How can you ever say we're sorry?

To put a human face on the shocking estimate of over 600,000 Iraqi dead, take a look at the Oct 18, 2006 post in the powerful blog Baghdad Burning. Writing from a Baghdad under siege, this young woman paints a very personal picture of what that figure means.

Life is so different here in America where life seems to go on as usual. But I can sense a great uneasiness about this war, and as we approach the November elections, I expect to see a change in Congress. I surely hope so, for that is the realistic way for this war to end. Bush will still be President. He can issue his proclamations. But it is the Congress that allows the money to be spent - for war or anything else.

I have wondered - ever since I marched along with millions of others in different parts of the world, in opposition to this war months before it began - how can you ever say "I'm sorry - it was a mistake" - when you ruin a country's infrastructure and slaughter its people. What can you ever do to make it right?

I think these are times to pray for humility... for guidance... for the courage to act with justice and love. What that will look like, I do not know. We each can do our part by speaking truth, and by imagining a life that shines - beyond these dreadful times.

Gail Murray 10/20/06