In light of the current investigations into U.S. military conduct in Haditha, Ishaqi, Al Hamdania and elsewhere in Iraq, we are putting this open letter to GI's back on MFSO's front page. It was written in fall, 2003 by Stan Goff, a member of Military Families Speak Out and Veterans for Peace.

I am the wife of a National Guard soldier who served twelve months in Iraq. I am also a member of Military Families Speak Out, an organization of more than 3,000 military families opposed to the war in Iraq.

Joyce and Kevin Lucey are the parents of Corporal Jeffrey Lucey, who killed himself on June 22nd, 2003 after returning from a tour in Iraq. Joyce and Kevin Lucey are currently suing the Department of Veterans affairs arguing the VA was negligent in caring for their son. A VA Inspector General’s Report notes VA officials turned Jeffrey Lucey a few days before he took his own life. The Luceys are members of Gold Star Families Speak Out, a chapter of Military Families Speak Out.

By Cindy Sheehan, Member MFSO, Co-Founder Gold Star Families For Peace. "Congressman Conyers and all, it is an honor to be here to testify about the effect that the revelations of the Downing Street Memo has had on me and my family. It is an honor that I wish never had to happen. I believe that not any of us should be gathered here today for this reason: as the result of an invasion/occupation that never should have occurred."

By David Cline. " Almost 20 years ago, I was dumped in a strange swamp and told to find my own way out I started walking but with every step I seemed to sink in deeper and deeper But I kept walking, what choice did I have?"

"Thank you all for being here on this Mother's Day Sunday. I'm happy to be here and to represent Military Families Speak Out and the 500 some families who have loved ones who have or will be ordered to the Persian Gulf."

A poem by Margaret Anderson.

Statement by Stephen Cleghorn of MFSO. "I have two points to make today. The first has to do with feelings about my stepson. The second has to do with the true roots of this proposed war with Iraq."

By Fred D'Amato. "On Sunday afternoon, February 9th, 2003, my army reservist son received the call to report for duty on Tuesday morning. Despite my vehement objections to the upcoming Iraq invasion and pleas not to go, he said he had to go "because it's the right thing to do". With less than 48 hours notice, my son notified college, his employer, friends and family of his call to active duty. "

"Good afternoon. My name is Elizabeth Frederick and I am a member of Military Families Speak Out, a group of over 2,200 families nationwide who oppose the war in Iraq and have loved ones who are serving in Iraq, have served, will soon deploy, or have died as a result of the war. "

Beth Lerman, an MFSO chapter leader from Dayton, Ohio, delivered this powerful speech at the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation in Cleveland, Ohio on June 29, 2008.

I was very happy when I started seeing other military families at antiwar demonstrations. These were people who had the same fear I did, people with a personal reason for trying to stop the war. Some of them carried signs with photos of their loved ones in uniform, saying things like "This war is not worth my son's life". It wasn't hard to find them at demonstrations. They were always right up front, with veterans in uniform from other wars, especially Vietnam. It seemed like the peace movement has learned at least one lesson from Vietnam. The most powerful messengers against war are soldiers themselves, and their families.

As a mother I cannot escape the particular and neither can the other members of MFSO, nor the people of Iraq. Numbers cannot chill the soul the same way my soul was chilled when I sat in a darkened hotel room and listened to my daughter recount what it was like to clean her friend’s brains and body parts out of a humvee. The chill I felt when she described the shock of looking into the eyes of the first person she killed, a twelve year old boy. At that moment I knew we could never go back to the time before. From the minute my daughter took life our lives have been divided into then and now.

What's in a name? Ben Kamilewicz. That's my son's name. He spent 11 months of Hell in Ramadi, Iraq. He came home over a year ago suffering with four herniated disks in his back and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after being blown up multiple times. He still suffers.

My name is Debbie Whitfield and I am a member of Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families Speak Out . On June 28, 2005 our family became a Gold Star family. My son-in-law, Specialist Robert E. Hall, Jr. was killed in Iraq by an IED. On this Mother’s Day, I am asking our government to take action to end the pain and suffering that the war has inflicted on countless families.

During his second deployment, and in one of his darkest moments, my son called home and asked, “Mom, where are the American people? Do they know what’s going on over here? Do they even care about us?” Today, I put that question to you - do you care about our sons, our daughters, our loved ones? Then, I beg you, please don’t abandon them. Call your Congressional representative on Monday. Demand that they stop funding this war. Demand that the troops be brought home NOW, and that they be taken care of with dignity and decency when they get here, and for as long as they need it. I believe that this is the greatest way that we can honor all of our troops, particularly those who, by their deaths, have paid the supreme price for this war.

Today marks the three-month anniversary of my marriage to a Corporal in the US Marine Corps. My friends and family are always asking “how’s married life?” but I have no idea, because my husband is serving his second tour in Iraq, fighting an unjust, gratuitous war.

Hello, my name is Lisa Leitz. I am a graduate student at UCSB and I am the wife of a Navy pilot stationed in Lemoore, just a few hours north of here. I am one of less than half of a percent of the people of this country that have a loved one in uniform.

I am a member of Military Families Speak Out. My message today is very simple – There are too many. There are too many boots in front of us, there are too many shoes farther back, there are too many who have been maimed and scarred for life, there are too many soldiers who have returned as empty shells of human beings, their souls and humanity left behind on the battlefield. There are too many families who have suffered and who carry around grief and worry and anguish. There are simply too many.