Death Toll Grows as The Page Is Turned on Iraq by President Obama

August 31, 2010, Obama declared it is "time to turn the page" on Iraq, yet he didn't declare the war is over. The page may be turned but the story is not over. A visit to Arlington West illustrates the open book as more causalities are added to the records, and more markers are added in the sand.

Week ending August 22, the week the last combat troops were pulled out of Iraq, more soldiers were killed in Iraq.The war in Iraq is over for some, but not for the remaining 50,000 troops still deployed in Iraq. Or the first soldier killed after the last combat troops were pulled out.

Arlington West: Every Sunday in Santa Monica a group of volunteers organized by Veterans For Peace puts out markers to memorialize American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each white marker represents one dead soldier; each red one, ten. The blue markers signify soldiers killed the in the last week. Visitors add messages and mementoes to the markers. Symbolic coffins for each of the weeks dead are carried out onto the beach. The week ending August 22, 16 coffins repressing the three soldiers killed in Iraq and 13 killed in Afghanistan were placed among the markers. Members of Veterans for Peace are on hand to help veterans and family members memorialize the dead and educate people passing by about the cost of the wars.

Click here to see a slide show: photo essay on Arlington West

Arlington West on Father’s Day

"I thought the war in Iraq was over," I overheard someone say as I approached Arlington West on Father’s Day. With close to 140,000 troops still in Iraq and violence on the rise, the war is hardly over. Things are getting more unstable daily as the June 30th deadline for American troops to stop patrolling the cities and remain on their bases approaches.

It has been close to a year since I last visited Arlington West.  The memorial makes me feel an intense sense of loss every time I visit. The sea of crosses makes the number of dead palpable. My visits to the memorial gave me the inspiration to go to Iraq and learn about the war firsthand. Returning, little has changed except for the memorial's scale. It takes all morning to fully set the memorial up. I recognize most of the volunteers, a core group that shows up every Sunday. Long tape measures are laid out, the crosses staked into the sand, and personal mementos and name cards are added before the symbolic coffins are carried out.

The death toll in Iraq for the week was three. In Afghanistan, it was seven. The last death totals  posted at the memorial: 4315 in Iraq and 711 in Afghanistan, as of last weekend.

I met CLP (combat logistics patrol) Stephen Johnson who found his friend's name on the list of the fallen. He didn’t know about Arlington West and stumbled upon the memorial by chance while visiting Santa Monica. I spotted him as he fondled his dog tags  while looking for a friend’s name on a panel with names of the dead. He was moved to tears as he made a card identifying his friend for one of the crosses. Their Humvee was hit with an IED while they were on a patrol in Sadr City in 2006. Stephen is permanently disabled, both his arm and brain damaged. In California, Stephen told me, vets can get medical marijuana for pain, much better than the pharmaceuticals that he was first offered by doctors. He moved to Long Beach from New Orleans. The war isn’t over for him.

In recent headlines, the governor of South Carolina confessed his extra-marital affair. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died and there is still unrest on the streets of Iran. The new totals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is hardly considered breaking news, but they will be posted at Arlington West this Sunday. 

Iraqi police will be taking over the security of Iraq though many fear they are not ready

Hillary Clinton told the press during her visit to Iraq at the end of April: that the recent upsurge in sectarian violence is a major concern. It is a few terrorists making their last hurrah, as America gets ready to turn the baton of security over to the Iraqis. She is confident, she said, that all will be well. The MPs I have been talking to aren’t as confident and neither am I.

The last five days I have been at FOB (forward operating base) Shield, embedded with the 39th Louisiana National Guard MPs, checking on the progress of their mission. They were tasked as a PTT, police training transition team. While accompanying them to an Iraqi police station in Sadr City, two bombs went off in the sector. Time will tell if the Iraqis are ready to handle their own security or not.

I'm headed back to America. The first leg of my journey back starts the morning of the 9th- with a book and a film in the works on my time in Iraq. Check back for more images and a link to the final story on fox 8 in New Orleans.

Images top: Iraqi police bike with fake flowers / Sgt. Prince putting on her kevlar/MP's stop at check point in Sadr City
Bottom: CL. Jamal at his desk / Preachrd at check point/Car that had car bomb in it which only partially detonated/Al Jazaeer Police Station/Iraqi tank painted with flowers at check point/NaquinNaquin in police commander's office / MP checks for snipers as Phin Percy films on roof of police station /Fake flowers - landscaping at Iraqi police station/Smith takes down numbers of supplies in weapons room at Iraqi police station via flashlight since the station has no power/Craft cleans his nails with knife in commander's office at Iraqi police station

Not even the birds twitter in Maysan Province

While Embed with the 1st Calvary Division at Hunter in Maysan Province I got a taste of what it is like for those in the military who are roughing it. No “surf and turf” on Friday night (lobster tails and overcooked steak provided by KBR are served on the larger bases every Friday). An American presence was introduced to the Maysan Province to stop the flow of 

weapons and insurgent across the Iranian border through the marshland in 2008. The 1st Calvary out of Forthood TX. was tasked with building two bases from scratch, Hunter and Gary Owen and to train the Iraqi border police.




When they arrived in August they slept outside with sand flies and camel spiders. They have been battling the elements ever since. While consuming a less than nutritious diet
and coping with frustration caused by teaching lacksidasisical students instead of fighting an enemy in a combat situation as they were trained to do. The most dangerous bullets they have had to duck were those from an Iraqi officer who didn’t put his safety on. The IP sprayed the company commander’s legs with bullets when greeting him with a handshake. PAO/Medic Schenk referred to going to breakfast as getting "plate of disappointment,” illustrating that many have kept a sense of humor.

All at Hunter have found their own way to cope while accomplishing their mission. Everyone has a stash of rations tucked away. Including the medic who is a good source for hand sanitizer. Their deployment is almost up and their mission in many ways a success, home is on all of their minds. Numerous caches of weapons have been confiscated since they beefed up security in the area. While many bases are being turned over to the Iraqis early summer, Hunter and Owen are still growing.




Maysan Province is home of the Marshland Arabs, a nomadic people who live off the land. Their environment was practically destroyed by Saddam Hussein, when he drained the marshes after the uprising in 1991. The marshes began recovering in 2003 when many of the dams were broken, re-flooding the area; however there has been a drought the last two years and the area is becoming barren again. The troops patrol the villages and take note of the peoples needs. The PRT (provincial reconstruction team) working in the area is trying to provide people with basic needs, which are numerous here.

At the border forts built during British colonial rule, the troops give lessons ranging from how to search cars to how to give an IV. The daily visits include a lot of tea drinking and hanging around. Lacking is enthusiasm from the IPs to learn and fuel for the generators so the forts are often with out electricity. Water buffalo, donkey, dogs and cats add to the mix. The marshland and encroaching desert make for a picturesque background to document the action. (or lack there of).

The drought over the last two years and water control issues stemming from Iran and Turkey have once again made life for the Marshland Arabs difficult. Through a translator a family told us their children were sick and requested water. In larger villages, there was an outbreak of cholera that killed at least four children. Boats line the side of a dried up stream. It is hard to image this land was once thought of to be the Garden of Eden.





Returning to The rirbase at Tallil I read about a new initiative introducing Twitter to Iraq. The U.S. State Department is sponsoring a "New Media Technology" delegation to "explore new opportunities to support Iraqi government and non-government stakeholders in Iraq's emerging new media industry." Since the Provincial reconstruction teams have their hands full with projects dealing with clean water and electricity I don't see the implementation of Twitter before the 2011 pull out.

"Breakfast time ... Lots of helicopters ... Met the president of Iraq ... Amazing palace," wrote Jack Dorsey, Twitters cofounder. Even he had trouble finding a place to go online during his mission to introduce Twitter to Iraqi officials The people of Maysan Province are lucky if they will get to hear birds “tweeting” since the water is all drying up. Jack Dorsey and the others in his group wont be leaving the Green Zone, I bet. He won’t get a chance to see Iraqi’s pressing needs as he “ tweets” away at the presidential palace.

Easter In Iraq at Ur

Ur is the biblical birthplace of the Prophet Abraham. The remains of what is thought to be his home and the largest ziggurat in Iraq are there. Iraq in ancient times was known as Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization. It has many archeological sites that have biblical references.

A group of Army chaplains decided to hold a sunrise Easter mass at the site of Abraham’s home. It is probably the last time such a mass will take place, since the site is being returned to the Iraqis on May 13th. The service began with a sing- along of Christian music lead by four chaplains playing acoustic instruments. Chaplain Lockett from North Dakota led the mass from on top of one of the remaining walls of Abraham’s home. He gave a brief history of the site and told the story of Abraham before talking about Jesus Christ and Easter. Soldiers listened intently and prayed with their M16s slung over their shoulders.

After the service a group of soldiers went over to the ziggurat where Dave, an Iraqi, whose family has looked after the site for generations, gave them a tour. He is not looking forward to the turn over of authority, as he fears the Iraqis wont respect the site as much as the Americans do.

At the defact (mess hall), there was an Easter meal of Cornish hens and prime rib. I ate jellybeans and chocolate kisses that were wrapped in pastel colored tinfoil. No peeps, but there was a cake shaped like a cross with buttercream frosting and big pink roses.