"Eyes Wide Open" in Dallas

I am a newcomer to this posting board, but was directed to the site by a friend after my first experience with the North Texas “Protest Warriors” this past week. I was one of the volunteers at the Dallas City Hall exposition of “Eyes Wide Open,” where they made a noisy appearance.

The “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit laid out a pair of combat boots in memory of every fallen American soldier in Iraq, as well as shoes to represent Iraqi civilian casualties. By the time the memorial left Dallas there were 1,499 pairs of boots on display, and the 1,000 pairs of shoes represented scarcely a tenth of Iraq's estimated losses. The exhibit was not a protest; it was not meant to exploit the soldiers' deaths for any political agenda; it was not meant to be provocative; the intention, whatever one's feelings on the war, was to encourage a frank appreciation of its human costs.

The American Friends Service Committee, which sponsored “Eyes Wide Open,” is a Quaker group, and therefore is obviously a pacifist organization. (Perhaps now would be the appropriate time to disclose that I am a Quaker, myself.) Pacifism was one of Jesus' central teachings (Matthew 5:7-9, 5:38-39, 22:39; Luke 22:50-52), and Quakers consider war to be an immoral act, regardless of who undertakes it or what their intentions. Anyone who reads any literature about war, from Crane to Kipling to Heller, acknowledges that it is brutal and dehumanizing…in the ever-evocative words of Sherman, that “it is all hell.” The question of a “just war” is debatable-and I would gladly take the issue up with anyone who would like to discuss it-but, for me, a basic question remains: with all of the other immorality in the world, with all the attacks on family values and our national character, why would anyone so venomously oppose a religious group acting on their conscience and the teachings of the Bible?

At the event, this question got a range of answers from the protesters. Here were the most frequent responses:

o They claimed that the AFSC website called American troops “war criminals.” It never did.

o They said that we were “liars” because the boots did not come from Iraq. Again, we never claimed that they did. (Although it seems irrelevant where the boots came from; the message is the same.)

o They yelled that the AFSC “hates the troops.” It is amazing that in the thirty years since Vietnam, so many people have been unable to negotiate the distinction between “opposing the war” and “hating the troops.” For most objectors, it is compassion for the troops that breeds opposition to the war.

The point is that none of the protesters present had actually read or asked about the purpose of the exhibit. Rather, they listened to a conservative talk show on the local AM radio station and spurious postings on several websites like this one, and heard all they needed to know. You talk about disrespecting the troops? The result was a self-righteous mob crashing the exhibit, shouting obscenities and cynical political statements, grandstanding in the middle of a metaphorical graveyard. (Several of the exhibit's supporters-though none of its staff-got engaged in this as well, and are equally guilty.) The crowd smugly refused to show any respect for its opponents' right to address the media: at the press conference protesters blocked the podium until moved by the police, and shouted down all of the AFSC speakers, with the exception of one bereaved, “misguided” Marine mother, who received only grumbles.

After the press conference, I took the podium with a sixteen-year-old exchange student from Morocco and proceeded to read the names of those who have died in the Iraq conflict. I worked through the names of the American soldiers by state, occasionally pausing for him to read the names of dead Iraqi families. Behind us, hecklers shouted at every pause, and answered each American name with the phrase “died for freedom”- whereas all the Iraqi casualties were “killed by their own people,” “killed by the terrorists” or by my partner's “A-rab friends.” Every time he read, the crowd jeered racial insults. When I took a sip of water, they yelled that my throat was dry with “lies,” whereas they spoke the untiring “truth.” (Which men's names were “lies” they failed to mention; I also struggled to determine which of the racial slurs were “true.”) The heckling continued through the state of Florida or so, and I was looking forward to a long afternoon of back-and-forth with the protesters, but then they left soon after the cameras did…

The rest of the day was spent in silent reflection-which, as Quakers, delighted us-interrupted only by visitors with questions or words of grief. Some of the gold-star mothers took the time to explore the exhibit, and returned the next day with thanks and oblique apologies, acknowledging that they had misunderstood its intentions. In fact, it now seems that few protesters had any lucid, accurate reason for being there at all. However, there are several moral questions surrounding the exhibit, which some postings on this sight have raised! Let me offer possible answers to them:

1) Several postings ask whether the AFSC acted in poor taste by showing “Eyes Wide Open,” or whether such displays needlessly sap morale among our servicemen.

Is it more decorous to obscure the soldiers' deaths (the president avoiding military funerals, barring photographs of returning coffins, etc.) than to honor them with frank acknowledgement? “Eyes Wide Open” is not a protest exhibit; it is merely a memorial. Every visitor is welcome, no matter what their feelings on the war, and after taking account of its human cost, can leave with their views unchanged. The AFSC is not manipulating the numbers of dead (other than to grossly under-represent the Iraqis killed), and is offering Americans a chance to really connect with the nation's loss, which many of them apathetically ignore. Given the disconnect between front-line suffering and home-front complacency, I don't understand why the military's morale would suffer from that candor.

All servicemen's names are public record, and are freely used to validate the “righteousness" of the war (even in blatantly exploitative political contexts), so the AFSC is completely within its legal and moral bounds to use them in a memorial setting. However, the exhibit always removes any soldier's name at the request of his/her next of kin. One Gold Star Mother indignantly said that she hadn't known about her son's inclusion, and that the exhibit would not remove his name at her request. (She neglected to mention that the rest of her family adamantly supported the soldier's inclusion, going so far as to bring pictures, flowers, and his real boots.) Before “Eyes Wide Open” arrived in Dallas, we informed local veteran and family groups about its purpose and the option of removing soldiers' names. I apologize if we did not disseminate that information quickly enough, but it was not for lack of effort.

Perhaps these last two points do not convince. That is fine. Please come out and quietly protest them the next time this exhibit comes to town. However-and I don't want to sound hopelessly naïve here-is it possible to negotiate political differences without hate-mongering, self-flattery, and bigotry? Or is that the mission of the Protest Warriors?

***Lastly, as a brief aside: I thought the Dallas police acted terribly at the opening of the exhibit. They had no control over the situation, did not show any caution for public safety and order, and did not guarantee the exhibit basic courtesies of domain. If that was because of some kind of police prejudice against the exhibit, then all the conservatives posting here can agree that their inaction was obviously unjust and un-American, and should probably write their city councilmen on our behalf. However, I do not put much stock in conspiracy theories, so the mayhem was more likely a sign of general incompetence on the police's part, in which case all the Protest Warriors out there should still write in and demand more action. After all, who knows if their next event won't be overrun be ill-mannered liberal rioters, bombarding them with Birkenstocks?***

from one of the Marine mom groups. Janet Norwood (later in post) is the mom who was at the Inauguration.

I apologize for the length of this post, but thot background info
was important first. The first two posts are from MMO Proboards to
let you know how a couple of Gold Star Moms feel. Then at the
bottom is what the DFW Marine Corps Families is trying to accomplish
to help them out.

Sharon Brown
PMM of LCpl Brown (deployed with OIF)

From Sharon McLeese
I am posting this to fulfill a promise I made to myself and to an
organization that is dishonoring the memory of our Fallen Heroes.
There is a display going around the country called "Eyes Wide Open".
It is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, AFSC, an
anti-war, anti-military organization. The "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit
consists of combat boots with the name, state and and age of the
troops that have lost their lives in the war in Iraq, they also have
shoes representing the people of Iraq. It is suppose to honor the
human costs of war but it only takes a couple of clicks on the AFSC
website to see these people's beliefs and true agenda. Here are some
direct quotes from their website:
"A resounding silence has resonated over the humanitarian disaster
in Fallujah. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise
Abour, has voiced deep concern for the citizens of Fallujah and
stated that all those guilty of violations of international
humanitarian and human rights be brought to justice. These
violations include: targeting civilians, indiscriminate and
disproportionate attacks, killing injured persons, use of human
shields." These American Friends are NOT talking about the
terrorists, they are talking about OUR TROOPS, my Marine and yours.
Are you angry now?
My son, Lcpl Justin McLeese was a proud, brave Marine and would
never want his name associated with anthing having to do with an
exhibit sponsored by an organization that loathes the military and
has this type of political agenda. I first learned of this exhibit
when a stranger from Virginia called to let me know she had been
praying over my sons combat boots and wanted me to know about the
exhibit. At first it sounded like they were honoring our troops, but
one visit to the AFSC website and a couple of clicks and you can see
for yourself it is anything but an honor to be associated with this
organization.
I went to San Antonio, TX last Friday where the exhibit was at St.
Mary's University to demand the tag from Justin's boots. The man who
was running the exhibit and many of his cronies where there, they
had just has an opening party congratulating themselves on what
wonderful peace loving people they were, and had the unfortunate
experience of this Marine Mom who ready to go to WAR with them. I
was very disappointed when I saw that due to the weather they only
had the Texas boots on display. I told the director I wanted that
tag off my son's boots NOW, he said that all the other boots besides
Texas were on a truck. I said take me to that truck, he said it was
impossible to access the truck at that time but assured me that he
would remove Justin's name from the boots. He then went on to say
that it was a tribute to the troops and an anti-war display. At this
point I got in his face (he was about 6'6") and told him not to dare
hand me that crap. I lost my only son in this war, there is no one
that hates war more than a mother who has lost her most adored only
son. How dare they associate his good name in this public display
without the permission of Justin's family, how could they do this
without the permission of any family?He told me it was public
record. By this time we had the attention of everyone viewing
the "exhibit". I told him I was not requesting his name be removed,
I was demanding it. He said he would remove Justin's name and that I
was only the fourth person who had asked their son's name be removed
from the exhibit. I told him that was because no one knows about
this, but I can assure you that every Marine Mom who knows about
this will want her son's name off of those boots, you can expect to
hear from them. I also told him if Justin's name appears on any of
their boots again I will sue them and this is not an empty threat. I
thought about going to the media with this but I'm sure AFSC would
love that type of attention and I'm just not going to do anything
that would benefit these people in any way. I'm so fired up about
this that I may just pop in from time to time where they least
expect it to raise some Hell with these peace-loving, disrespectful
cowards. I have been so deep into my grief and mourning for my
Justin, I didn't think anything could pull me out, but disrespect my
Marine...they've got a fight on their hands. If you would like to
try to get your Marine's name off of these boots without going to
the actual display, the contact for "The Eyes Wide Open" exhibit is
Mary Zerkel, who will hopefully have the common decency to honor the
wishes of the families of Fallen Heroes and remove their names from
these boots if you wish. web@a.... There is also the schedule of
the towns where the exhibit will be next on
http://www.afsc.org/eyes/default.htm Be sure to investigate and make
your own decisions, be sure to read what they have to say about
Fallujah, where Justin was killed in action protecting his brother
Marines.
Go get `em Moms...and Dads, too!
Sharon Cortez McLeese Forever Justin's Mom
____________________________________________
and from Janet Norwood:

Great timing on this subject, Sharon! This display is on its last
day in Austin and my husband and I just got back from demanding our
son's tag. They seemed a little shocked that we would object, but
they quickly complied with our request. (I took a pair of scissors
in case I had to cut it off myself.) The display had been moved from
a large city park to inside the chapel of a church and they only had
the Texas boots out - so I couldn't check to see if Justin's name
was there.

The people running the thing tried to tell us this was only to show
the human cost of war. We said that we knew better than anyone in
the building the cost of war as well as the cost of freedom and that
Byron would not want his name associated with a group that is
advocating immediate withdrawal from Iraq - which would dishonor his
sacrifice by insuring failure of the new Iraqi government. I have a
huge personal investment in the mission now and I want it to be
successful.

What really made us extra mad was that someone had hung a tux jacket
from our son's high school concert band and his name (Spelled
WRONG!) was clipped to it. None of the volunteers could tell us how
it got there.

Every Gold Star family needs to know about this so they can make an
informed decision about whether or not their loved one's name is
used. We should have been given the opportunity to deny the use of
Byron's name from the start instead of having to hunt it down and
remove it ourselves. He may have given his life for his country, but
that doesn't mean that he gave free use of his good name.

Janet
___________________________________________

This exhibit is coming to Dallas Feb. 28th. Our local support group,
DFW Marine Corps Families, is organizing a "protest" of sorts. Our
goal is to show the hidden agenda of the AFSC and why we feel this
exhibit is not honoring our fallen heroes, but exploiting their
deaths. We intend to counter their false suggestions that "a
majority of Americans now believe this war is a tragic
misadventure....". We intend to show the positive changes made
possible in Iraq only through the hard work and ultimate sacrifice
of US and coalition troops.

We would like to hear from Gold Star Mothers to get their thoughts
and feelings about the exhibit as well as any input you may have for
our protest. If any Texas families would like to join us at the
protest, please contact me or Teri directly at:
TKrause@D...

Also, our local talk show radio host Darrell Ankarlo is wanting to
do a remote broadcast that day and would like to have some Gold Star
Mothers to speak with. If you know of any Texas families who might
be willing to do that, please let me know. Darrell has been a huge
supporter of the troops as his son Adam is a Marine that has been in
Iraq. His wife is Laurie, a member of MMO. You can go to his
website at: http://www.ankarlo.net
Thanks
Hugs & Prayers

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