Another request to meet
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
U.S. Department of Defense
Dear Secretary Rumsfeld,
We are writing in support of the request you received from
military families whose loved ones were killed in Iraq to meet
with you in Washington D.C. sometime during the period January
19-21, 2005.
As co-founders of Military Families Speak Out, a national
organization of military families who are speaking out against
the war in Iraq, we know that there are few voices in the
discussion and debate over this war that are more important than
those of military families who have suffered the ultimate
tragedy as a result of the war you have chosen to prosecute in
Iraq.
We believe that you, as Secretary of Defense, owe it to these
families, to all military families, and to this nation, to honor
their request for a meeting. These are families who have been
denied requests to meet their sons' coffins as they returned to
Dover Air Force Base. They are families who received formal
"Killed in Action" letters that had a signature stamp, rather
than your actual signature. Their loved ones were in Iraq
without the proper equipment, armor, support and training. Most
of all, these families suffered their loved ones' deployment --
and demise -- in a war that should never have happened. They
will never again see and hold and touch and experience their
loved ones because of that war. As Secretary of Defense it is
not only your job, but your moral duty, to hear what they have
to say and to answer questions that they have.
Military Families Speak Out currently has a membership that
includes over 2,000 military families. Fifty of these families
are Gold Star families - those whose loved ones died as a result
of the war in Iraq. The number of Military Families Speak Out
members is growing daily and, unfortunately, so is the number of
Gold Star families in our membership. We all know that Gold Star
status could soon belong to any of us. For too many families,
the reality is that tomorrow or the next day or the next day it
might.
Please let us know the date and time when you will be meeting
with these families. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson
Co-founders, Military Families Speak Out
