**It was impossible and probably pointless to do crowd estimates in Seattle this three-day weekend. There were protest rallies yesterday and today, peace vigils in a number of neighborhoods tonight, and an event with a popular Congressman last night.
What I did today was try to make the rounds of feeder rallies that would eventually feed into a master rally at the Federal Building. I saw a mix of church, political and neighborhood organizations as well as those devoted to issues such as the environment, human rights and labor. There was noticeable inclusion of those all along the age spectrum, range of incomes, race and ethnicity and both civilian and military (past and present). I also overheard police and bus drivers talking about chances for overtime, news reports about traffic congestion related to protests and I saw some local media and a couple of helicopters overhead. So I guess for a work day, it was a good representation.
All the same, it's a damn shame to commemorate going into our 5th year of a needless war. I read earlier today in our local newspaper that "containing" Saddam with flyovers and weapons inspections would have cost 1/10th as much as this war. The financial cost is almost unfathomable, but the human cost is even more so.
Excerpted from Rep. John Murtha's Blog:
...During this year, the Bush Administration has requested $1 trillion for the Department of Defense. $9 billion a month is being expended for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including a $2 billion a month logistic trail for transporting equipment and personnel into Iraq.
Over 3,200 of our sons and daughters have lost their lives in Iraq and close to 25,000 have been wounded, to include thousands of traumatic brain injuries and hundreds of limb amputations. The cost of disability benefits as a result of this protracted and intense war will be staggering. A recent report by the Harvard University School of Government put the total cost of providing medical care and disability benefits to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan at $350 to $700 billion...
Wow, there is a weariness in the eyes of the people in these pics. They look like I feel.
I look at that 8 or 9 year old boy in the first pic (such clear eyes!), and I think it is very likely that 2016 he could be fighting the same wars we are starting.
Maybe the Maya are correct: the end of the world will come in 2012 and it will all be taken care of FOR us.
Those are sad pics. Very well captured.
Posted by: Robin | March 19, 2007 at 09:53 PM