Many at Spokane vigil call for Iraq withdrawal

About 35 people marked the deaths of 2,000 American service members in a small vigil Wednesday night in downtown Spokane.

While the event focused on the lost troops, many used the candlelight vigil to call for a withdrawal from Iraq.

“I lost my daughter’s father in Vietnam, and I just believe this is another Vietnam,” said participant Karen Kavanagh of Spokane. “It’s a war we don’t belong in.”

The military announced Tuesday that the death toll of American troops in Iraq had reached 2,000. The vigil and more than 1,000 others like it across the country, including one in Coeur d’Alene, was organized by MoveOn.org Political Action.

Participants in Spokane, who met at Riverfront Park, didn’t chant slogans, but held candles and a few signs that read “Honor Our Dead Soldiers,” “Support our troops, bring them home” and “How many more?”

Ashleigh Vereen, who organized the vigil, read the names of Washington troops who died in Iraq.

“We want to honor our troops that are serving over there and the ones who died,” said Vereen, a Mount Spokane High School senior. “Next year we may be gathering for 3,000 or 4,000 or who knows.”