Santa Monica "Arlington West" Iraq War Memorial Marks Three Years

SANTA MONICA, CA – Member and volunteers of the Los Angeles Chapter of Veterans for Peace began arriving at the Santa Monica pier this morning at 4am to erect “Arlington West,” a temporary cemetery in the sand to remember U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Today marked the third anniversary of this edition of the ever growing memorial. In fact, organizers have been forced to cap the number of white crosses at 2,500, and begin using red painted crosses to represent ten U.S. casualties, in order to not take over the popular beach front. This week, 12 flag-draped coffins represented the past weeks U.S death toll, for a total of 3,135 (43,658 wounded or injured). Like every one of the previous 155 Sunday’s on the north side of the pier: Family members of killed servicepersons searched the rows for their loved ones name; Soldiers found their buddy’s marker; Strangers added flowers to random crosses; Some pondered the sign declaring the staggering magnitude of Iraqis killed (estimated at 655,000+) by the U.S. invasion and occupation.