New Haven Independent

The board of parks commissioners delved into foreign policy Wednesday night while approving a proposal to create a “temporary” downtown monument to those who have died in the war in Iraq. The monument will exist only as long as the war in Iraq continues.

The board heard the proposal from Stephen Kobasa (pictured above), a representative of Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice, a Connecticut interfaith peace and justice group. The monument, to be erected at the corner of Broadway and Elm near the Civil War memorial, will consist initially of a cairn of 56 ten-pound stones, representing the 56 months since the start of the Iraq conflict. Antiwar activists have maintained a weekly vigil there.

Kobasa explained that a new stone will be added to the pile every month that the Iraq war continues. Each stone will be engraved with the month and the number of Iraqi and American deaths during that month. Kobasa described it as “a way of giving weight to the numbers, both literally and metaphorically.”

Kobasa’s proposal is for a “temporary” memorial, lasting only as long as the war in Iraq. It was not lost on the commissioners that with no end in sight to the conflict, the pile of stones could be there for a very long time, getting larger every month.

“A terrible irony,” Kobasa noted.

In recognition of the distinct possibility that the Iraq war will not have a clear ending, the board decided that it will be up to the parks department to determine when the war is over and the memorial should be removed.

“We’ll put up a big ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner,” joked Commissioner Michael Tucker (pictured). The commissioners approved the proposal with only one opposing vote. “As a long-haired, radical hippie, I’m all for it,” said Tucker.

Commission Vice President Clifton Bush (at right in picture) voiced his approval, saying it was a “no-brainer.” Vice President Clifton, describing President George W. Bush as “arrogant and stupid,” said that “it’s up to us as concerned citizens to draw attention to what’s going on.”

Commissioner Kevin Walton, the lone dissenting vote, made reference to the current controversy in the city over temporary sidewalk memorials to murdered New Haveners. “Is this memorial any different?” he asked, saying, “Some people say that there’s a war in New Haven.” After the meeting, Walton said that he voted against for the proposal “out of respect for the people involved in the deaths in New Haven.”

“I totally disagree with the war,” said Walton (pictured), “but there’s this violence hitting closer to home. And where’s the symbolism for that?”

Commissioners were concerned that the stones could be stolen or thrown at cars. The proposal was passed with the condition that if there were problems with theft or vandalism that the monument would be moved to a new location or dismantled entirely. Another condition was, of course, that the parks department will have the power to declare the end date of the Iraq war and New Haven’s temporary monument to the war’s casualties.

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