How Do I Love My Country? Let Me Count the Dead

“No More Broken Hearts” rally in Manhattan Beach, California
Each red heart represents an American soldier killed in Iraq.

Just as Manhattan Beach Toyota was advertising its three-day “Heart Stoppin’ Sale” in honor of Valentine’s Day, community members marked the upcoming holiday in a different way. Approximately five hundred people gathered at Polliwog Park on Sunday for a “No More Broken Hearts” rally to honor the more than 3,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq and to call for an end to the war.

According to April Halprin Wayland of Manhattan Beach, “There’s no organization behind this rally, just a group of friends. Back when the 2,000th soldier was killed [in October 2005], we knew that we would also have to commemorate the 3,000th. Later, we realized that it would fall near Valentine’s Day.”

The milestone was actually reached on December 31, 2006 with the death of Dustin Donica, 22.

“The Vietnam War didn’t stop until 58,000 American soldiers died. We think that 3,000 is enough.” says Wayland.

Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were also present at Sunday’s rally. Twenty-six year old Tim Goodrich, co-founder of IVAW, was deployed to the Middle East three times, once as part of the pre-war bombing raid. After being honorably discharged, Goodrich returned to Iraq as a civilian.

“George Bush was so impatient for the bombing to begin that he couldn’t wait for diplomacy to have any effect,” Goodrich told the crowd.

“I’m here today to stand in solidarity with the majority of the American people that are against this war. The situation in Iraq has gone on too long. There is no military solution.”

Twenty-four year old Jason Lemieux, also a member of IVAW, has completed four tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine.

“We can’t win over there because soldiers are not given a clear mission. We’re fighting an urban war in the middle of a civilian population.”

In Husaybah, a town on the Syrian border so violent that it’s known as the Wild Wild West, Lemieux says, “Our mission–for a 210 day combat mission–was to ‘kill those who needed to be killed and save those who needed to be saved.’ That was it. That was the guidance we got for seven months.”

Before organizers and protesters left Polliwog Park and took to the street, Lemieux told the crowd, “I can see a change in the attitude of the country. It’s not unpatriotic anymore to protest the war.”