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Iraq and Afghanistan veterans
Vietnam veterans:
[NOTE: The video interview with Vietnam veteran Bruce Cashbaugh below contains graphic descriptions and images of combat, combat deaths, and combat injuries in Vietnam. Viewer discretion is advised.]
THE FALLEN: For me, the memorial below is not a case against war. Rather, it is a tribute to the people we send to fight it. It’s intended to help people know more about the reality of the lives of the U.S. military behind the casualty statistics. And it’s to help people know more about the thoughts of the families who have lost their loved ones in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan. If some people choose to use this memorial to build an argument against war, or against OIF, that is their choice. Regardless of how some Americans may feel about OIF, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines of the U.S. military are still in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
AGAINST THE WAR? PROTEST THE WAR, NOT THE TROOPS: Something to remember: While some Vietnam veterans feel they were helped and found healing in the anti-war movement of the 1960s and 70s, other Vietnam vets felt differently. In the words of one Vietnam Vet: “I suppose that 'slighted' understates the case for the Vietnam veteran. Our reception by American society upon our return from Southeast Asia was less than hospitable and often openly hostile.†Some vets, particularly Vietnam vets, still feel insulted by anti-war protesters, especially protesters who have never served in combat. Other vets simply feel that the protestors are entitled to their right to free speech as a result of living in a democracy. These vets feel that free speech and other rights and privileges of democracy were exactly what they were fighting for in the first place.
WHY DO THEY FIGHT?: In putting together this memorial, I've read hundreds and hundreds of statements from the families of soldiers, sailors, Air Force and Marines that have lost their lives in OIF and OEF. Many of them say that their sons (and daughters) joined the U.S. military shortly after the attacks on September 11th. Some service members of the U.S. military say they wanted to fight for the United States of America following the one of the most horrific attacks on our homeland in the history of the United States.
Some, like many Americans, believed what our nation’s leaders told us about the threat to the United States from alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Some joined the military for an opportunity for a college education and a better life. Some joined the military to gain discipline and direction in life. Some troops in Iraq believe in the war, and/or feel they are helping the Iraqi people. Some say they don’t feel the U.S. military in Iraq is helping at all, and that they are now only fighting for their fellow soldiers so their buddies don’t get killed. Some think helping to bring democracy (freedom) to Iraq will help prevent religious extremism and terrorism against the United States. Some enlisted in the U.S. Military and the Army National Guard before September 11th, 2001.
STOP-LOSS AND THE DRAFT: Since the United States has not introduced a military draft for troops to fight the War on Terror, they have activated a policy of Stop-Loss for our all-volunteer military, and many of these service members are deployed to Iraq for multiple tours of duty. Stop-loss, in the United States military, is the involuntary extension of a service member’s enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond the normal end term of service. Because there is currently no draft, if you are a healthy male living in the United States, are between the ages of 18 and 25, and are not currently enlisted in the U.S. military, essentially these young men are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan so you don’t have to.
ON POLITICS: Regardless of the information that has come out since 9/11 regarding WMDs, al-Qaeda, or the Bush Administration, and regardless of what you personally feel the truth is, or who you want to vote for, over 4,000 people in the U.S. military have lost their lives in Iraq. I try as much as possible to keep my personal opinions about politics off of this page because I don’t think politics have a place in a memorial. I try to keep the sections for each service member as objective as I can. Some of the families quoted here support the Bush Administration, and some do not. I think every family should have an equal say because their statements reflect their personal beliefs about the war, and the country that their loved one has given their life to.
ON WAR: OIF is as complex as the people that fight in it. My own opinions about OIF, and about war in general are complex. For instance, I’m an admirer of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the wisdom I hear in his speeches on the Vietnam War. But I also admire the Americans who fought in WWII against a Nazi regime that sent six million human beings to their deaths in ovens, gas chambers and concentration camps. I’m proud of the veterans in my family, and my family members who helped the U.S. efforts during WWII, and the Cold War, and the members of my extended family currently deployed overseas. At the same time, I feel it’s vital to the future of America, and the future of the planet, to reduce and even eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, oil in general, and other non-renewable sources of energy.
While we continue to deal with the ramifications of September 11th, get ready to vote for the next President/Commander in Chief, and look toward the future, please remember the courage and sacrifices of the people below, those that are still deployed, and those that have come home.
IRAQI REFUGEES: From the United Nations Refugee Agency: "Iraqi refugees throughout the region have become increasingly desperate. Despite a decline in violence in the second half of 2007, only a small number have gone home, often because their resources are exhausted. Of those who returned to Iraq, many found their property occupied and suffered secondary displacement.
UNHCR estimates more than 4.5 million Iraqis have left their homes, many in dire need of humanitarian care. Of these, more than 2.5 million Iraqis are displaced internally, while more than 2 million have fled to neighbouring states, particularly Syria and Jordan. Many were displaced prior to 2003, but the largest number has fled since."
United Nations Refugee Agency Iraq page
~Apocalypse Now, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Suspiria, Eraserhead, Wings of Desire, Enemy at the Gates, Goodfellas, The Hunger, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Magician, Shaun of the Dead, The Wizard of Oz, The Birds~..
On PBS: Click the following link for FRONTLINE on the web, including "Bush's War", "Cheney's Law" "Rumsfeld's War" and "The Man Who Knew"
FRONTLINE website
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~~ ~~Man's Search for Meaning; The Vitner's Luck; Gods Go Begging; From the Teeth of Angels; Crime and Punishment; Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway; The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry; Please Kill Me; I Want More; Unholy Alliance; The Mabinogion; Meetings With Remarkable Men; Angela's Ashes; The Executioner's Song; My Dark Places; Donnie Brasco; Without A Trace; Green River Running Red; A Deadly Game; Sinister Forces; A Season in Hell; The Time of Feasting; The Secret of the Old Clock; Plan of Attack; Bush at War; State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III; Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib; Tell It to the Dead: Memories of a War; Everything We Had: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Thirty-Three American Soldiers Who Fought It; What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It, The Spear of Destiny: The Occult Power of the Spear Which Pierced the Side of Christ...and how Hitler inverted the Force in a Bid to Conquer the World; Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War; Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change; State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration; Against All Enemies: Inside America's War On Terror; The Assault on Reason; Chasing Ghosts: Failures and Facades in Iraq: A Soldier's Perspective; The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures, and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi by Aram Roston; CURRENTLY READING: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander by Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzullo
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