What 4,000 Means to Me

http://ivaw.org/node/3043

The news of the 4,000th US death in Iraq did not come to me in any dramatic fashion like the news of 9/11, the capture of Saddam Hussein, or the date of my first deployment to Iraq had. Instead, I simply logged into my e-mail and saw it staring at me in the subject line of my most recent unread message. I was not surprised. I was not shocked. I was simply saddened to see the toll hit yet another milestone while our elected leaders in Congress await a new administration to bounce their withdrawal plans off of and the general public continues their tradition of apathy. I was saddened that it took a clean-cut, round number like 4,000 for the United States to snap out of its daze and pay attention once again to the human toll this war has wrought. Was the 4,000th death really any more tragic than the 3,999th? If 3,999 represents an arbitrary figure but 4,000 represents a milestone worthy of front-page mention, what does that say about America’s attention span?

4,000 seems so far away from the short, virtually costless war that we were promised by our Commander-in Chief five long years ago, but, even then, 4,000 doesn’t truly tell the story of what has transpired since March 19th, 2003. Numbers will never do justice to the damage this occupation has wrought upon the United States, let alone the world, but let me tell you what the number 4,000 means to me.
There are 4,000 fewer Americans alive today than five years ago due to this occupation. 4,000 families have been destroyed as sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers have been lost. Death does not discriminate: from the E-7 husband and father to the 20 year old E-3, their lives, however fulfilled or just beginning, were taken. 4,000 funerals for the fallen have been conducted, not one with the presence of the Commander-in-Chief. . . 4,000 performances of “Taps” . . . 4,000 Honor Guards . . . 4,000 dates that will forever live on in the minds of the families of the taken.

To those who have served and to those who are proud to call their family members veterans, 4,000 will never be a sufficient barometer of what our nation has lost. Each notch on the casualty list represents a name, a family, and a life. I know a few of those names, as do so many of my brothers and sisters in Iraq Veterans Against the War; it is for them that we continue our oath of service today by standing up against this illegal and unethical war to prevent a 5,000th name from being added to this list. It is in that same spirit of honor and duty to each other as soldiers, sailors, and Marines that IVAW today demands full benefits for our returning veterans, including mental health counseling, so that no more names are silently lost in the bureaucracy of government-approved casualty lists. Make no mistake: those who return home and take their own lives as a result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are the ultimate casualties of war.

The number 4,000 says nothing about the toll this folly has had on the Iraqi people. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, have died. Millions have become refugees, either in their own country or in neighboring countries. Families have been ripped apart. Neighborhoods have been destroyed. National monuments and cultural landmarks have been disgraced. An entire generation of Iraqis has grown up in the shadow of occupation.

No, this news did not come to me as a shock, and it wasn’t delivered in a dramatic fashion. That almost makes it worse, however, because I saw it coming for so long and, despite all the work IVAW has put in on behalf of those who no longer have a voice, there was nothing I could do to stop it. Help IVAW prevent a 5,000th story of loss today by pledging your support and demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq.

Walking Alone

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Walking alone. I just got home from Springfield, Missouri, where I spoke to the Peace Network of the Ozarks. I had never been to Springfield and had no idea what to expect. The man coordinating the event seemed enthusiastic enough and he assured me that there would be a lot of support present, but you never know how people define support and community. I was pleasantly surprised by what I experienced this weekend. The turnout was not as high as it could have been in a perfect world, but it certainly was not an empty room. What I felt and saw in that building Saturday afternoon was a sense of community and support that I have yet to feel in Oklahoma. I have met some amazing people in the Oklahoma anti-war community, but I have never felt as if I was a member of that community. It is more of a feeling that I imagine exists between colleagues: we aim to achieve the same goals; we went through the same training or conscientious transformation; we sometimes work together, not quite partners but not quite competitors. From the moment I sat down with the men and women of the PNO, I felt like I was a member of their community; we were truly partners. Why this hasn't been the case is a loaded question with many different answers, but I have no idea which one is even remotely correct. In an effort to try and conceptualize what the problems could be and I how I can fix them, I am going to think out loud and brainstorm a little: Perhaps I have not been assertive enough when it comes to gaining support for IVAW and our goals in Oklahoma. It is entirely possible that, while the Oklahoma peace community and I genuinely share a common goal, there is something lost in translation that results in each of us doing different things and thinking we are on the same page. It is apparent to me now that we are not on the same proverbial page. In Springfield and other places I have been, I am simply asked, "What does IVAW need the most? How can we help you?" It's a very fluid communication process that results in much greater gains in those other areas of the country. I would like to say that the problem here is that there is a top-down communicative approach between the established peace community in Oklahoma and the new generation of IVAW members who also want to end this bloody war. That is not the case. I am not even included on the email listservs of the peace networks here; I have no idea what is going on. Not that I would ever want to overstate my "importance", but I am the most active IVAW member in Oklahoma. I am on the listservs for peace networks from the Delaware Valley to Houston to New Orleans to Vietnam Veterans Against the War. I did not ask to be included on any of these; it was understood that I need to be in the loop if I am going to be effective in coordinating with these organizations. So, we have established that communication is a problem. I was going to email the head of the Oklahoma peace community about this, but I have, in the past, sent several emails that were never given a reply. Maybe, if I can effectively communicate my disappointment and frustration with how things are being handled, we can re-establish our relationship as allies and this will all look silly when I look back on it later. We do have a dedicated group of anti-war activists in Oklahoma, particularly Oklahoma City. That much is certain, and I appreciate and admire the work they have done over all the years that I was either unborn, unexposed, or uncaring. That is why I am disappointed: I see the potential of a true partnership of OKC VFP, Peacehouse, and Oklahoma IVAW. IVAW is conducting Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan in two weeks in the Washington DC area. This will be a truly historic event modeled after the original Winter Soldier hearings that shed light on the criminal nature of the Vietnam War in 1971. This is big. With such a dedicated, entrenched peace community in Oklahoma, I had expected to have a flood of ideas coming my way as to how Oklahoma can help IVAW members publicize and attend Winter Soldier, as well as how they could turn Winter Soldier into something that Oklahoma City couldn't help but know about. I have heard nothing. I have emailed; still nothing. Meanwhile, I know that the community is not sitting around on their hands. They are doing what they genuinely believe to be what is necessary to bring about peace, but I could not disagree with their assessment of priorities more, no matter what else it is they are pursuing right now. Winter Soldier is two weeks away. History is two weeks away, but without a network of committed activists in Oklahoma helping publicize it, no one here will ever know what they are missing. I hope to have not rambled too much or spoken out of turn, but these are the honest feelings of a young, passionate, disappointed man following his heart and feeling, at times, alone on the path. Justin C. Cliburn