IRAQ Examining the human cost of war BY IAN DONNIS

A general sense that things aren’t going well in Iraq isn’t exactly difficult to come by these days. Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 is doing big box office and daily news reports from the frontlines have been dominated for months by word of casualties and other gloomy developments. Still, for most of those without a personal connection to the war, much of this might seem like an abstraction — something that Eyes Wide Open: An Exhibition of the Iraq War hopes to change.

"The purpose is to make sure that the human cost of the war is clearly in the consciences of the people of our region," says Noah Merrill, program coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in southeastern New England. "This is a policy decision that many people see as something that’s over, but clearly the human cost is continuing to grow."

Eyes Wide Open, a project of the AFSC’s Great Lakes Regional Office, consists of two components. A traveling outdoor memorial to the human cost of the Iraq war, including more than 800 pairs of combat boots bearing the names of fallen US soldiers (and a 24-foot wall detailing the deaths of Iraqi civilians), will be displayed for one day in each of six locations in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. In Providence, the memorial will be in the basin at WaterPlace Park on July 10 and 11. The second element, a multimedia exhibit, will be displayed in the O’Gorman Building, 220 Westminster St., Providence, from July 10 through 16 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The exhibit has been traveling the country, making its way to Boston and New York for the respective Democratic and Republican political conventions in July and August. Although conceived in the aftermath of the first phase of the war, Merrill says the exhibit remains just as relevant with the growing toll of casualties. More than 850 Americans, and 10,000 Iraqis, are said to have died in the conflict.

Staging the exhibit in southeastern New England represents the first local project for Merrill, who recently succeeded Anna Galland as the AFSC’s program coordinator in the region. A Quaker by birth, Merrill was previously involved in human rights work in Mexico, the national service program Americorps, and, most recently, he worked with a nonprofit in Indianapolis that does conflict resolution work in inner city communities.

While defenders of the war tend to downplay American casualties as relatively few compared to conflicts like World War II, such comparisons seem beside the point given the questionable pretexts surrounding the preemptive war. And while some critics, like Moore, may seem interested in scoring political points, "AFSC’s interest is in making sure this presentation as a memorial to the horrific cost and a statement about truth," Merrill says.