Crossroad for the Crosses

Kudos to the Veterans for Peace for holding up so many years during the Iraq war. Unfortunately, our government continues to invade country after country, and the memorials have to adjust to the times. I am just glad that the memorial continues, so that people can be aware of the terrible cost to the peoples of this world.

I am extremely disappointed to read that Arlington West is making such a significant change. Prior to my first visit in November 2004, less than 6 months after my son was KIA in Iraq, I saw AW in Santa Barbara as a safe place to mourn the loss of my only child. My son is buried at Arlington National Cemetery and even though I am not able to visit Santa Barbara often, I knew that when I did visit, I would be welcomed with love and respect from the VFP volunteers who cared for this important memorial to our loved ones.

That the iconic wooden crosses will be replaced by plastic headstones brings images of a ghoulish Halloween scene and not a solemn memorial to America's war dead.

I am grateful for every volunteer who has tended to the memorial and I understand and appreciate the hours spent assembling and disassembling every weekend. However, I am so troubled that the display will not reflect the 4,415 US casualties from Iraq. I agree with Stephen Sherrill and hope that there can be a solution found to represent both the Iraq & Afghanistan casualties.

As the war in Iraq is "ending" (not my word), it is especially important that the casualties from Iraq are not forgotten as the media drives the news cycle that will surely leave our loved ones behind.

Plastic tombstones/ headstones on what look like campaign sign holders???? From a solemn undertaking to an epitome of kitsch, although I can appreciate the amount of hours of effort the wooden crosses took to set up.

Kudos to VFP for all their efforts and for their good faith grappling with this difficult issue.

Don't more people die each day due to just accidents in the military? Ok, here's a riddle for you pattern balding boomer douche bags, when was the Vietnam memorial erected? How many US soldiers died in Vietnam? Ok, when was the WWII memorial put in? And how many died in WWII? Your trite little self serving bs each weekend just makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth each time I see it.

It's all one war. But if GoldStarMom and all the other anonymous supporters of Arlington West truly want to honor the memory of the 5,651 human being who have died in pursuit of America's imperial policy in the Middle East since March 20, 2003, then they have to show up on Sunday and lend a hand. The crosses will be there.

Wouldn't it be fine if America could stop spending half of its considerable income on contraptions and conventions that serve only to kill people?

As of first week of July. July the deadliest month since the war began is not included.

In the entire seven-year course of the Afghanistan war under Bush, from October 2001 to January 2009, 625 American soldiers were killed. In 18 short months, Obama has nearly doubled that number to 1,124 Americans killed.

God bless the troops in danger for Obama's political triangulations.

VFP = Veterans for ***Peace***, of course. At this time, contention re peace vs war has shifted to Afghanistan. Let's bring our brave young idealists home alive, ASAP. Afghans will be Afghans, so let's get out of their way and let them iron out their differences. If they facilitate another attack on us, we'll hose them down again. We've done all we can to popularize democracy. In that spirit, only they can decide if they want it. Here's hoping for many Taliban heads on pikes. (Well, painless Utopian outcomes ain't attainable.)

So very sad that this "war" has to continue for the stated reasons it does. All those boys & girls dying for absolutely NOTHING. Ask anyone who "survived" Vietnam. (Anyone not still buffaloed by erroneously believing that what we did there had any merit or moral whatsoever besides filling the coffers of killing machine makers and their political criminal cronies).

When will Amerika stop allowing warmongering old white men to send young men and women to their deaths for fun and profit?

Sure, these murderous white-collar killers always call it something else, but it isn't. It isn't patriotism, it isn't for love and honor of country, it isn't for "freedom." It isn't for any viable or moral purpose whatsoever. Make no mistake about it. It is that and not a thing more or less.

Until we say enough and then refuse to go and foment death and contagion in places we have NO BUSINESS BEING, ti will merrily continue and our children's children's children's children's children's chil . . . . . . .

so all the denials of the perpetrators notwithstanding, this really IS an anti-war memorial. thought so. 'murderous white collar killers? sounds like a movie title dreamed up by Oliver Stone. Where is the outrage at the 'murderous Muslim terrorists'? The child-killing Al Queda? The military monsters of Myanmar? and so on...

I hate being singularly (?) "antisemitic," but why is the military so vastly under-represented by Jews? The great facilitators on the propaganda front that made the Iraq war possible were mostly Jewish. Also, it would be nice if the Arlington West people erected one Star of David to represent the sole Israeli fatality in the WTC attack, a civilian. (CNN's September 11 Memorial website has stopped sortation by nationality, but only one victim was Israeli, a passenger on an airliner. Also, Israeli company Odigo, two blocks from the WTC, was warned to stay away just before the attack. Zim, an oceanic shipping firm owned 49% by Israel forfeited their lease and moved out of WTC just a few days before the attack.)

Corporate stake-holders are involved in the Afghanistan War, of couse, but many of them are Jewish.

When will we stop shying away from the truth? We are vassals, because our politicians are vassals... because we fail to control our politicians. (BTW, Capps is no sell-out.)

I'm curious as to how you know, I mean really know, in the sense of testify in court, that 'the military so vastly under-represented by Jews[sic] (I assume you mean to say that Jews are underrepresented in the military)? Do you have a census of military membership by nationality or religious persuasion? Do you have some source of data you can refer us to (statements by Limbaugh, Beck, et al don't count...)

And your opening statement to the contrary notwithstanding, the balance of your post shows that you are clearly anti-Semitic.

Yes, it is a protest, and a memorial (in fact the original memorial), and whatever else you choose to see it as. But when you are actually at AW and see grown men breaking down into tears, then you see it for what it really is: therapy. Therapy for the peaceniks, the returning wounded, the frustrated activists, even therapy for the haters who, with each heckle an nasty letter to the media, work through their own discomfort with reality. AW, in any incarnation, will always be a movement towards healing.

The so-called "War on Terror" is indeed "all one war," as douglasgillies (above) points out, and it continues to be waged in Iraq (where 50,000 U.S. troops remain), even as Afghanistan is targeted for increased attention. It may be deemed "necessary" to extend this permanent war to other countries.

I support efforts to see that this compelling memorial at Arlington West honors all of our troops killed in the one War on Terror that is being waged in their and our names.

OK, my "antisemitic" posting was unqualified. Bad form. It was late & I was tired.

First, the Israel Lobby (AIPAC et al.) is hawkish on a pro-Israel US foreign policy. The fact that ***Capitol Hill*** acts as though AIPAC represents all Jews doesn't mean AIPAC really does so.

Second, the Jewish connection is notable because it's a tail-wagging-dog situation. If it was Knights of Columbus sucking us into a Global War on Terror, with Italians being hugely influential in the mass media, that would be wrong too, and to the same degree. Who in heck cares about yarmulkes and gefiltefish, vs Italian garb and pasta?

Third, I would love to stop yammering on Jewish influence on our foreign policy, for verily mine hair shirt vexeth sore. But where is the dissent? Most readers would sooner interrupt a street basketball game in Compton and ask the players to stop swearing... and not that all street games in Compton necessarily include swearing! The J word scares people.

Here's a link to an article on Jewish representation in the US military. It quotes from Jewish sources, and it puts some of the blame on the military:

http://mycatbirdseat.com/2010/07/gord...

And yes, corporations and W's personal ambition also made the Iraq war possible. Jewish (mostly) neocons couldn't do it alone. It takes a village.

I'd like to say thank you to those committed men and women who have maintained this memorial every week--year after year.

Jukin preserved the lives of troops by voting for Bush and John Locke thinks anti-war is a bad thing. That's enough to know about these fine specimens of humanity.

There are soldiers fighting in this war who weren't even born when the Bush Sr./Saddam Hussain rift started. How many more generations will pass before this war ends?

How many people died because Hitler was pissed about how Germany was humiliated and ruined by the Armistice signed at Compiègne? He even hauled out the same railroad car to humiliate the French in 1940.

Although there are many war protesters out there, what you don't seem to understand is that war is a necessary evil. Now wait, before you beat me up let me explain something to you. If we were a nation unwilling to engage in war, the rest of the world would see us as weak. Before you know it, every Tom, dick and wannabe dictator would simply come over here and take us over. Then, we'd all be speaking North Korean, or Iraqi or God knows what. Thanks to brave men like Ronald Reagan, George Bush Jr. and Senior, they didn't back down when some other country threatened America's freedoms. These are the same freedoms that hundreds of thousands of Brave men and women have died to protect. Don't you realize that without war you wouldn't have the right today to even make posts like these. Thanks to our brave service men and women we actually have the right (Still) to speak out against those whom we disagree with. That's right, I'm speaking about your first amendment rights that were guaranteed to us by our forefathers who, BTW also understood that freedom was worth fighting and dying for. So the next time you feel like protesting war or saying anything negative about our military, thank a veteran for that privilege. Hell, in North Korea you're thrown into a labor camp for having your damn hair too long. God help you if you ever speak out against your Government! God Bless our Country and God Bless our fighting men and women.
Okay, I'll climb down off of my soapbox now, you Jackwagons!