"Steve Bowers, associate member of Veterans for Peace, is thinking at the booth. Few months after the first Arlington West Memorial was erected in Santa Barbara, the Los Angeles Chapter of Veterans for peace was the first one to dupicate this mock cemetery, every Sunday since february 15th, 2004. At least now, twenty weekly or monthly duplication of Arlington West Memorial have sprung up across the United States. As a reference to the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, these rows of white wooden crosses, Muslim crescents and stars of David at Arlington West Memorial Santa Monica, provide veterans and members of the armed forces, their families and friends, and the general public a place to grieve and honor the more than 4,300 American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Arlington West Memorial is also designed to raise public awareness of the costs and consequences of American militarism and to provide a site that fosters dialogue and reflection. In the intervening years since the first Arlington West Memorial at Santa Barbara, Veterans for Peace members and non veterans volunteers have effectively transformed what began as an angry anti-war protest into a genuine memorial to present a visual representation of the human cost of war and a peaceful political statement against the current Iraq war, while still respecting the opinions from families and visitors. Funded by public donations, Arlington West Memorial is expected to be on display, every Sunday at Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, until the end of the Iraq war." ©Mathieu Grandjean

Steve Bowers, associate member of Veterans for Peace, is thinking at the booth. Few months after the first Arlington West Memorial was erected in Santa Barbara, the Los Angeles Chapter of Veterans for peace was the first one to dupicate this mock cemetery, every Sunday since february 15th, 2004. At least now, twenty weekly or monthly duplication of Arlington West Memorial have sprung up across the United States. As a reference to the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, these rows of white wooden crosses, Muslim crescents and stars of David at Arlington West Memorial Santa Monica, provide veterans and members of the armed forces, their families and friends, and the general public a place to grieve and honor the more than 4,300 American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Arlington West Memorial is also designed to raise public awareness of the costs and consequences of American militarism and to provide a site that fosters dialogue and reflection. In the intervening years since the first Arlington West Memorial at Santa Barbara, Veterans for Peace members and non veterans volunteers have effectively transformed what began as an angry anti-war protest into a genuine memorial to present a visual representation of the human cost of war and a peaceful political statement against the current Iraq war, while still respecting the opinions from families and visitors. Funded by public donations, Arlington West Memorial is expected to be on display, every Sunday at Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, until the end of the Iraq war.