FARMINGTON -Area peace and social justice groups plan to mark the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq war with a protest and reading highlighting its cost in lives and dollars on Monday.
“As of March 12, over 2,307 U.S. soldiers have died, over 16,000 have been wounded, 33,489 to over 100,000 Iraqi” civilians have been killed and “the U.S. has spent over $247,257,400 on the war,” according to a Western Mountains Peace Action Workshop statement about the Monday event.
The group and the University of Maine at Farmington group SEA-Change will be sponsoring the protest, which begins at 3 p.m. March 20 at the Park n Ride at Routes 2, 4 and 27 in Farmington, and goes up and over the Sandy River Bridge. Organizers expect the protest to end by 5 p.m. when protesters will move to the North Dining Hall at the University of Maine at Farmington for a public reading of “What I Heard About Iraq.” A compilation of “the statements made by American administration officials and their allies leading up to the war, and then after the war began,” the piece was put together by Eliot Weinberger. Both events are open to the public, Liddy said Friday.
Liddy said she expects the reading to be a highlight of the event. She said the piece is “numbing. It’s really something. Basically it chronicles, to me, the missteps of this government. And it contrasts what the administration is saying with what’s really happening on the ground.”
“It’s really sad,” she said. “It makes me angry, it makes me sad, it makes me furious. And yes, I think we need to leave Iraq. I don’t see how it can get any worse.”
Liddy said Monday’s protest is open to anyone and everyone who wants to take part. She may be reached at 645-4755, to answer questions about the event.
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