2,000th Death Sparks Nationwide Protests

By Sari Gelzer t r u t h o u t

The 2,000th soldier has died in Iraq. The Pentagon announced that Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, died Saturday in San Antonio of injuries sustained October 17.

While protests are planned throughout the week in Washington, Wednesday is a day of protests in cities across the country. These protests have been organized via the Internet by Moveon.org and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) website. Moveon.org has begun organizing a vigil and reflection on the war by notifying its three million subscribers who are organizing locally for the event which begins at 6:30 tommorow.

Wednesday protests are also being organized by the "Not One More Death, Not One More Dollar" initiative through the AFSC website. It is co-sponsored by Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Military Families Speak Out.

The vigil and protests organized by the "Not One More Death, Not One More Dollar" initiative, will be occuring throughout the day, depending on the city. The goal of this initiative is to bring attention to the 2,000 dead by representing the toll visually with boots or stars bearing names and death dates. These public gatherings, says the AFSC, will be public actions for politicians and fellow Americans to see the death toll. In addition, these gatherings will collect signatures to give to Congress, telling them to end the government funding for the war in Iraq.

The activists will also be publicly recognizing the Iraqis who have been killed.

The Iraq Body Count, a British research group that compiles its figures from reports by the major news agencies and British and US newspapers, has said that as many as 30,051 Iraqis have been killed since the start of the war.