‘Chain of Concern’ seeks end to war

BANGOR – Military service runs deep in Vic Kraft’s family.

Sean Kraft returned a changed man after spending nine months in Iraq as a medic at the infamous Abu Graib prison.

He has post-traumatic stress disorder: unexplainable rises in blood pressure and heart rate, and has nightmares.

Vic Kraft of Bangor, who works as a private investigator, has also changed, he said Saturday:

From a moderate conservative, he has become a staunch opponent of the U.S. war in Iraq.

“There won’t be another Kraft fighting a war if I have anything to do with it,” Kraft said as he stood in a long line of protesters that stretched Saturday from Cascade Park toward Eastern Maine Medical Center.

The hour-long “Chain of Concern” marked the third anniversary of the Iraq war.

Midway through the demonstration, about 140 people could be counted lining State Street, although organizers said the number swelled to 185 people at one point.

Some protesters carried simple peace signs, some held up messages to passing drivers on the busy street such as “Healthcare not Warfare” and “Has the war made us safe?”

Others stood by nearly life-size cutouts of Martin Luther King and Ghandi.

Al Larson, 64, of Orono brought the U.S. flag, something the Vietnam veteran has done to the scores of protests and vigils in which he has participated the past two years. The flag is a reminder, he said, that a person can oppose the war and still be a patriotic American.

“We are Americans here. We are patriotic Americans here,” said Larson, who did three tours of duty in Vietnam in the U.S. Navy.

Like others, war changed Larson.

He went into Vietnam believing he was doing right for his country and that ridding Vietnam of communism would be effective in keeping it out of other countries.

He left after six years’ service in Vietnam. He said he concluded that U.S. military actions since World War II have been motivated more by the demand for oil and economic gain than altruistic ideals.

“You show me a war since World War II that’s been fought to support the people who were in the country,” he said.

The third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq comes at a time when support for the war and its outcome seem to be eroding.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this month showed that slightly more than four in 10 said that the cost of the war was worth it compared with six in 10 who said so at the end of 2003.

The number of respondents who said the United States should begin withdrawing its troops increased from 38 percent to 52 percent in the past nine months.

Protesters said Saturday that they would like to see an immediate withdrawal.

“As long as our troops are there, they are just creating more terrorists,” said Ilze Petersons, program coordinator for the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, which along with the Veterans for Peace and the Military Families Speak Out, organized the “Chain of Concern.”

The sentiment for a quick withdrawal is not shared across the country, poll results suggest. The Post-ABC poll showed that 1 in 6 favored an immediate withdrawal of all troops compared to about one-third who indicated that a more gradual process is needed.

Petersons said that the $246 billion that has been spent on the war has drained funding for health care, education and social programs, while U.S. troops remain “sitting ducks” for the growing insurgency.