| NEWS
| SEPTEMBER 16, 2005
Waving Goodbye
Event illustrates the Iraqi war’s
cost in human lives and dollars
 |
| The Shorthorn: Manikandan Sachidanandan |
| Music freshman Charles Hudelot
plants a flag Thursday on the Central Library
mall. The University Democrats held a war awareness event
and placed 100 flags, each honoring 20 soldiers who died
in the Iraqi war. About 1,900 soldiers have died in the
war. |
|
By Alicia
Kania
Contributor to The Shorthorn
The University Democrats placed miniature
American flags in the grass Thursday on the Central Library mall
— one for every 20 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq.
History senior Heidi Anderson, the group’s president, stood
next to the 50 flags and read off the names and ages of the soldiers.
This marked the beginning of the group’s war awareness event.
The members set up a tent and posters that read “Pourquoi,”
“¿Por qué?” and other translations of
“Why?” They handed out fliers with war costs and other
ways the money could have been used.
One flier gave war costs for Arlington alone, more than $2.7 million.
The statistics estimate that the country’s war expenses, $204.6
billion, could have funded eight years of global hunger relief or
more than 9 million college scholarships.
Psychology junior Triola Banks received a flier and said that she
doesn’t believe it is the U.S.’s business to get involved
with Iraq’s issues.
“I could’ve benefited from a lot of these,” she
said. “I’m not benefiting from the war.”
Jeremy Serna, University Democrats vice president, said he believes
that it is important for people to be informed because many facts
concerning the war are concealed.
“I’ve known [the statistics] for a long time now,”
the political science junior said. “It shocks me and makes
me sad. These are so much better investments than the war.”
Music freshman Charles Hudelot said that after two days in the organization,
he had similar reasons for participating in the event.
“I feel like the media doesn’t cover a lot of things,”
he said. “I was really saddened [when I saw the statistics]
and felt like there needed to be a change.”
However, not everyone present shared his views.
Finance sophomore Sam Norris said he did not wish to read the fliers.
He said that he supports President Bush and believes that the money
will be reacquired through taxes.
Anderson said she knows that when people often speak out against
the war, they are seen as unpatriotic.
“Not caring about over 1,900 Americans who have died [in the
war] is unpatriotic,” she said.
Benjamin Tesfaye, biology senior and ROTC member, saw the fliers
and said he thinks that money helps soldiers. In regard to a sign
reading “How many lives per gallon?” he said that the
war is not directly affecting gas prices, and the soldiers in Iraq
are there to make a difference for our country.
“If we quit this war in the middle, [the soldiers] have died
for nothing,” he said. “People need to look at the bigger
picture.”
|
|
