Chalking up the Costs of War

Volunteers in Portland have been chalking the names of U.S. and coalition soldiers killed in the Iraq war on sidewalks across the city. Artist Nancy Hiss began the project last May and has drawn more than 4,000 names with the help of passers by. She has about 300 names to go.

A list of civilians would require a lot more volunteers and sidewalks. Iraqbodycount.org estmates that the U.S. invasion has resulted in more than 80,000 civilians killed.

If anyone wants try try this in Eugene, you’d need to write names all the way down one side of Willamette Street from downtown to 29th Street and then back down the other side, assuming about four feet per name. Include the civilian deaths, and you’d need to chalk names from Eugene to Salem.