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August 19th, 2008 9:49 pm
Veterans against Iraq War make stop in Capitol
By Barbara Hoberock / Tulsa World
OKLAHOMA CITY — Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War on Monday stopped in Oklahoma City to draw attention to their cause.
The group, wearing black shirts reading "Honor the Warrior Not the War," and "Iraq Veterans Against the War" is stopping at eight cities with military bases, including Lawton, home to Fort Sill, as part of the "State of the Union Base Tour."
The group held a Capitol press conference on Monday.
Lawton resident Justin Cliburn, who served in Iraq with the Oklahoma Army National Guard, said the group wants the United States to withdraw from Iraq, provide full benefits to veterans and pay reparations to Iraq.
Jason Washburn, who did three tours in Iraq, said he once was homeless and living with post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he saw firsthand how those who chose to leave military life are treated and forgotten. The military does not take care of physical or mental problems, said Washburn, who lives in Philadelphia. He served with the Marine Corps.
Steve Mortillo, 25, of Philadelphia, said the war has taken a drastic toll on service members and weakens the nation's ability to defend itself. Mortillo served three years in the Army and was deployed to Iraq from March 2004 until February 2005.
"A very small minority benefit from us being over there," said Marlisa Grogan, 28, of New Jersey, who served in Iraq for about a year.
The people of Iraq don't feel like they are benefiting from the war, Grogan said.
Jason Hurd, 28, of North Carolina, spent a year serving in Iraq.
He said the war is an illegal occupation, adding that the group wants to tell service members about their rights.
August 19th, 2008 9:46 pm
Anti-war group visits state
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War spoke out Monday in Oklahoma as part of a national tour that includes events in Oklahoma City and Lawton, near Fort Sill Army Base.
Several members of the anti-war group attended a news conference at the state Capitol, including Justin Cliburn of Lawton, an Oklahoma Army National Guard member who went to Iraq in 2005.
The protesters criticized politicians for saying they support the troops, while voting against legislation to upgrade military equipment sent to Iraq and take care of veterans' medical needs when they return home.
They said that contrary to what is seen in news reports, most Iraqis do not support "the American occupation" of their country.
"The Iraqis told us, 'Look, I know you have good intentions here, but you're messing up our lives,'" said Jason Hurd of Asheville, N.C., an Army veteran and medic who was deployed in Baghdad in 2004.
Kristofer Goldsmith of Long Island, N.Y., spoke of attempting suicide after becoming disillusioned in Iraq.
Goldsmith said more needs to be done to help returning veterans with medical problems, including post traumatic stress disorder.
"The best way to support the troops is to keep them alive when they get back," he said.
Members of the IVAW were scheduled to speak Monday night at the First Unitarian Church in Oklahoma City and planned a free barbecue and workshop for veterans on Tuesday at Cameron University in Lawton.
The IVAW was praised by soldiers speaking at the Capitol for helping them deal with red tape standing in the way of getting medical and other benefits.
They were joined by two Oklahoma men whose sons were killed in Iraq — Warren Henthorn of Choctaw and John Scripsick of Wayne.
Also speaking were James Branum, a Lawton lawyer who operates the Oklahoma GI Rights Hotline and Nathaniel Batchelder, the director of the Oklahoma City Peace House.
August 19th, 2008 3:56 am
More crosses to be added to Lafayette memorial
By Tanya Rose / Contra Costa Times
Lois Hood's mother is dying.
And when you are face to face with something like that, she said, you think about death a lot, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all of the soldiers killed there.
The Danville dancer thought of these things Sunday — her mother, the troops, her son who served in Iraq — when she put on paint-splattered overalls and went to the Lafayette Crosses memorial on a steep hillside along Highway 24 near a BART station.
She goes every other Sunday to pull weeds or touch up peeling paint on the white wooden crosses. This Sunday, she went to help co-founder Jeff Heaton start building 600 more crosses — in addition to the 4,122 already there — to honor soldiers killed in Afghanistan. So far, the memorial has only focused on those killed in Iraq.
Heaton said the presidential election partly prompted the addition.
"We have a progressive candidate who wants to start pulling troops out of Iraq, but at the same time, send more to Afghanistan," he said of presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama.
"It's clear the (Bush) administration lied about why we needed to go to Iraq, and I think Afghanistan was just a steppingstone to get us there. But these days, there seem to be more soldiers dying in Afghanistan.
"People think everything's fine there, but it isn't."
It'll take awhile to get the crosses up, Heaton said, and they will be scattered throughout.
"This is a hill that is so steep, you don't expect to see a bunch of crosses on it when you drive by it," said John Jensen, a volunteer from Kensington. "It makes a statement that this is an unnatural situation. We're still dying over there."
Toward the memorial base, there are several crosses adorned with broken pieces of stained glass.
Sunlight bounces off their greens and reds, as if to say, "These are different." And they are.
The stained-glass crosses are for the thousands of soldiers — no one knows quite how many — who have committed suicide.
Jensen knows about that. His nephew served in the Gulf War in 1991 and then took his own life.
"I love coming to work out here," Jensen said. "It's quiet and meditative and sometimes we don't even talk to each other while we pull weeds and clean. It's a personal thing for each of us."
He spoke of a World War II veteran who sometimes drives his old station wagon to the base of the hill Sundays, pulls out a battery-powered amplification system and plays taps on it.
Everyone there will stand up and salute while the song is playing. When it's over, the man loads up his system and drives away.
