Change For A Nickel

This past Tuesday I was downtown at Federal Plaza to see an exhibit presented by Eyes Wide Shut. If you did not get a chance to see it, it is a haunting display of the shoes (or representative) of Iraqis who have been killed in the war. They were arranged in different geometrical layouts from all ages and all sizes. There was also a display toward the middle that contained screens with pictures on both sides. In the middle each screen told a short story about the life of an average Iraqi and how they died. This display does not and can not do justice to that life but it does offer a small window into what is happening every day to real people.

Regardless of your views about this war there is one thing that is indisputable. This war and every war affects real people. It tears their lives apart. It impoverishes, humbles and wreaks havoc on all that it touches. The people portrayed in the exhibit were real people who’s light is lost forever. There are many numbers that officials quote when speaking of the death toll due to this war. Some say 50,000. Some say over 600,000. I ask one simple question. One? Is this war worth one life? Can anyone answer that?

This Saturday, March 17th I will be in Washington DC joining fellow veterans and others who want American troops out of what is now a civil war in Iraq. It is my firm belief that the illegal and immoral war we started can not be won by force. Iraq has now descended into a civil war as stated by officials in the Pentagon. I believe it is impossible to take sides in a war that has enemies of the US on both.