Women and War Conference

I just got back from the Women and War conference that we heard about class and I had some very interesting things to bring back. Although this is off topic from what we are talking about in class I still thought it was relevant to what we have gone through and very eye opening. One of the speakers was a man from Iraq that was a photojournalist. The man started out by warning us that the pictures represent a war so there would be blood and death. When he said this I was kind of hoping he wasn't serious but he was very serious. One of the first pictures he showed us was of a woman crying because he husband had been shot by an American soldier for being out after curfew. Curfew was 6pm-6am every day in Iraq and this man was shot for driving his car after this time. This man had no chance to defend himself for being late, nothing. I was disgusted with this fact that Americans could shoot a man for being out past SIX pm in their own country! The next thing that the speaker said really upset me more than anything, he said that every day before he went for curfew he would go to a spot in town where all the bodies were and pray and every morning he would go to funerals so he would start his day with death and end it with death. The speaker also went on to say that Americans know there is a war going on but they have no idea what this war means. This is such an accurate statement. I have family members that have gone to Iraq but I still have no idea what the war is and was really like.
The speaker went on with many more pictures and many more stories. I want to share one more that was heart breaking. The speaker was traveling with his friend, Jack, when they stopped at a gas station. The speaker, I cannot recall his name, told his friend Jack not to speak to anyone because he was one of the minorities and the soldiers would be able to tell by his accent. A soldier approached the vehicle while the speaker was in side and Jack ended up being pulled out and shot. The speaker even showed us a picture of Jack shot on the streets. There were two things that made me even more upset about this story. One was that the people passing by did not even look twice at the body and the other was that the speaker could not even claim the body because he could not be associated with Jack. It is so upsetting that Americans know we are in a war but have no idea what is going on overseas.
Although this doesn't cover what we are discussing in class I thought it would be something worth sharing to open eyes up about what was and is happening over seas.