MILITARY FAMILES CALL FOR END TO IRAQ WAR:

"Americans and Iraqis are still dying in a war based on lies"

Nationwide: On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq, Military Families Speak Out, the largest organization of military families to oppose a war in the nation's history, is calling on the American people to push President Obama to bring an immediate and complete end to the U.S. military occupation of Iraq. In a statement released today the organization said:

Six years after the Bush administration (with the majority in Congress complicit) made the grievously flawed decision to deploy the U.S military to invade Iraq, the military occupation continues and Americans and Iraqis are still dying in a war based on lies.

Recent news accounts report the weariness Americans feel on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and how their focus has turned to the woes the crashing economy has brought. But it is a different weariness felt by today’s military families. For us, not only is the economy in shambles, but every day that this war continues is another day when so many of our loved ones are in harm's way. For Iraqis, every day that there are U.S. troops in Iraq is another day that their country is under occupation. The fact that every month this continuing war drains $10 billion from an economy in crisis seems lost in the day-to-day dramas of lay-offs and foreclosures.

President Obama's promise that all of our troops will be out of Iraq by December, 2011 will be cold comfort to the military families for whom this timeline makes no changes to deployment cycles set up under President Bush. These families’ sons and daughters, husbands, and wives, sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers will come home from first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth deployments changed forever by lifelong injuries to their bodies, minds, and spirits. Over the next two years of the Obama plan, some families will receive loved ones home from Iraq in flag-draped coffins, while others will witness loved ones who return, only to take their own lives because of what they’ve seen or done in a war that should not be happening.

Military Families Speak Out asks President Obama: “How many more deaths are you willing to accept in a war that you agree should never have started?” Not one more death is acceptable to us.

Military Families Speak Out asks Congress: “When is the time for you to step up to the plate and stop paying for this war with lives that should not be lost, and with money America does not have?” We say: Not one more day, not one more dime, not one more life.

It is long past time to bring our entire military home from Iraq. Continuing the occupation won't bring Iraq any closer to political reconciliation. Our military presence in Iraq is a cause of violence there, not its solution.

As military and Gold Star families, we are dedicated to doing everything in our power to bring this misbegotten war to an end – now. We know that many in America are struggling with the impacts of a failing economy. But we want to remind the people of this country that military families and our loved ones are also struggling daily with the impacts of this on-going war that is being conducted in all of our names, with monies borrowed from all of our grandchildren. Military Families Speak Out asks the American people: “Will you join us now, on the eve of the seventh year of a war based on lies, in calling for an immediate end to the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, for all of our troops to be brought home now, and for them to receive the care they need when they return?” 

Members of Military Families Speak Out will be taking part in events protesting the war in cities across the country in the coming days.

Members of Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families Speak Out are available for interview including those whose loved ones are now serving in Iraq or will soon be sent there, those whose loved ones suffered physical and psychological injuries in Iraq, and those whose loved ones died as a result of the war in Iraq.

Military Families Speak Out (www.mfso.org) is an organization of 4,000 families opposed to the war in Iraq who have loved ones serving in the military or who have served since fall, 2002..  Gold Star Families Speak Out (www.gsfso.org) is a national chapter of Military Families Speak Out whose members' loved ones have died as a result of the war in Iraq.

--30--