witness

IMAGINE: “An Exhibition of Peace”
Utah Arts Festival Gallery
230 S. 500 West, No. 120
Artist reception: tonight, Monday, November 12
6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Cat Palmer, local artist and activist, has designed an exhibit that includes photographs and line drawings by Ty Norager, a soldier from Clinton, Utah. Mr. Norager's emotionally riveting images witness his experience serving in Iraq. The exhibit, which features work by Ms. Palmer and Mr. Norager, is on display at the Utah Arts Festival gallery. Mr. Norager, on leave to attend a fellow soldier's funeral, will be present tonight for the reception.

Yesterday was Veterans Day, which once was called Armistice Day to commemorate the cease-fire that went into effect on November 11, 1918. At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, the Germans and the Allies officially stopped fighting World War I.
Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1954. The name change was intended as a gesture to honor all U.S. veterans, since the "War to End All Wars" certainly was not.

53 years later, November 11 records a total death toll for soldiers in Iraq at 3,860. 3,721 of those deaths have occurred since Mr. Bush, in his outfit, declared "mission accomplished." Estimates of wounded vary from 23,000 to 100,000 with an official total at 28,451.
Still, while 2007 is on record as the deadliest year in Iraq since 2003, today's headlines hail a sharpdecline in November of rocket and mortar fire.

This week, as we honor U.S. soldiers, let's listen to what many of them are saying about the reality of the situation in Iraq. Let's work to keep them from homelessness and out of Iran.

Other headlines today announce that 26 Iraqis died today and five were wounded in various incidents around Iraq.

Add those 26 to this number: 1,109,283.

As of November 10, 2007, that's the total death toll for Iraqis: 1, 109, 283.

Some days I am haunted. Images and stories from the war zone produced for mainstream consumption often do not represent its absurd horror. Similarly, even as we have begun to listen to accounts of Iraq from U.S. soldiers, the U.S. impact on Iraqis' lives is rarely described in our public discourse. Photographer Farah Nosh has created a stark slideshow, Iraq, Brutally Wounded, which portrays life for war-injured Iraqis.

It is difficult to comprehend the way life has shattered for Iraqis in the past four and a half years. Many of those who have survived the invasion have been displaced. Indeed, the invasion has created one of the biggest refugee crises in history. The disrupted lives of Iraqis are chronicled by Lori Grinker in this photo-essay, Life Interrupted.

I don't understand how sacrifice is supposed to work in this context. It seems that during this war, more than a million people have been asked to sacrifice for the interests of a very few. All I know to do is to honor the fallen, the displaced, the wounded and the disaffected, and to keep paying attention.