Candlelight Vigil Marks 4,000 Deaths of US Military in Iraq

By Donna Lamb

Just days after protesters marked the 5th anniversary of the United States’ war on Iraq, activists once more took to the streets to acknowledge another dreadful milestone: the death of the 4,000th US soldier in this conflict. Memorials were held throughout the country to commemorate both military and Iraqi civilian deaths.

One such event was the candlelight vigil held at Union Square Park in Manhattan, sponsored by NYC United for Peace and Justice and the American Friends Service Committee's (AFSC) New York Metropolitan Office. As the organizers pointed out, the Iraq War has lasted longer than the US involvement in World War II, and 4,000 deaths exceeds the number of US military personnel killed in the first four years of the Vietnam War. By best medical estimates, more than 650,000 Iraqis have died since the invasion. Other sources put the death toll at over a million. The Bush administration has spent more than $720 million a day on this war – more than $501 billion total to date – with no end in sight.

One person attending the vigil was journalist and filmmaker Brian Palmer (right), who was embedded in Iraq three times with the same Marine Combat Unit, the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. Palmer will now be collaborating with the AFSC on its "Eyes Wide Open" project on the human costs of the Iraqi War.

When queried on what he thought of the war, Palmer said that being asked that question had sort of shocked him out of his "traditional journalist position of ‘I'm not taking a position.’ It's sort of hard to maintain that stance when you see tragic improvisation taking place, which is how I regard the war," he stated.

Referring to Sisyphus, a character in Greek mythology who was punished throughout eternity by having to repeatedly push a huge boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down again, he said, "I feel it's this Sisyphean struggle with US military personnel rolling this rock up the hill, but inevitably it comes crashing back down, crushing people, many of them Iraqi, some of them American."

Palmer went on to reflect that the hardest thing for him to understand has been how the American people can continue in such a state of denial about the war. He has come to believe that there are two main factors: 1) the absence of a military draft so people don't have to be involved since not everybody's son, daughter, cousin, or nephew is being sent to fight, and 2) the lack of an opposition party. "The Democrats caved in very early and approved the war," he commented. "Therefore, they have credibility issues, too, so they’re not able to speak out strongly enough against this continued tragedy. And that is a tragedy in and of itself."

Also present was Tsehai (right), who said she just wanted to show up and express her support for the troops and their families. "I think this war is an outrage," she declared. "It’s sucking all the money out of the economy when we desperately need things like better schools, housing, infrastructure, senior citizens, health care – all kinds of programs. It just doesn't make any sense."

Ten-year-old Lateef Fall (left) was on the same page. "Even if there were a way to win the war, we’re not going to gain anything from it," he said.

When it’s that obvious to a fourth grader, one does wonder why they can’t seem to figure that out in Washington, DC