SEVEN YEARS INTO THE WAR IN IRAQ, MILITARY FAMILIES SAY: "BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- March 17, 2010

Contact: Deborah Forter, 617-983-0710, press@mfso.org
Nancy Lessin, 617-320-5301, press@mfso.org

SEVEN YEARS INTO THE WAR IN IRAQ, MILITARY FAMILIES SAY: "BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!"

Family Members of Fallen Soldiers and Families of Troops Currently Deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan Available for Interview

Nationwide -- With the war in Iraq entering its 8th year, members of Military Families Speak Out, the largest organization of military families to speak out against a war in this country's history, are calling on Senators and Representatives to take immediate action to cut off funding for the war and bring our troops home now.

 

"With great sadness my family and I mark the seventh anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. It is also now 6 years since we last saw my son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, a Pennsylvania National Guard soldier, alive. On April 26, 2004 he died in an explosion while looking for the nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. We are but one of the over 5,000 American families who mourn the loss of their loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan; physical and spiritual casualties affect thousands more - and yet the wars that kill our young and drain our treasure do not create peace. It is long past time to bring our troops home, and find real solutions for Peace." said Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia, whose son was the first Pennsylvania guardsman lost in the war in Iraq.

 

 

Maggie Pondolfino, a Military Families Speak Out member from Washington, DC, whose son currently serves in the Army, said "Two years ago, I welcomed my son home from an extended tour in Iraq. While I'm profoundly grateful that he survived the surge of 2007, 53 others in his brigade were not so fortunate. Now my son is deployed again - this time to Afghanistan. As we face the beginning of the 8th year of war in Iraq and more troops to be sent to Afghanistan, we need to face our collective duty to demand an end to these wars and to bring our troops home now. There is no military solution to these conflicts and no life worth losing to these wars."

 

 

"After witnessing and personally experiencing the loss that war brings and the cost to our nation in terms of the killing and maiming of our next generation of leaders, I'm always amazed that Americans allow open warfare to continu.," said Jane Bright, the mother of Army Sgt. Evan Ashcraft, an infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division who was killed in Iraq on July 24, 2003. "The U.S. is currently engaged in 3 wars, yet the American masses go about their business as if destruction of other countries is part of the American landscape. My question to the American people: when will America step up and bring this warfare to an end, and when will you grow tired of seeing a few grow rich from the suffering of so many?"

 

Military Families Speak Out members will be participating in events in Washington, D.C. and around the country to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the war in Iraq and call for all troops to be brought home now and given the care they need when they get home.

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW: In Washington, D.C. on March 20 at 11:15 a.m.: There will be a contingent of members of Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families Speak Out (MFSO's national chapter of families whose loved ones died as a result of the wars), Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace assembling at the Veterans Administration Building at 810 Vermont Avenue, NW - they will go on to be the lead contingent in the march against the wars.

ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY: Members of Military Families Speak Out will also be participating in events around the country. To arrange for an interview contact Deborah Forter at press@mfso.org or Military Families Speak Out, 617-983-0710 or Nancy Lessin at 617-320-5301 or press@mfso.org

Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) is a national organization of over 4,000 families who are opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have loved ones in the military. Gold Star Families Speak Out (GSFSO) is a national chapter of Military Families Speak Out, with families whose loved ones died as a result of these wars.

For more information about Military Families Speak Out, please visit: www.mfso.org; for more information about Gold Star Families Speak Out, please see www.gsfso.org

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