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Protesters mark war anniversary
An ex-Marine who served in Iraq spoke to more than 60 people demonstrating in downtown Dayton.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
DAYTON — When Gil O'Bryan joined the Marines after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, his purpose was clear: Defeat terrorism and protect this nation.
But during his second tour of Iraq in 2005 as a corporal charged with studying Iraqi citizens and their reaction to the war, O'Bryan hardened over the devastation he witnessed and began to ask himself, "What the hell am I doing here?"
Local musician Ray Tanner performs at a war protest at the federal building in downtown Dayton on Saturday. Organizations such as Dayton Peace Action and Military Families Speak Out attended the rally."The war we were handed has nothing to do with terrorism — it's about oil and war profiteering," O'Bryan said Saturday after a gathering downtown of local peace groups commemorating four years of war in Iraq.
O'Bryan, 26, of Huber Heights joined more than 60 local residents outside the Federal Building to mark the anniversary with songs, speeches and a call for peace.
"We constantly talk about the number of people who have died," O'Bryan said to the crowd. "Well, the number today is 3,210 Americans, and the number of Iraqis too high to count."
But the question isn't, "How many people have to die before Washington gets the message and pulls the troops out?" O'Bryan said.
"The real question is how many people are going to have to die before there's not enough of us left to realize what Washington's doing? Just remember something, and that's that fear begets hate, hate begets war, war begets violence and death, and violence and death is not what America is about."
Steve Fryburg, director of the Dayton International Peace Museum and member of Veterans for Peace, said the war on terrorism won't be won by "guns and bombs" but through diplomacy and "winning hearts and minds."
"Our foreign policy stinks, people, and it's up to us to get our leaders to change it," Fryburg said. "We're a very, very creative people in this country, and we need to start creating a peaceful future."
Members of Dayton Peace Action, the September 11 Coalition and the national organization Military Families Speak Out joined the rally, carrying signs that read, "Bring Our Troops Home — End the War"; "No More Blood for Oil"; "Impeach Cheney/Bush Now", and "War Breeds Terrorism."
Local Roman Catholic educator Gloria Leigh borrowed a line from the late civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in telling the crowd, "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of wealthy white men starting wars and forcing poor whites, poor blacks and poor Hispanics to fight them."
"I am sick and tired of the claim we are a Christian nation," Leigh continued. "This nation and its leaders and far too many of its citizens have violated every discipline and principle established by Jesus Christ."
