WAKE UP DAY: "PARTICIPATE IN A DAY OF RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS AND ENDING APATHY TOWARDS THE WAR ON IRAQ!!! Click HERE to find out how you can participate.

Visit the "Wake Up" page for more information.

Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open, the American Friends Service Committee’s widely-acclaimed exhibition on the human cost of the Iraq War, features a pair of boots honoring each U.S. military casualty, a field of shoes and a Wall of Remembrance to memorialize the Iraqis killed in the conflict, and multimedia displays exploring the history, costs, and consequences of the war. The AFSC is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to humanitarian service, social justice, and peace.

I had the opportunity to see the exhibit this past Summer at the Quaker New York Yearly Meeting at Lake George. This traveling display, which has grown too large to tour in its entirety, has visited more than 60 American cities in an effort to raise awareness about the casualties of war. The Eyes Wide Open experience really solidifies the impact of the number of lives that have actually been lost in this war - not just our soldiers, but mothers and children, the elderly, some guy just trying to get to work......

for more info: http://www.afsc.org/eyes/about-the-exhibit.htm

And what of the wounded?

The total non-mortal casualties of American soldiers (Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy combined) was 44,779 as of September 30, 2006. This includes people who have lost limbs, eye-sight, suffered burns, lost mental capacity, contracted diseases and infections, or have been otherwise incapacitated by their participation in the war. More statistics available at icasualties.org

"My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

--George W. Bush, May 1, 2003

*****************

"...I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult,
and that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult--and we are prevailing."

--George W. Bush, June 28, 2005

*****************

"My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

--George W. Bush, May 1, 2003

*****************

BUSH: The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East.

QUESTION: What did Iraq have to do with it?

BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?

QUESTION: The attack on the World Trade Center.

BUSH: Nothing. Except it’s part of — and nobody has suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a — Iraq — the lesson of September 11th is take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody’s ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq.

-- Press conference, August, 2006

*****************

- U.S. military fatalities through May 1, 2003: 140
- U.S. military fatalities through June 28, 2005: 1743
- U.S. military fatalities as of September 24, 2006: 2700

- Iraqi civilian fatalities through May 1, 2003: 1982
- Iraqi civilian fatalities through June 28, 2005: 22,563 - 25,560
(estimated)*
- Iraqi civilian fatalities as of September 24, 2006: 43,387 - 48,174
(estimated)*

*These figures are based on the number of fatalities cited in various
news reports and have been criticized, with much justification, for not giving an accurate assessment of the real civilian death count.

A much more rigorous and statistically-reliable study, conducted by teams from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and Al-Mustansiriya University, and published in The Lancet (the British medical journal) in the Fall of 2004, put the figure at around 100,000 civilians dead. However, that data had been based on "conservative assumptions", according to research team leader Les Roberts, and the actual count could be significantly higher.

Note also that the Lancet study's data greatly underestimated fatalities in Fallujah due to the surveying problems encountered there at that time. If the full and true data from this town is included, the compiled studies would point to about 250,000 excess civilian deaths since the outbreak of the aggression and genocide committed by the United States against the people of Iraq.

Sources:

http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
http://icasualties.org/oif/
http://www.zmag.org/lancet.pdf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1338749,00.html
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/Iraq_war.html
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6271

COST OF WAR: $335,699, 124, 677 AND GROWING!
http://nationalpriorities.org