After five years of working to end the occupation of Iraq and bringour loved ones home, we are hopeful that with the election of Barack Obama
an end may finally be in sight to a war that has claimed the lives of 4,190 U.S. troops and over a million Iraqis.
At the same time,we are appealing to President-Elect Obama
to commit to making the immediate and complete return of all our.
troops from Iraq
his first order of business. Obama has
said that he plans to withdraw combat troops from Iraq
over a sixteen month period, which would continue the U.S.
military occupation of Iraq
past 2009, and leave tens of thousands of U.S.
troops tasked with security, counter-terrorism, and training missions in Iraq
indefinitely.
Marge Haracz, of Mundelein,
IL, whose son is now serving with the Army
in Iraq, says:
"President-elect
Obama, in 2003 before the first bombs fell in Iraq you stood in
opposition calling Iraq a 'dumb
war.' My son and 151,000 brothers and sisters in arms continue to risk
their lives in that dumb war. The change these brave young men and women
and their families need is the orderly but immediate withdrawal from Iraq and strong
leadership as America meets the
challenge of taking care of them when they get home."
