Mike Dunford points me to an organization that supports families who've lost loved ones in the Iraq War. From Mike:
As I mentioned recently, a number of soldiers in Iraq will be running the Honolulu Marathon this weekend. The course goes around a base several times, mostly over dirt roads. In part, running the Honolulu Marathon lets folks maintain a connection with home, but that's not the only reason that they are running. They're also running to support TAPS - an organization that provides support to the families of people who die while on active duty in the armed forces.
You can see the casualty counts yourself, nothing to sniff at.
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In an amazing show of solidarity, the Honolulu Marathon will be run twice this Sunday: once in Hawaii and once in...Iraq.
We've talked a lot about the terrible effects of the war in Iraq on this site. In this country the emphasis, quite naturally, is on the American victims, so we have tended to discuss the Iraqi victims. But a victim is a victim and war has too many of them.
Yes, you read that right. Our soldiers in Iraq will run the marathon at the same time as the Honolulu race and will be considered to be contestants in the Honolulu marathon.
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