Spirit of America

Support Iraq's War Widows with LTC Holloway

Support a neglected population with basic supplies such as blankets, clothes and hygiene kits

LTC Linda J. M. Holloway, a United States Army Reservist with 22 years experience, is currently serving in Iraq as a Civil Affairs Officer on an ePRT, which stands for Embedded Reconstruction Team. During her many meetings with local Iraqis since the start of her tour in October, 2006, LTC Holloway has realized that "[t]he rebuilding of Iraq is more than just mortar and bricks; it is the rebuilding of people’s lives that have been devastated by the many years of war in Iraq...There is indeed a cry for help and it is the cry of the "War Widows."

LTC Holloway with Iraqi widows and their children

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Original Request--202 Widows & Their 67 Children Arrive for 1st Meeting
"My name is LTC Linda J. M. Holloway. I am a United States Army Reservist with 22 years experience. I am currently serving in Iraq as a Civil Affairs Officer on an ePRT. ePRT stands for Embedded Reconstruction Team. This team is composed of both civilians and military personnel. When I am not completing my reserve training, my time is spent in a classroom of higher learning. I am currently employed at Alabama A&M University, where I am an Associate Professor in the Counseling and Psychology Department. I have been employed at the University since 2003. I am currently collocated at RCT-2, a Marines active duty unit, out of Camp Le June, North Carolina in the Western Anbar Providence. My role has been very multifaceted and dynamic since the start of my deployment October 7, 2006. However, during this deployment, I have come to know the true reason we can and will make difference in Iraq is through a sincere effort to touch the lives of the people of Iraq. During my many meetings with the local Iraqis, I have realized the one face that has often been left out of the picture has been that of the Iraqi Women. Surely, one would say this is a very patriarchal cultural. I do believe in order to be successful; we must include the Iraqi women in this process. These women currently make up the majority of the population as a result of the millions of Iraqi men who have lost there lives in this war torn country.

202 women and 67 children at first meeting I’ve had the opportunity to connect with the local Iraqi women by attending Iraqi Women’s Engagement. I have attended city council meetings and in those sessions, people were actively engaging in dialogue about the local governance of Iraq. My mind could not help but wonder; what indeed is the real plight of the Iraqi women behind the scene. I decided to start my own personal journey, only to discover it was one of deep dark sadness. The woman I met was a widow, poor, destitute, homeless, illiterate, and without hope. The strong desire emerged deep within in me to not only lift the veil of poverty but to also explore how she could become engaged in the entire process of the rebuilding and reconstruction of Iraq. I felt this would provide an avenue where she could share her pain, hurt, and loss. I aggressively begin to pursue the opportunity of seeking the support to start a War Widows Support Group called the "Weeping Widows". The rebuilding of Iraq is more than just mortar and bricks; it is the rebuilding of people’s lives that have been devastated by the many years of war in Iraq (The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88, the Gulf War of 1991, and United States 2003 Invasion of Iraq). There is indeed a cry for help and it is the cry of the "War Widows." Millions of men have lost their lives as a result these wars leaving the Iraqi women widows and struggling to take care of their family as best they can in war torn country. Many Iraqi women have had to turn to prostitution, selling of their daughters to the slave trade, and also giving their daughters up to become early childhood brides in order to provide for their family. Many women and children are believed resort to seeking help from AL Qaeda just to put food on the table for their family. They have placed our soldiers in harm way who are fighting and have fought to free them from the tyranny of oppression at the hands of the insurgent. In order to stop this vicious cycle, I have proposed to start a Support Group called the "Weeping Widows" to assist the War Widows of Iraq in my AO (Area of Operation). The children of these widows will also benefit from this program. One of the things I have come to learn on this hardship journey is that when a child loses one parent regardless of the gender of the parent the child is considered an orphan. This program is designed to empower the weeping widows to take a more active role economically and politically in the rebuilding of not only their local communities but the country as a whole. LTC Holloway and a child of a war widow It has been reported that 90 to 100 men lose their lives daily. These men fall in one of the four major categories: (1) Diseased, (2) Detained, (3) Disable and (4) the Disappeared. It has been reported there are approximately 400,000 war widows in Baghdad and believed to be approximately 8 Million war widows in the entire country of Iraq. It is extremely difficult in war conflicted country to obtain accurate statistics on the war widow's population because some of the spouses have proof of their deceased husband’s body and others do not due to IED’s (Improvised Explosive Device), and car bombings. Death has also taken its toll on the male population of the Iraqi police force. There has been a drastic shift in the dynamic of the demographics in Iraq where the women of Iraq now make up approximately 60 % of the population. A majority of these women are indeed war widows. I have received an astronomical amount of requests since I have launched this initiative September 12, 2007. There has been a request in one of our AO, (Area of Operation) a need for support for 1,200 War Widows and another area 700 to 1,000 women will benefit from the "Weeping Widows Support Group." The request for this type of support is indeed amazingly overwhelming. The Weeping Widows Support Group is seeking the sincere help of the American people for...items that will be use to bring some form of normalcy and stability into the lives of these War Widows and their children."

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