16 Words/9,500 Lives: A Vigil at the US Capitol to Remember Lost Lives
Tuesday, January 20th 2004 07:30 pm
Washington, DC USA

On January 20, during the State of the Union address, Military Families Speak Out – supported by Veterans For Peace, other peace groups and faith communities in the Washington, D.C. area – will mount a powerful, respectful remembrance of 500 American soldiers who have died in Iraq, together with penitential prayer for them and the estimated 9,000 Iraqi civilians who have died in the war and the chaos that followed.

Military Families Speak Out (www.mfso.org) is an organization of over 1,000 families nationwide with loved ones on active duty military service. Many took part in the Iraq War or are still stationed there. Some of our loved ones have died there.

MFSO supports the troops but has actively and deeply opposed the mission on which President Bush forced them last March. The war was not necessary. America was under no imminent threat. Yet at last year’s State of the Union President Bush deliberately frightened the American people and rushed the nation to war on the basis of these now-famous “16 words” that, at that time they were spoken, were known by the Administration to be false:

“The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

Soldiers were sent to war on the basis of this lie and others told about weapons of mass destruction. The casus belli was false from the outset. American soldiers and Iraqi innocents died because of such lies.

Very soon the “official” 500th American soldier will die by hostile fire in Iraq. More than 500 have already died if accidents and suicide are counted. Credible estimates of Iraqi civilians killed are put between 8,000 and 10,000, both as a direct result of the war and because of the whirlwind of violence and insecurity that followed and continues to this day. Since the last State of the Union, our nation has been diminished by the loss of all these precious lives.

Therefore, beginning at 7:30 PM on January 20, demonstrators will form a human chain of remembrance stretching along 3rd Street NW between Constitution and Independence Avenues. Each person will bear the name of a soldier who died in Iraq and hold a candle to symbolize the light of that person’s life. Along the line will be persons bearing the names of Iraqi civilians as well. We will bear witness to these lost lives as the President and VIPs pass by in their dark vehicles on the way to the Capitol.

At the very moment that President Bush begins his State of the Union speech, a banner with the “16 words” will begin a death march down the line of lights. As it moves, a drum will sound and the people will call out the name of each fallen soldier, stating their rank, full name, branch of service and age at death. Iraqi names will be remembered and called out. The candle will then be extinguished to symbolize that President Bush’s words brought death to this person and cast a pall of darkness over the nation.

Stephen Cleghorn of MFSO, whose stepson is in Iraq, states, “Our message to fellow Americans is this: President Bush says, “What difference does it make?’ if there were no weapons of mass destruction threatening America. He would like us to forget what he so carefully crafted as the reason for war. But we say: Words matter, and lies told by government bring ruination and death. Our call on this night will be for the truth to come out about the lies that led us to this war. We believe that is the best way to honor our lost ones – demanding the truth for the sake of our lost ones and that of the living.”

After all the lights are extinguished, demonstrators will gather in the middle of the National Mall for a final prayer of repentance and peace, led by solemn music, and ask for God’s forgiveness and a blessing of peace for the dead and the living. Among the prayers will be this one.

Oh God, You are Peace.
From You comes Peace,
To You returns Peace.
Revive us with a salutation of peace,
And lead us to your abode of Peace.
-- from the Prophet Muhammad


For further information, contact:
Stephen Cleghorn
202-488-4027 (H)
jstephencleghorn@yahoo.com (email)


**To sign up for the vigil online, go to this link:
http://www.epic-usa.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=175


Location: 
US Capitol 3rd Street NW between Constitution and Independence avenues Washington DC  

Contact:
Stephen Cleghorn
jstephencleghorn@yahoo.com

Sponsored By:
Organizations promoting the vigil (not a complete list): Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Pax Christi Metro DC, Education for Peace in Iraq Center, CODEPINK Women for Peace, D.C. Anti-War Network (DAWN), Rhythm Workers Union, Northern Virginians for Peace, Iraq Pledge of Resistance, St. Aloysius Catholic Church, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker