Anti-War Speakers at MCC

MCC was hot tonight! Four speakers from the Iraq Veterans Against the War were at MCC to tell their personal stories. And the pro-War gang was there, too.

When I was at MCC earlier this afternoon and saw many pairs of combat boots lined up on the floor in the Commons, I asked the purpose and learned of tonight's program. Each pair of boots had the name and hometown of a member of the military who had died in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And guess who was most disruptive? Not the anti-war speakers; not the anti-war members of the audience. One man and two women of the Support the War gang were the noisiest and most disruptive of 15-20 pro-war "protesters". They were cautioned repeatedly by campus security officers to behave themselves, and the moderator and the speakers did a good job of not being baited.

The woman speaker told of her assignment as a convoy gunner. When her unit arrived in Iraq, she had not received specific weapons training but she was expected to man the gun mounted on her vehicle. It wasn't even a movable gun. I guess the driver had to steer the vehicle so that she could aim at her target! She spoke of being a target for sexual harassment and of encountering commanding officers who told her just to suck it up and tolerate it.

Two of the four were trained state-side but never transferred to overseas duty. The pro-war gang thought that didn't qualify them to speak, but one speaker described his conversations with military personnel returning from Iraq. Although trained to combat insurgents when they searched houses, returning troops told him they very often encountered civilians and not insurgents.

Another man, trained as a mechanic and earning $30,000/year, told of civilian employees of Halliburton doing exactly the same job, but for $120,000/year! His unit searched for WMDs and never found them.

The pro-war gang seemed to still believe that WMDs are there. I looked carefully but didn't see any sand in their hair, so they must not have buried their heads in the sand, but where have they been all these years?

Several in the pro-war gang objected to the display of boots with the names of deceased Illinois military personnel. To me there was no disrespect shown to those who gave their all. It was a graphic display of the cost of war in terms of lives. We must not forget those who gave their lives, whether we believe in this war or not.

I chose not to publish a photo of one woman who was particularly outspoken. The anguish of her loss deeply etched her face and showed so clearly the pain she feels. The loss of a child in a war is devastating, and I hope that she will someday find the peace to know that he no longer suffers.