"I'm reading your sign," said a 65 ish woman, a little white Scottish Terrier at her side. "These wars are destroying what is left of our national treasury and taking many lives beside," she stated with frustration and anger ringing in her voice.
"I used to be a peace activist," she added. "Against the Vietnam War and against nuclear proliferation." She then thanked us for conducting our peace vigil.
This was a nice start to a vigil that attracted many horn honks and waves of support from among the eight lanes of two way traffic, often bumper to bumper on Pacific Coast Highway. Of course it is the four lanes approaching us, from which nearly all the response comes. "God bless you," said a 45 ish woman from an SUV as she held her right thumb up, while the driver, a man of comparable age waved to us. "We have friends whose kids are over there," she remarked in a dark tone of voice, her eyes narrowing and her facial muscles tightening. At that instant, the signal turned green and they had to drive off but she was aching to say more, as she leaned back toward us trying to express herself.
While in Iraq, the Obama Administration is insisting on leaving 3,000 to 4,000 troops there after the mandatory pullout date of 12/31/11, in violation of the Status of Forces Agreement. Thousands more U.S. troops are likely to remain, but not categorized as "troops." Currently, the U.S. has about 50,000 troops there. In addition, how many thousands of "contractors," (U.S. hired mercenaries) will also remain is unclear as it is unclear how many thousands are there now. To read more, please see "Plan Would Keep Small Force in Iraq Past Deadline," New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/world/middleeast/07military.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp
The continued U.S. military presence in Iraq should surprise no-one. For with the exception of Vietnam, where the U.S. military was driven out, the U.S. military remains in large numbers in Germany and Japan 66 years after World War ll and in Korea, 58 years since the end of the Korean War and they remain elsewhere everywhere the U.S. has fought.
But returning to the vigil, "Thank you guys for doing that," said a 30 ish man in an SUV. "I was in the Coast Guard for six years. Now I'm a firefighter. I've had three friends killed in those wars," he stated as he quickly rattled off their names, names clearly not far from his thoughts. He then explained the media doesn't even cover these wars and he finds that offensive given the price in lives being paid. "Thanks for being out there," he added.
As the vigil drew to a close, a 67 year old woman arrived who used to attend regularly. After telling her we were just finishing, John Fortier and I extended the vigil 10 minutes to accommodate her and as it turned out, to accommodate more drivers who expressed their support with horn honks and waves.
Dick
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