"I'm still celebrating the inauguration," said a 50-year-old woman who often joins the vigil for about 10-minutes each time. "It will be nice when you no longer need to do these vigils."
Based on his campaign promises, she believes Mr. Obama will soon begin to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq. During his campaign he said troop withdrawals would start quickly and the U.S. would be out in 16-months. Let us hope that is the case.
In Iraq on Tuesday, 7-Iraqis were killed and 35 were wounded, and two U.S. soldiers were wounded in a Baghdad bomb blast. Wednesday, the day of the vigil, 33-Iraqis were killed and 17 were wounded as the death and destruction continues.
"On Monday night," she said, "Keith Olbermann on his show called for Obama to have Bush put on trial as a war criminal. The purpose would not just be what he did in the past, but to re-establish the rule of law so that no President ever commits war crimes in the future."
Mr. Bush, Vice President Cheney and senior administration officials should be held accountable not only for their war crimes, but for their extensive and repeated violation of the U.S. Constitution, which they were sworn to uphold and defend.
But whatever action Mr. Obama may take, hopefully he will end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan soon and help to bring peace to those deeply troubled nations.
Later in the vigil, something special happened. A white compact car stopped at the red signal. Sitting in the passenger seat was an 8-year-old boy holding his little brown boxer puppy in his lap.
The boy immediately saw the vigil and his eyes opened as wide as two tiny saucers. He asked his father what it was and as his father explained it to him, the boy nodded and stared.
When the signal turned green, they slowly pulled out and the boy turned his head back to see the vigil for as long as he could, as his puppy put his face to his and dangled his paws out the window.
The vigil had made a lasting impression on this child and perhaps when he becomes an adult he will find the courage to compassionately standup for a cause he believes in.
When large numbers of people do standup for principles of compassion and peace, the world will become a much safer place and a far more prosperous one. For instead of killing one another, we will invest our precious resources to uplift ourselves and to help all of humanity.
Dick
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