Iraq volunteer to speak today

Cliff Kindy has seen firsthand the trials of the Iraqi people and will speak at 7 p.m. today at First United Church, 2420 E. Third St., about his experiences. Indiana Students Against War and the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition are sponsoring the event.\nJames Cooper, one of the organizers of Indiana Students Against War, has been acquainted with Kindy for several years after hearing about his experiences working with the organization Christian Peacemaker Teams. During his time there, he went into war torn areas with a goal of “promoting reconciliation” and documented what was happening, according to an e-mail sent by Cooper. \nHilary Scarsella, also a member of Indiana Students Against War, said Kindy recently returned from Iraq. The main subject of his talk will be his time spent there.\nThe program is expected to last two hours and Kindy will speak for about 45 minutes. Because he lived among people in the war zone he will have a lot to share, said Timothy Baer, campaign coordinator for the event. The rest of the event will be a discussion. Kindy’s talk comes on the heels of the fifth anniversary of the start of the war, Cooper said.\nAt this point more than a million people have likely perished, and between four and five million people have been displaced, Cooper said.\nCooper said Indiana Students Against War hopes that through hearing firsthand accounts about the huge number of people who have suffered, Kindy’s talk can put a face on Iraqi people. He hopes Kindy’s talk raises questions in everyone’s mind about a better solution to help the Iraqi people.\n“I think it’s common for people in the U.S. to think of the situation in Iraq according to what they hear in the news, which isn’t always wrong but isn’t always 100 percent correct,” Scarsella said.\nBaer said now is a critical time to have Kindy speak because Congress is considering providing approximately $110 billion more towards military operations in Iraq. Baer said the vote in Congress is supposed to take place as early as May. \n“We want everyone to come together and show their representatives that people are concerned about what is going on,” Baer said.\nHe hopes in the end people will contact their congressmen and let them know that they don’t want to see anymore funding for the war.\n“There is power in community,” Baer said.