4,000 U.S. deaths in Iraq bring 100 protestors to McCain's office

Group holds candlelight vigil, reads names of Arizona's war casualties

 by Allison Denny
 published on Wednesday, March 26, 2008

John Battaglia / THE STATE PRESS

AT McCAIN’S DOOR: Tempe resident Sheila Bateman, the mother of five ASU graduates, protests outside of Sen. John McCain’s office Tuesday evening.

Joe Battaglia / THE STATE PRESS

LIGHT A CANDLE: Treasurer of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, Hal Stahl, holds candles in remembrance of Arizona’s lost soldiers in the Iraq war during the protest Tuesday evening.

Rustling signs, glowing candles and bowed heads illustrated the feelings of Valley protestors Tuesday night as they gathered in Phoenix to honor America's 4,000 fallen soldiers.

About 100 anti-war activists gathered outside Sen. John McCain's office for the second time in less than two weeks in protest of the war in Iraq.

The Phoenix chapter of the End the War Coalition hosted the gathering along with Veterans for Peace, Arizona Alliance for Peace and Justice and Grandmothers for Peace, among other groups.

Virginia Hauflaire, a spokeswoman for the End the War Coalition, said the loss of thousands of soldiers is just one more reason to end what she called an immoral war.

The number of people impacted is more than 4,000 when you consider who is affected, Hauflaire said.

"Every person that we lose has a family," she said. "[The loss] is incalculable."

The coalition started just after America entered the war in 2003, Hauflaire said. The Phoenix chapter has about 400 members, she added.

Danielle Moore, an environmental law student at Scottsdale Community College, said publicly standing up for a cause is an integral part of bringing about change.

"You're just promoting [war] if you're not fighting against it," she said.

Moore said focusing on the number of soldiers killed isn't as important as remembering people.

"There're so many more tears shed than just 4,000," she said.

After sunset, attendees lit candles, and Dennis Stout, co-leader of the Arizona chapter of Veterans for Peace, read the names of Arizona's soldiers killed in the war, including four ASU students.

"Those are 4,000 people — not 4,000 numbers," he said. "Each of these is a family that's been changed forever."

For each soldier killed, Stout said 15 are injured, with six to eight sustaining serious injuries.

Stout said more staggering than the number of soldiers killed in war is the number of civilians affected.

"The civilians get killed more than anyone else," he said. "During times of war, most of them just want to not get hurt more than anything."

Researchers from the group Iraq Body Count estimate more than 80,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed.

But Hauflaire said current estimates put the death toll up to more than 1 million Iraqis.

Another 2 million to 4 million have been displaced by the war, she added.

Brad Jones, of Phoenix, called the number of civilian casualties "sickening."

Getting caught up in numbers leads to putting the emphasis on the group rather than the individuals, he said.

"The minute we forget that they're people and don't put faces with [them], it dehumanizes all of us," he said.

Reach the reporter at: allison.denny@asu.edu.