OaktownLive

@IVAWSF #EyesWideOpen #Veterans #Suicide #Iraq

On March 19th, 2012, Iraq Veterans Against the War SF commemorated the 9th anniversary of the Iraq War by displaying the American Friends Service Committee exhibit “Eyes Wide Shut” across from San Francisco City Hall.

Part 1: The reading of the names on the boots, as well as the names (and often nameless details) of a small fraction of the Iraqi dead due to the war.

00-~32:00: Reading the names of the California Iraq War dead. Apologies if I missed a name or two off the front end.

~33:15: Farah, an Iraqi Native, reads some of the names of the Iraqi civilian war dead.

55:00: Melanie Yates(sp?) (IVAW), a public affairs specialist in Iraq. “My job was to make the war look good.”

58:50: Ryan Holloran (IVAW), active duty soldier from Ft. Hood

1:02:00: Michael Blecker(sp?), Vietnam Vet, from Swords to Plowshares

1:05:45: Scott Olsen (IVAW), the Marine veteran of 2 tours in Iraq who was shot w/ a beanbag round by riot police in Oakland

1:11:00 - Farah M. of the Iraqi Student Project, speaking as a member of the Iraqi community in the Bay Area

1:17:50 - Jason M. (IVAW) reads a staemenmt from Graham Klumpner (sp?) (IVAW) who lives in Denver, re: Afghanistan

1:23:00 - Marilyn Saner, mother of an injured Iraq Veteran, speaks about toll of multiple deployments

1:28:00 - Dottie Guy (IVAW), member of the SF Veterans Affairs Commission

1:30:15 - Paula Santos, along with her husband Ruben. Their son Ruben jr, an Iraq vet, lost his battle with PTSD and committed suicide. They read a poem he wrote on why he couldn’t come see the “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit when he had the chance, choosing instead to play video games.

1:35:30 - IVAW announces they will observe 1 second of silence for every military suicide since the beginning of the Iraq War, while blocking the intersection across Polk st in front of the City Hall steps. This will take 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 30s

Recorded live on my iPhone on 3/19/12 at 12:04 PDT