Candlelight Vigil No. 233, 8/25/10

"Series of Attacks Hits Iraq Cities," was headlined on page A8 of today's Wall Street Journal. "At Least 55 Are Dead in Seemingly Coordinated Actions, Raising Fresh Fears About Local Security"  http://topics.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703632304575450781081946758.html?mod=WSJ_comments_MoreIn_World.

To update that report, the current totals are 92 Iraqi men, women and children killed and 379 more severely injured from a series of car bombs detonated in 13 cities across the nation, but especially in and around Baghdad where security is at its tightest.

Unfortunately, these attacks are happening every week as the war is escalating, but on the terms of al Qaeda as they challenge U.S. control and its puppet Iraq government. Seemingly, the only safe places in Iraq are the U.S.'s heavily secured Green Zone, where U.S. and foreign officials stay, as do many Iraq government officials and the U.S. military bases, as this tragedy continues to unfold.

As for the Iraqi people, they have sweltered this summer in 110 degree temperatures largely without electricity to run air conditioning, nor in Baghdad sufficient electricity to run turbines to clean the drinking water or the pumps to process sewage. They largely do without television, radio, computers, refrigeration, lighting and other modern features electricity provides, all of this since the U.S. invasion on March 20th, 2003.

When their children get sick from the unsanitary conditions, there is a shortage of medical care because many medical professionals have fled the nation and medicines and other medical supplies often trade on the black market. As for the Iraqi schools, many of the teachers have also fled.

These are some of the horrific conditions President Obama will likely not address when he speaks to the American people next Tuesday as he tries to paint a rosy picture of what the U.S. occupation has brought to Iraq. He likely will not mention the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, including women and children nor the many thousands of orphaned Iraqi children.

John Fortier and I conduct this vigil because we don't want these people, nor the U.S. and allied soldiers and their families, nor the Afghan people who have also paid a severe price in these wars to be forgotten. And we want the U.S. for real to end the Iraq and Afghan Wars, not create illusions for Americans as our nation sinks into moral and fiscal bankruptcy.

Last night there were plenty of horn honks and waves of support, including two fingered peace signs and we thank those many people for their caring. And we thank you too dear reader for your support.

Dick