The Iraq Body Count Exhibit is Up in Sacramento!

Memorial Day Flag Display Now Up on Capitol Mall

by Dan Bacher

Volunteers from Sacramento area peace and justice organizations completed setting up the Iraq Body Count Exhibit on the Capitol median strip at about 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 25.

The 120,000 flags run from 9th Street almost to 3rd street in Sacramento. "It looks very impressive," said Debra Reiger of the Sacramento Coalition to End the War. "Please drive by when you get a chance; it's amazing. People are taking photos and leaving flowers. It makes such a statement!"

The 4080 red flags stand for each of the U.S. soldiers lost in Bush's war and occupation in Iraq, while each white flag stands for at least 5 Iraqis. Credible estimates are that between 655,000 - 1,200,000 Iraqis have been killed since March 2003, according to Maggie Coulter, president of Sacramento Area Peace Action. The display covers 7 islands and roughly 3 acres on the grass-covered Capitol Mall.

A special Memorial Day ceremony will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at 9th & Capitol Mall to pay tribute to the those killed in the Iraq War and occupation.

"The display is a great representation of the deaths on both sides," said Cres Vellucci, spokesman for Veterans for Peace in Sacramento. "This is a very fair and non-partisan way to dramatize the human cost of the war to the people of Iraq and the U.S."

The display will be up through Saturday, May 31, when volunteers will take the display down.

"It would nice if Legislators passing by the mall reflect on the fact that hundreds of California National Guard members are currently in Iraq," said Vellucci. "Hopefully, this will spur them to move forward current legislation urging the Governor to pull California National Guard troops out of Iraq."

Bill Lackemacher of Sacramento for Democracy and his daughter, Zoe, put up hundreds of flags at the mall on Saturday. "When people see the overwhelming difference between the number of white flags and red flags, hopefully it will sink in who's really paying the price in this war - the Iraqi people," said Lackemacher.

Likewise, Maria Cornejo, coordinator of Operation Enduring Reality, a military counter-recruitment organization in Sacramento, emphasized the hundreds of thousands of Iraq lives that have been lost in George Bush's war based on a lie.

"This display shows the incredible human toll that the U.S. has inflicted upon Iraq," said Cornejo. "Not only have hundreds of thousands of innocent people already died, but the U.S. is using weapons with depleted uranium that will contaminate the soil for decades to come."

A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimated that over 655,000 Iraqis have died in the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq in a study published in the Lancet, a British medical journal, in October 2006.

The display almost didn't happen, due to an attempt by Sacramento city attorneys to censor the exhibit after it had already been approved. However, thanks to good work by City Council member Ray Tretheway and many display supporters who called in and attended the Council meeting last week, the Coalition to End the War was given a permit to display.

The purpose of the Iraq Body Count Exhibit (IBCE) is to raise awareness of the human cost of the Iraq War. IBCE is not associated with Iraq Body Count, the organization that cites much lower casualty numbers. For more information, go to http://www.iraqbodycountexhibit.org.

Although the exhibit set-up has been completed, help is still needed with the display.

1. If you can, please volunteer to sit with the table for two hours during the day Monday through Friday. The slots are 11-1, 1-3, and 3-5. Debra Reiger will set up the table and take it down each day. The only slot still open on Monday is 3-5.

2. The group will take down the exhibit on Saturday, May 31. "It will go much faster, but we still need many hands to accomplish this," said Reiger. "Please show up at 9am Saturday to help."

For more information and to volunteer to help, call Debra Reiger, 916-698-8131, Daniel Costa, 916-613-1106, and John Reiger, 916-456-4595.