A driver, a 55 ish, black haired olive skinned man, perhaps of Middle East heritage lowered his passenger side car window and asked what the vigil is about. After I explained it to him, he looked me in the eyes, raised his right hand and raised his right index finger. "No. 1," he said is the Iraqi, Afghan and other victims of U.S. forces. He asked us to remember them, as we also remember the U.S. soldiers and their families.
This was the most touching moment of last night's vigil, a vigil that attracted numerous horn honks and waves of support, along with some shout outs of gratitude for the vigil, of which Korean War veteran, retired school teacher and peace activist John Fortier participanted, as he virtually always does.
To humanize what these wars have done and will do for years to come to the men, women and children of the nations the U.S. invaded and occupied, the following story from the British news agency Reuters about a widowed mother with 5 children puts it in perspective: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Halima Dakhil lost her husband in the sectarian slaughter that engulfed Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003 and now spends her days tearful and scared, knowing her $250 monthly wage won't pay the rent and feed five children.
"One of an estimated 2 million women who are primary breadwinners in Iraq, Dakhil is but one face of the humanitarian crisis left behind as U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq nearly nine years after toppling dictator Saddam Hussein. Rent takes $210 of her monthly earning as a cleaner in a medical clinic. She depends mainly on the kindness of neighbors and other donors to feed her family. 'When my husband was killed in 2006, my youngest child, Ridha, was only a toddler,' said Dakhil, wiping away her tears with her abaya, as Ridha stood by her side. 'I took on the role of both mother and father. I support them and pay the rent. The rent is destroying me.'
"Dakhil said militants beheaded her husband, along with his brother and nephew, as they traveled to sell a car and buy another in Diyala province, a center of ethnic and sectarian strife east of Baghdad. In a cruel irony, Dakhil's spouse, a Sunni, was killed by Sunni militants who thought he was a Shi'ite because his ID badge was issued in the Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, she said. Dakhil, herself a Shi'ite, she was displaced shortly after her husband's death from their Sunni area in northern Baghdad to Sadr City, with no money, no furniture and no family support.
"As Iraq emerges from nearly nine years of what many here think of as an occupation by U.S. forces, and the decades of Saddam's reign before, it faces an uphill battle to help the poor, the wounded, the widowed and others scarred by war. 'I wish the war never happened and my husband was still alive. What is his fault? What is the fault of the innocent people?' said Dakhil, who is raising four boys and a girl." To read the rest of this story, please see "The daily struggle of Iraq's widows of war," http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111109/wl_nm/us_iraq_widows
This is but one of millions of horror stories from the U.S. wars, wars that continue to be fought even as the U.S. is broke financially and morally. Wars that vastly benefit the U.S.'s military industrial complex but are draining the U.S. taxpayer of what little financial security he or she may have left. With compassion for humanity and in remembrance of all who have paid a severe price in these wars, this vigil is held.
Dick
This was the most touching moment of last night's vigil, a vigil that attracted numerous horn honks and waves of support, along with some shout outs of gratitude for the vigil, of which Korean War veteran, retired school teacher and peace activist John Fortier participanted, as he virtually always does.
To humanize what these wars have done and will do for years to come to the men, women and children of the nations the U.S. invaded and occupied, the following story from the British news agency Reuters about a widowed mother with 5 children puts it in perspective: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Halima Dakhil lost her husband in the sectarian slaughter that engulfed Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003 and now spends her days tearful and scared, knowing her $250 monthly wage won't pay the rent and feed five children.
"One of an estimated 2 million women who are primary breadwinners in Iraq, Dakhil is but one face of the humanitarian crisis left behind as U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq nearly nine years after toppling dictator Saddam Hussein. Rent takes $210 of her monthly earning as a cleaner in a medical clinic. She depends mainly on the kindness of neighbors and other donors to feed her family. 'When my husband was killed in 2006, my youngest child, Ridha, was only a toddler,' said Dakhil, wiping away her tears with her abaya, as Ridha stood by her side. 'I took on the role of both mother and father. I support them and pay the rent. The rent is destroying me.'
"Dakhil said militants beheaded her husband, along with his brother and nephew, as they traveled to sell a car and buy another in Diyala province, a center of ethnic and sectarian strife east of Baghdad. In a cruel irony, Dakhil's spouse, a Sunni, was killed by Sunni militants who thought he was a Shi'ite because his ID badge was issued in the Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, she said. Dakhil, herself a Shi'ite, she was displaced shortly after her husband's death from their Sunni area in northern Baghdad to Sadr City, with no money, no furniture and no family support.
"As Iraq emerges from nearly nine years of what many here think of as an occupation by U.S. forces, and the decades of Saddam's reign before, it faces an uphill battle to help the poor, the wounded, the widowed and others scarred by war. 'I wish the war never happened and my husband was still alive. What is his fault? What is the fault of the innocent people?' said Dakhil, who is raising four boys and a girl." To read the rest of this story, please see "The daily struggle of Iraq's widows of war," http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111109/wl_nm/us_iraq_widows
This is but one of millions of horror stories from the U.S. wars, wars that continue to be fought even as the U.S. is broke financially and morally. Wars that vastly benefit the U.S.'s military industrial complex but are draining the U.S. taxpayer of what little financial security he or she may have left. With compassion for humanity and in remembrance of all who have paid a severe price in these wars, this vigil is held.
Dick
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