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Veterans Museum hosts Iraq exhibit

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by Andrea Berg

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

The current Iraq war will be the focus of an exhibit at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison in 2009.

Although the exhibit is still in the planning stages, it is already posing the problem of how to depict an ongoing conflict in a historical setting.

“For me, as a historian, the Iraq war is not history, it is a current event,” said Richard Zeitlin, the museum’s director.

The main problem the museum is facing, Zeitlin said, is a lack of perspective. The Iraq war is still being fought, and historians do not have the ability to fully analyze the conflict until it is over.

Thus, the main focus of the exhibit is going to be the men and women who have served in Iraq. Through their stories and material items brought back with them from the war, the museum staff hopes to show the soldiers’ points of view.

“It will be difficult to do something that is still going on, but as long as we keep the stories of the people who have been there in consideration, we will be in good shape,” said Jeff Kollath, the museum’s curator of programs.

Another difficulty curators at the museum are facing is dealing with the political controversy associated with the Iraq war. Zeitlin said he knows politics cannot be left out entirely, yet hopes these issues do not overshadow the message of the exhibit.

“Our main focus is not going to be on politics, but simply on the soldiers,” Zeitlin said.

The museum has previously displayed smaller exhibits dealing with the Iraq war, such as a photo exhibition and lectures from local veterans. Zeitlin said exhibits like these help describe the war to people in America.

The new exhibit will be partially funded by the state of Wisconsin, and the rest of the funds will come from donations.

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