Students observe Iraq War anniversary

Author: Brian Fung

The hubbub and commotion typically associated with lunch hour at Proctor Dining Hall ceased briefly on Monday afternoon as Daniel Kane '09 stood on a chair and called for attention. Proctor diners then paused in a campus-wide moment of silence meant to honor those who had fallen in Iraq.
Thus did the College mark the fourth anniversary of the United States' second invasion of the Middle East country. Since March 2003, more than 3,500 American soldiers have been killed either as a direct result of hostilities with regular Iraqi forces or due to the ongoing postwar insurgency.
On the Proctor patio, volunteers from the student organization Hope for Peace braved wind and snow as they read the names of American servicemen and Iraqi civilians killed in the violence. Loudly or softly, slowly or quickly, the names were read whether people stopped to listen or not.
"The goal is just to give students a better idea of how many people have been killed in this war," said Jamie Henn '07, "and it's much more powerful to go through name by name as opposed to just reading off the number, '3,500 killed.'"
Henn and others began the memorial readings on Sunday at midnight and continued through the next 24 hours.
"We had two lists," said volunteer Will Bellaimey '10.5, who read from 11:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on Monday night. "We had one list that was of U.S. soldiers killed in battle, and the other list was of civilians. I think I read about five or six pages."
The list of Iraqi civilians was especially revealing, according to Henn.
"You realize that these are bakers and TV journalists," he said. "These lists give their occupations and gets these snapshots of people's lives, which is so much more than you usually get in a newspaper."
Though the organization boasts roughly 25 volunteers, many readers were recruited literally right off the street.
"It's exciting," said Henn. "A lot of energy builds up really quickly."
Meanwhile, students walking down Storr's Walk on Monday could hardly help noticing the thousands of tiny American flags poking out of the snow. According to Bellaimey, who helped place the flags, each represents one of the 3,500 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq to date.
"We tried to get the Arlington Cemetery kind of feeling," said Bellaimey. "In the light, now, it actually looks pretty good."
According to Bellaimey, the idea to commemorate the invasion's fourth anniversary originated with Nate Blumenshine '08, and was a collaborative effort with another group, Iraq Veterans Against the War. The two groups plan to continue their activist efforts in the coming weeks.
"I know some people drove down to DC [for a protest] last weekend," said Bellaimey. "There's also a big rally in Burlington this weekend that anybody not going away for spring break is going to try to go to."
But until then, midterms - and lunch - are likely to remain foremost on students' minds. Once the moment of silence was complete, Kane stepped down off his chair.
"Thank you," he said quietly.