Condolences

"The battle is not merely to arrest our addiction, but to arrest our fear of all the repressed truths and hurts that were always there. After the addiction has been broken, we have to face our feelings."

Larsen & Hegarty


That was all there was, the sinking. The city drifts away to another place. Russel Crowe's latest movie is a success in the US. The empires, kings, have all departed. All the news says the same: the city is returning to normal. What happens to these voices? Why do we compromise so totally? Some of the sharpest minds in the business came together. They could see no way forward. The government was transfixed; caught; no way forward no way back. There was movement from the morning bodies; not the same expensive stretches of the leaders; but significant to us.

The cluttered collections of material; the pointless facades; all that we had access to; stale breath, sweat. They heard at the last minute a voice: help! They lined up for the assassination. The cruelty of the soldiers was not concealed. I'll save this one for myself. They wanted to hurt. They were proud of their accomplishments. And the prisoners fell in a muffled heap. There was no way forward; the pain had already been inflicted. There was no redemption.

We were compromised. These people were killers. There was Guantanamo Bay; there were the dead soldiers in Iraq. There were people who fled from the army, people who pointed out the brutality. And we, as a nation, compromised all the way. The world's biggest criminals; no one was pretending these were nice guys. They were powerful men; and with that power came crushing brutality. Supposedly we had gone into Iraq to spread freedom; but many of these other places were as bad or worse. We compromised, deeply, while the flow of events rolled over us; leaving us morally bereft and dazed, as if whacked over the head; entirely without purpose. The truth was not simple enough to provide bold motivation.

THE BIGGER STORY:

The Age:

HAILED as "the face of Queensland" by his South Australian counterpart, Mike Rann, Premier Peter Beattie self-deprecatingly referred to his wife's description of a "tired, exhausted man with bags under his eyes" when he confirmed his retirement yesterday. His expressed desire to spend time with his family after nine years in the job sounded familiar to Victorians, whose premier of eight years, Steve Bracks, went out on a similar note less than two months ago. Both built so successfully on their first terms as leaders of minority governments that each has left at a time of their choosing, still in command of their political game, while giving their successors — Queensland is set to get its first female premier in Anna Bligh — ample time to settle in before the next election.


Fox:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Nine American soldiers were killed in Iraq on Monday, including eight who died in vehicle accidents that also claimed the lives of two detainees, the military said.

The deadliest of the vehicle accidents, in western Baghdad, killed seven Multi-National Division — Baghdad soldiers and wounded 11, and left two detainees dead and a third injured. The cause of the accident was under investigation, the military said.

In a separate accident, east of Baghdad, an American soldier was killed and two injured when their vehicle flipped and caught fire. A ninth soldier died of injuries sustained Sunday while on patrol in the Kirkuk area of northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told lawmakers Monday that Iraqi forces were not ready to take over security from the U.S. military across the country.