Congratulations to DFAM and VFP for Veterans Day coverage

Ana Menendez (left) with Carlos and Melida Arredondo

The Arlington South memorial is a touching reminder of the human cost of our failed Iraq war policy. Kudos to the score of members of Democracy for America Miami-Dade and Veterans for Peace who worked to set up the vast field of tombstone replicas for this Veterans Day.

The VFP chapter worked hard to get Carlos and Melida Arredondo, whose son Alexander was a Marine who died in combat in Iraq, to come to Miami for the memorial.

Miami Herald columnist Ana Menendez interviewed them about their son at the memorial site, Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. She called the memorial “a radical act of remembering, founded on the hope that a war conceived in abstraction and lies will crumble before the truth of a single death.”

A single death becomes hard to comprehend when thousands of our own citizens, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, have lost their lives. Yet Ana Menendez is right. Look at any of the single memorials, think for a while, and realize a powerful truth in one person’s life lost.

The link to her column in Wednesday's Herald.

Veterans Day event

Sam Feldman and Dave Patlak were among the Democratic activists who set up the Arlington South memorial for this Veterans Day. Sponsors were Democracy for America Miami-Dade and Veterans for Peace.

There will be a memorial service at 5 p.m. Monday Nov. 12 in Bayfront Park, Miami, to conclude the three-day display of memorial tombstone replicas to the U.S. military personnel who have died in the Iraq war.

UPDATE: Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman has rung in with a statement honoring Veterans Day, concluding: "On this Veterans Day, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all those who have served our nation, both past and present. So, to every solider, sailor, marine, and airman: the leadership, staff and members of the Florida Democratic Party thank you wholeheartedly for your selfless service to this great country. Thank you for the sacrifices you have made. Thank you for continuing to make us safe. And thank you for making us proud."

COMMENT: This link takes you to today's NY Times editorial on the plight of veterans.