112,000 flag memorial on U. of Oregon campus commemorates war dead

[Poll_Blind]

From the Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon:

"3,000 red flags represent the 3,055 American soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq," the signs say. "While 77 Oregonian soldiers have died in Iraq, 150 have returned to become students at the UO."

--snip--

The 112,000 white flags represent the dead Iraqi soldiers and citizens, the estimates of which range from 55,000 to 655,000 since the 2003 invasion.

"It is a political statement," says Zach Basaraba, a UO sophomore and co-director of the Survival Center, which is sponsoring the memorial. "Not in the sense of 'Hey, is this war good or bad?' But in the sense that we need to be involved in the discussion.

--snip--

I see a young man in a black cowboy hat looking at the red flags. His eyes are watery. What, I ask, do you see in all this?

"Faces," he says. "Faces of my friends."

He says he's a soldier who's served two stints with the Army in Iraq and lost seven friends in the war. (The Army, he says, forbids his name to be used in the paper.)

"The old quote is right," he says. "War is hell."

--snip--

(photos by Zac Goodwin)
More images:Iraq Body Count Memorial

  I live in Eugene and have walked among these flags. Last night when I was leaving campus there were no clouds in the sky and the moon shone very brightly. The white flags seemed to glow like stars in the darkness.

PB

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I really like this memorial. I think there are a lot of people who just can't

comprehend what the USA is doing. I've had a 'US death count' up since about Aug. 2004, when it read 1012. I update it daily and it's now at 3084. As I walk across my 1 1/2 acre yard every day to update the number, I wonder if my yard would be big enough to put up a flag or cross for each one. I don't think so.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Even with each white flag representing 6-7 Iraqi dead, there is...

...a sense of enormity when walking among these. It's overwhelming. I applaud the placement as well: Just about every student or anyone entering campus through the "typical way" has to walk right by or through these flags to get where they're going.

PB

[Poll_Blind]

3. Kick. n/t

PB

[leftyclimber]

4. I'm proud of my alma mater

Nice to see the campus culture hasn't changed.