Good afternoon.

I'm Marq Anderson, National Tour Manager for Eyes Wide Open, a memorial exhibit created by the American Friends Service Committee -- a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for its humanitarian work.

First, I would like to thank É. The many volunteers and co-sponsors who have reached out to their families & friends to make this a most memorable visit. Without folks like you, we could never stage this event. To date, volunteers, like you have allowed us to display this exhibit to nearly one million people, around the US.

You should be very proud of this service you are providing and we thank you for it. I also want to thank the students and faculty of Colorado College for hosting Eyes Wide Open. It is a pleasure to be here. Today, we are here in Colorado, the state that that has sacrificed [34] fallen US Military. And, today, we honor their memories.

We also honor the many thousands of Iraqis who have perished in this war. Just yesterday, we learned the sad new statistic, furnished by Johns Hopkins University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that the number of Iraqi casualties has now reached 655,000.

This number represents 2 _% of the entire population of Iraq. Eyes Wide Open was created by the AFSC to memorialize the human lives -- both military and civilian -- lost in this conflict, AND to show the stark realities of war. I have traveled with this tour for two and a-half years and have been all over this country, in over 80 different locations. During this tour, I have had the privilege of meeting hundreds of family members, friends and colleagues of these fallen soldiers.

Many military families embrace EWO as the only PUBLIC memorial for their loved ones. Whether we as individuals agree about the necessity or the justification of this war, we can all join in honoring the fallen and grieving their loss. We can also all join in the hope that each and every soldier now in Iraq will soon return home safety.

During the time that I have traveled with this exhibit, I have gained insight into many aspects of this war and into the individuals who have been there or have lost loved ones. We hope your visit here today will encourage you to contemplate the lives lost and the bodies broken -- and enter into a dialogue about war, its consequences and most importantly, its alternatives.

We also hope that you will become involved in your own individual way to do what you can to stop the carnage that continues destroying Iraq and has taken _2755_ young American lives. Nearly 70 % of Americans now agree that this war should not have happened and the overwhelming majority of us now believe that we must change course. The turmoil that now exists in Iraq cannot be remedied by American weaponry.

The Shia and Sunni have been at odds since the day Muhammad died, in the year 635. How did the US ever think that we could change that, by invading Iraq? Democracy does not come from the barrel of a gun. Besides my role with AFSC, I am also a Vietnam veteran. And, as a veteran, I am increasingly concerned about the plight of the men and women who are serving and have served in Iraq. While we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, it is the living, rather than the dead we must now focus.

If the current rate of injury casualties continues, this month, October, will see the highest rate of wounded since the beginning of the war. To date, over 20,000 service members have been wounded in this conflict and over 50% of those have received injuries so severe that they will be permanently disabled. Who will care for these individuals, once they are discharged from the military? How many of our honored troops will end up homeless or live their lives in poverty and despair? Additionally, we know that over 25% of service personnel have some sort of mental disorder when they are released from active duty.

Likely, this number is much higher. The suicide rate for discharged veterans is unknown and the government has no interest in finding out. ---JEFF LUCEY --- It is not only time to end this illegal occupation of Iraq, it is time to demand that congress insure the care of our veterans, not only the Iraq veterans, but also veterans of other eras. Right here in this space, there are homeless veterans of Vietnam, who have been long forgotten. Yellow ribbons and bumper stickers, purchased at a supermarket checkout stand, are not a remedy.

Congress must act and funds must be appropriated to care for these individuals. The $500 Billion dollars we have spent on this war would go a long way, here at home. The injustice and damage that have been caused by this war cannot be repaired overnight. But we must begin the course- change that is necessary. We cannot survive as a nation, if we allow more of the same. It is incumbent on each of us to lift a little more and strive a little harder and to not shy away from engaging in a dialogue with those who may disagree with us.

As Robert Kennedy reminded us: It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. The ripple builds others. Those ripples crossing each other from a million different centers of energy build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and injustice.

And I say, these ripples can stop this war.