Healing the Hurts: Addressing the Human Toll of War

The U.S. has been at constant war for the past nine years and the human toll continues to grow. Even as these overseas wars continue, it is time to consider how we as peacemakers will help to heal the personal, family and global injuries that war have caused.

At least 1 million Americans have been to Iraq and Afghanistan as soldiers or contractors. More than 5,300 have already died there. In addition to those who have been killed, there are about 16 soldiers wounded for each who dies.

Within those countries 62 million local citizens have also been directly exposed to combat, and millions killed, injured and made homeless as well.

Untold numbers of people, both soldiers andcivilians, have torn limbs and troubled minds. The impacts from these injuries will ripple throughout a generation or more, just as those from WWII, Korea and Vietnam altered the social fabric of America and the war-torn nations.

Throughout Texas, on street corners and in homeless shelters, veterans of wars - past and present - live in desperation and insanity. Many once had families and people who loved them, now they struggle just to get the next meal. Others wonder - like Timothy Pridey and his wife - how to support their family in a down economy.

In low-rent apartments in our biggest cities, a few thousand "lucky" refugees from Iraq try to rebuild their lives. Facing a strange new society, they try to help their children adjust to a world much different than the one they left. The Dallas Metroplex even now has its own fledgling "Little Baghdad". Among Iraqis in their own country, the psychological scars of war run particularly deep.

"I was sitting on the couch the other day, and all I could do was cry and wish that I was dead," says Senaa Tahir Abid, after seeing her husband and sister's husband killed.

Thousands of U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the past nine years. Their only legacy is the tragic faces and broken hearts of those left behind…adding even more victims to the cost of war.

Those military veterans who are fortunate to still be alive and with no physical injuries, often carry the psychological scars of war throughout their lives. War is a debilitating experience where the brain is constantly occupied with fear and death. Combat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the current term given to a traumatized psyche and tortured "soul". Their parents ask "why?"

The New England Journal of Medicine studied four combat units and found that 17% of Iraq war veterans and 11% of Afghanistan war veterans suffered.......... MORE Page 2>

End the War Protests Continue

Even as Operation Enduring Disaster in Afghanistan continues into its 9th year and the war in Iraq into its 7th, peace activists and antiwar protesters continue to demonstrate against the war and call for peaceful solutions.

On March 20, there will be a Million Musicians for Peace march in Austin from the Capitol to City Hall. In Houston, a National Day of Protest rally at Mason Park. In the Valley (McAllen) a Special Protest Against the War 11am-noon, McAllen, right in front of Bentsen Tower at Bus. 83 & Bicentennial. In Arlington, on the 19th, an "I Stand for Peace" gathering. There will also planned large demonstrations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC. and other towns and cities around the world. Denton will have a "Funk the War" march on March 28.

Celebrate César Chávez

Texans everywhere will be celebrating the legacy of civil rights activist and founder of the United Farm Workers, César Chávez, on March 26-27. There's a special reason for those in the Metroplex to celebrate after Dallas renamed a major street to honor Chavez. In San Antonio, the state's largest march will be held on the 27th.

The Willacy County Processing Center is the largest immigrant detention center in the U.S. and harkens back to the days during WWII when Japanese-Americans were locked up in South Texas. Owned by the Utah-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC), Tent City is one of many detention centers run for profit and with little federal oversight.

Close Texas prison camps April 10

A broad coaltion of organizations is calling for the closure of the Texas prison camp in Raymondville and planing an April 10th demonstration at the site.

The Willacy County Processing Center is the largest immigrant detention center in the U.S. and harkens back to the days during WWII when Japanese-Americans were locked up in South Texas. Owned by the Utah-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC), Tent City is one of many detention centers run for profit and with little federal oversight.

Neocons on their way out of SBOE?

Conservative and Liberal Texans alike have had their fill of know-nothing members of the State Board of Education who have been trying water down the curriculum and textbooks by watering down evolution and other scientific principles.

From Amarillo to Houston, concerned parents have been urging that "sanity" be returned to the SBOE. These elected officeholders don't generally receive much review at election time, but this year, might be near the top of the "issues" that will bring voters to the polls as they say "don't mess with Texas education".

Border violence growing

There are concerns that recent battles between rival drug cartels in Mexico will spill over into Texas. There have been recent increases in border violence in towns from Juarez to Matamoros. The most recent escalation in drug wars appears to be around Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa. In some cases, Mexican parents have had to keep their children out of school for fear of almost-daily shootings.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) provided an unusual warning to college students to stay away from the border during Spring Break. Hildalgo's Border Festival has been shortened. Tourism, already down because of the economy and H1N1 flu, is expected to suffer from the ongoing threat of violence as the U.S. State Department issues travel warnings. Journalists have been targeted, creating some news blackouts.

However, citizens in those same border communities are standing up to the violence. Some are turning to online activism, others are taking to the streets to protest both the violence and the militarization of their cities.

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Non-Random Acts of Kindness

Send your original op-eds to Texans for Peace (500-800 words)