Milestone casualty in Iraq mobilizes anti-war crowd

As she clutched a Styrofoam cup with a candle glowing inside it, Lawrence resident Elizabeth Schultz said she thinks the U.S. war in Iraq has “no direction, except death.”

Schultz was one of about 150 people who gathered Wednesday night in front of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Mass., for a vigil to mark the 2,000th U.S. soldier killed in the war. Schultz, a longtime member of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, said the event was a way to send a message to the community.

“I believe that the people who are passing are made aware of the fact that people are committed to this endeavor and that they could become part of it,” she said. “The candle is a symbol of hope, a symbol of renewed energy, a symbol of illumination.”

Hundreds of groups around the country were scheduled to hold similar vigils Wednesday. The Coalition for Peace and Justice holds weekly rallies at the courthouse, but Wednesday’s turnout was unusually high, organizers said.

Allan Hanson, right, of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, holds a banner saying, Why? at a demonstration in front of the Douglas County Courthouse. We

The U.S. death toll hit 2,000 on Tuesday when the Pentagon announced the deaths of three soldiers. At the time, a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, told reporters that the emphasis on the 2,000 figure was misguided and “set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives,” according to the Associated Press.

At the Lawrence vigil, Schultz questioned what the United States has gained from the deaths and pointed out that the death toll from this war is nearly half the toll from the American Revolution.

Kelly Barth, left, Lawrence, demonstrates at the candlelight vigil in front of the Douglas County Courthouse. Wednesday's vigil, timed to the announcement of the 2,000th U.S. death in Iraq, drew about 150 protesters.

“We don’t see the death, really. We don’t see the body bags,” she said. “It’s necessary for us, I think : to identify with the American dead so that we can identify with the many, many, many more Iraqis.”

One U.S. military spokesman has estimated total Iraqi deaths at 30,000 since the beginning of the war, though others suspect the number could be much higher. A recent Associated Press count found at least 3,870 civilians killed in the last six months alone.

One of the most recent U.S. soldiers killed was Lucas Frantz of Tonganoxie, who died Oct. 18 – his 22nd birthday – after being shot in the head by a sniper while on a routine patrol.

His widow, Kelly Frantz of Tonganoxie, supports the war and said she believes protests such as Wednesday’s vigil are misguided.

“They’re saying that the deaths have no purpose, and that just makes me very sad because I can’t imagine my husband not dying for a purpose, because he did,” she said. “He died for this country and all the people that he loved.”