On February 20th, Ruth Group sponsored a talk and video presentation by Cole Miller, founder of No More Victims. NMV has been bringing Iraqi children who were injured by the US military into the USA for medical treatment. Most of these injuries are serious and Iraqi medical facilities are unable to provide the care needed.

Cole’s presentation was hard hitting and saddening as we watched children whose legs had been severed, eyes torn out, hands deformed by blasts , gunshots and fire. Cole tells the story of how each child was wounded with detail and heartbreaking clarity. The Ruth Group audience was moved to tears and outrage as we saw what we have all known for so long, that this war was a tragic mistake that took its toll on innocent people, and has created suffering that will take decades to heal.

David Harris, a cofounder of Ruth Group set the context for this project in his introduction of Cole Miller. David noted that we have been primarily educating and taking actions around political policy concerning the Iraq war for the last 5 years, and that we have come to a point we feel a concrete action that speaks to the tragic aftermath and addresses the suffering caused is in order now. We are so grateful that we found No More Victims to help us take this path.

In the audience was Dr. Dan Lowenstein, a physician and member of the Iraq Action Group. This is a group of doctors who formed 4 years ago at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco for much the same reasons Ruth Group came together. They have been educating themselves about the war and have been looking for a way to use their medical expertise. Amy Skewes Cox (Ruth Grouper) Ruth Friend (cofounder of Ruth Group), Dan Lowenstein and Cole Miller have met and have agreed that we can work together to make this NMV’s project a success.

Among the audience were 37 Ruth Group friends who signed up for various tasks to work on the No More Victims Bay Area Project. We are so grateful to these people who will be needed to fund raise, make local contacts, and other tasks needed to help this child and family.

If you signed up, you will be contacted very soon. If you would like to sign up please contact Amy Skewes-Cox at amysc@rtasc.com. Amy will be heading up this project. She is an environmental planner and very busy in her career, so we are fortunate to have her volunteering to make No More Victims a success.

In Peace
Ruth Friend