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Council Joins Anti-War Memorial Event
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Council Chairman Abdul Malik Mujahid addressed a large crowd gathered in
Chicago's Federal Plaza to pay homage to the 2,000th U.S. Military casualty in
Iraq and to call on Congress to stop the funding of the war last Wednesday.
Participants held 2,000 placards containing the image of a pair of combat boots
with the name, rank, age and home state of the soldier who was killed. Other
placards bore names of Iraqi civilians killed in the war representing the more
than 100,000 estimated deaths of Iraqis.
The memorial included speeches
from military families, veterans, and hundreds of concerned citizens both paying
homage to the lives lost and calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops
from Iraq. Other speakers included Rev. Michael McConnell, the Regional Director
of the American Friends Service Committee, Vietnam veteran Ray Parrish and
several mothers and siblings of soldiers who are currently stationed in Iraq, or
who have already lost their lives in the war. The event was co-sponsored by
Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Vets Against the War and Gold Star Families
for Peace, the group founded by Cindy Sheehan. This event is part of a push to
urge Congress to use the power of the purse to end the war, bring the troops
home, close U.S. bases in Iraq, and instead fund the human needs laid bare by
Hurricane Katrina.
To date, the state of Illinois has lost 79 soldiers in
Iraq and Illinois taxpayers have paid $10.7 billion to the Iraq war, with
Chicagoans contributing $2.08 billion.
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