beeps followed by an even louder ticking of a clock. (Like tick-tick-tick-tick-tick?) You are half right. (Like tock-tock-tock-tock-tock?) You got two halves of it. (Then I give up!) You do? (It ain’t out of weakness, it’s my adhdad.) I understand. (You understand what?) That it’s not out of any weakness on your part. (Weakness, on my part in what?) Never mind, it’s definitely adhdad. • We float, we fly, we soar! We find our wings in each other. We find friends, cousins of the one seed of existence. An existence which never began, but always was, that loves us enough to provide life’s needs, our own, the same. A collection of living peacekeepers upon the surface of the most heavenly example known to them. • © 2017 Mark Richard Prime

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Per Plex Ed

PER+PLEX-ED When you haven’t heard the truth in so long, when you do, it rings a most familiar s ong. That’s the human song, the truth rolling out exactly when it should. (If a truth is told and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound only to the one that spoke it?) Yes, but our ears aren’t strong enough to hear it. [a perplexed silence] © 2017 Mark Richard Prime

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CONFESSION ZERO

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