Mar 19, 2008 8:44 pm US/Central
Solemn Minn. Ceremony Marks 5 Years In Iraq
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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A demonstrator marches against the Iraq war on Oct. 27, 2007, in Los Angeles. (File)
Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images
A pair of boots for every Minnesota
soldier killed in Iraq stood in the Minnesota Capitol Rotunda on
Wednesday to mark the
war's fifth anniversary.
Anti-war groups organized the display and the somber reading of more
than 1,000 names of American troops and Iraqi civilians killed in the
war, as a gong sounded between each name. The reading lasted four
hours, drawing about 100 people at the outset and smaller groups later.
Some cried. Others hugged.
Rick Hanson of
Minnetonka came to the Capitol wearing a baseball cap
with a peace sign. His youngest son, Eric Hanson, has served two tours
in Iraq's
Anbar province, and the father said he can't believe the war
is still going on.
"The reality of what we're doing up there, they're facing it every day," he said.
Former state Sen. Becky
Lourey displayed a photograph of her son, Army
helicopter pilot Matthew
Lourey, as she criticized the war and the Bush
administration in a speech. Matthew
Lourey's helicopter was shot down
almost three years ago. His mother said the anniversary of the
war's
start was "laden with pain."
"It is sad that Americans have become accustomed to the backdrop of
ongoing killings in the war in Iraq as they struggle to make ends
meet," said
Lourey, a Democrat and former gubernatorial candidate who
said the war is hurting the U.S. economy.
The reading of the names began with 59 Minnesota troops killed in Iraq.
"Private First Class Joshua Anderson, age 24, Jordan. Specialist Randy
Pickering, age 31,
Bovey. Sergeant First Class John
Tobiason, age 42,
Bloomington."
A 60th name was included -- that of Jonathan
Schulze, a Marine whose
suicide after a tour in Iraq helped focus national attention on
post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues among
returning soldiers.
A St. Paul anti-war group called Merriam Park Neighbors for Peace
organized the event, which also included clusters of shoes -- tennis
shoes, sandals, flip-flops -- tagged with the name of Iraqi civilians
killed in the war. The tag on a small pair of black-and-white sneakers
said, "Tamara Mahdi
Alankome, age 1."
Some of the soldiers' boots were decorated with American flags,
photographs and personal items including a Fort Bragg, N.C., bumper
sticker and a cross.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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