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Fri Dec 05 2008

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War in Iraq

3,000 lights delivered to Rep. Marcy Kaptur
by Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
January 5, 2007

“Your constituents will no longer allow you to fund the warfare, to send our daughters and sons, or to participate in the death.”

On Friday, January 5, at 9:30 am, on the sidewalk in front of Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s office at 1 Maritime Plaza, members of the NW Ohio Peace Coalition will hold a news conference prior to delivering to her the 3,000 lights they held up along Summit, Jefferson, and Madison Streets on New Year’s Eve. The lights were displayed to memorialize the 3,000 U.S. troops killed in Iraq to that date.

Accompanying the lights will be a letter (below), written by Peggy Daly-Masternak and authorized by the NWOPC steering committee, explaining the significance of the 875-foot strand of bulbs.

“Your constituents stood outside holding aloft the strings of lights you see before you. First in a mist, then ending in a driving rain, they stood steadfastly to demonstrate to you, to your colleagues and to everyone what 3,000 is…We call upon you to take these lights to the very heart of Congress. String them the length of a hallway or around the House floor…you will need 875 feet, the length of three football fields, to demonstrate (what 3,000 means) to all those who continue to kill-by-decision.”

The letter to Rep. Kaptur concluded, “The toll is already too long. The votes you cast will determine how many more deaths there will be. Your constituents will no longer allow you to fund the warfare, to send our daughters and sons, or to participate in the death.”

U.S. Senator George Voinovich, and U.S. Senator-elect Sherrod Brown were sent copies of the letter.

At the first NWOPC meeting of 2007, members voted to endorse the Occupation Project, geared to stopping Congressional approval of the next request for war funding the Bush administration is expected to deliver to the House of Representatives sometime in February. Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Veterans For Peace, and other peace groups around the nation have also endorsed the Occupation Project.

Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
POB 20085 Toledo, Ohio 43620

The Honorable Marcy Kaptur
United States Congress
One Maritime Plaza
Toledo, OH 43604

Dear Representative Kaptur,

On Sunday, December 31, the official total of young men and women from the United States who have been killed in Iraq came to a stunning 3,000.

On Sunday evening, while others dined and danced for the coming year—a year where we might do it all over again and worse—your constituents stood outside holding aloft the strings of lights you see before you. First in a mist, then ending in a driving rain, they stood steadfastly to demonstrate to you, to your colleagues and to everyone what 3,000 is.

We all know there are more to count.

Those who died of their injuries—perhaps loss of limbs, a traumatic brain injury or untreatable disease—months after returning to our soil. Those who, though visibly unscarred, could no longer stand the traumatic brain injury going on inside, taking lives by their own hands. Family members who died of broken hearts, unable to bear the pain of another’s pain or death.

Magnify that 3,000 hundreds and hundreds of times over to even begin to comprehend the life lost to those in Iraq, now estimated at over 650,000.

Then, sum all who might be thought the furthest removed collateral damage, those who go unaided in poverty, in education, in health care, while funding pours into the unattainable victory, immoral bloodshed and tainted trauma we are all complicit in creating.

We call upon you to take these lights to the very heart of Congress. String them the length of a hallway or around the House floor. At three-and-a-half-inch increments, with these lights, you will need 875 feet, the length of three football fields, to demonstrate to all those who continue to kill-by-decision: The toll is already too long. The votes you cast will determine how many more deaths there will be. Your constituents will no longer allow you to fund the warfare, to send our daughters and sons, or to participate in the death.

Calling for disarmament and peace,

The Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition

Cc: Sherrod Brown
George Voinovich

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