She [Elizabeth Peterson] married [David] Dellinger in 1942, and the next year, he was imprisoned for protesting World War II. This was his second stay in prison but far from his last.
A generation later, as the United States was at war in Vietnam, Dellinger was one of the Chicago Seven (originally eight), put on trial after riots occurred during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
At the end of his trial, Dellinger was convicted of inciting a riot and imprisoned again, although the conviction was later overturned on appeal.
Peterson has lived much of her life with little money, raising six children and blackballed from teaching because of her husband’s anti-war activities.
In the 1960s, her children were ridiculed in school, forcing her to move from New Jersey to Brooklyn so they could be educated in peace.
And after her lifetime of anti-war activities, the United States is again at war, led by a government that she said is less representative and more callous than it was years ago.
"Most of the politicians seem to care only about themselves; they’ve forgotten about the people," she said.
Still, Peterson said, she believes peace and justice will eventually triumph and that the efforts of conscientious objectors and war resisters have not been in vain.
"They were planting seeds," she said, "and these seeds will grow. The young people are learning what has happened, and they will have their own ways to bring us peace."
The above is from Tom Grace's "Anti-war activist’s widow holds to ideals" (The Daily Star) and Hannah e-mailed to highlight it and we'll open with it. Iraq Coalition Casuality Count still says 99 US troops have died in Iraq this month, but the Washington Post is noting the 100th death occurred yesterday. From John Ward Anderson and Ellen Knickmeyer's "Bomb Rocks Baghdad Market Killing as Many as 39:"
Meanwhile, the U.S. military reported that a Marine was killed Sunday in al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, while the Pentagon reported the death of a Marine Friday in al-Anbar, bringing to 100 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq this month. October is the deadliest month for U.S. forces since Jan. 2005, when 107 U.S. soldiers were killed.
Steve Negus (Financial Times of London) also notes that the the 100th mark has been reached and that the US military has already announced it this morning in Baghdad. The 100th death comes on the same day that the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction released a report. From James Glanz' "U.S. Is Said to Fail in Tracking Arms for Iraqis" (New York Times):
The American military has not properly tracked hundreds of thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces and has failed to provide spare parts, maintenance personnel or even repair manuals for most of the weapons given to the Iraqis, a federal report released Sunday has concluded.
[. . .]
Exactly where untracked weapons could end up -- and whether some have been used against American soldiers -- were not examined in the report, although black-market arms dealers thrive on the streets of Baghdad, and official Iraq Army and police uniforms can easily be purchased as well, presumably because government shipments are intercepted or otherwise corrupted.
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the new york times
james glanz
tom grace
the washington post
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ellen knickmeyer
