As death toll rises, visitors honor, reflect on war in nation’s capital

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As death toll rises, visitors honor, reflect on war in nation’s capital
By Emily Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, March 25, 2008

WASHINGTON — With the death toll of Americans in Iraq at 4,000, the war continues to move further away from the public eye with other topics and the presidential campaigns taking the lead.

On a mild March day in Washington, locals and visitors toured the capital’s war memorials and reflected on lives lost in Iraq, the media and how it affects their lives. There’s compassion and reverence, but also doubt and fear among teens, who barely remember life without war, and veterans with vivid memories.

David Rhoades, 51, a retired Navy chief petty officer, combs through media stories daily to present news and images of the war in Iraq to students in his Navy JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers Training) class at Eau Claire High School in Columbia, S.C. It’s a challenge, he says, to weed out the politics and opinion pieces. He’s looking for straight news.

“I want them to make up their own minds (about the war),” he said while leading 40 students on a class trip through the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

At the beginning of the school year many students couldn’t find Iraq on a map, he said. Now they discuss the war and remind each other to show respect at the somber D.C. landmarks.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53574