You can make a big difference in building support for the March on the Pentagon by circulating the letter below to family
members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. It is a letter signed by active-duty service men and women, and families with loved ones who have served or are serving in Iraq, and veterans of past and present wars, who support the March on the Pentagon on March 17, 2007.
Darrell Anderson, Iraq War Veteran, Iraq War Resister, and Anita Dennis (L), his mother.
If you are a soldier, veteran or affected family member, please sign the letter below. And all of us can support this letter by circulating it and getting other soldiers, veterans and family members to sign.
Click to sign the letter on MarchOnPentagon.org.
‘Why we are marching on the Pentagon’
We, active-duty service men and women, and families with loved ones who have served or are serving in Iraq, and veterans of past and present wars, support the March on the Pentagon on March 17, 2007 to say: “Stop the War—Bring the Troops Home Now.” On that day, the Iraq war will become the second longest in U.S. history, after only the Vietnam war. The war is an unmitigated disaster for the people of Iraq and the people of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and Iraq society torn apart. More than 3,100 U.S. soldiers have died and “non-mortal casualties” are nearing 55,000. The cost of the war is now over $8 billion per month, $280 million per day, $12 million per hour. All of this death, suffering and loss for a war justified by lies and deception.
Despite overwhelming public opposition, expressed through the November elections and in countless opinion polls, the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have decided to escalate the war. Escalation will only mean a deepening spiral of death, destruction and wasted resources. We call for the troops to come home, not be redeployed for some other military adventure and for the war funding to be used to provide accessible education, job training and comprehensive health care.
A growing number of families with loved ones in Iraq are now questioning the reasons they are there. Every death or life-changing injury devastates a family, friends and the community they come from. Every redeployment means months more of worry. For veterans of previous wars there are disproportionate numbers of suicides, homelessness, and untreated illnesses. Is there any reason to think that the veterans of the current war won’t face the same fate? We are outraged that Bush, who talks endlessly about “supporting the troops,” has proposed cutting funds for the Veterans Administration in his new budget
It is for these reasons that active duty service members, their families and veterans can and must play a vital role in ending this unjust war. Join us at the Pentagon on Saturday, March 17!
Sign the statement by clicking here and filling out the form.
- Ron Kovic, Vietnam Veteran, author, Born on the Fourth of July
- Cindy Sheehan, Co-founder, Gold Star Families for Peace, mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, KIA in Sadr City Baghdad on April 4, 2004
- Dede Miller, Co-founder, Gold Star Families for Peace, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan’s Aunt
- Carlos & Melida Arredondo, Gold Star Parents Whose Son and Step-Son, Alex, Died in Iraq
- Carlos & Melida Arredondo, Gold Star Parents Whose Son and Step-Son, Alex, Died in Iraq in 2004, Co-Founders of peopleunitedforpeace.org
- Jonathan W. Hutto Sr., Navy Petty Office Third Class, Co-Founder Appeal for Redress
- Darrell Anderson, Iraq War Veteran, Iraq War Resister
- Anita Dennis, Organizer with Courage to Resist, Military Families Speak Out member, Mother of Darrell Anderson Iraq War Veteran/Resister
- Fernando Suarez del Solar, Founder/Director, Guerrero Azteca Project, father of Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar, one the first U.S. Marines to be killed in Iraq, 2003
- Michael Prysner, Iraq War Veteran, Corporal US Army
- Tristan Brown, Student Anti-War Activist University of Massachusetts Amherst, Brother of Infantry Marine Stationed in Iraq
- April Fitzsimmons, US Air Force Veteran
- Marcus Eriksen, US Marine Corp Veteran
- Jerome Schnitzer, US Army Veteran
- Robert L. Hilliard, Author, Educator, WWII Purple Heart Combat Infantry Veteran
- Nicolle Schieferstein, Lance Corporal, US Marine Corp, ret.
- Bill Hackwell, SSGT, US Air Force, veteran.
- Danielle Clarke, US Marine Corp, Vietnam Veteran Against the War
- Frederick H. Forschler, CT02 U.S.N. Vietnam War Veteran
- Frank Dorrel, Veterans for Peace and Publisher, Addicted to War
- David Harris, President Veterans for Peace Chapter 115, Red Wing, MN
- Dinah Mason, Vietnam-era Veteran, US Women’s Army Corps, Member Military Families Speak Out & Veterans for Peace, Santa Barbara, CA
- Phyllis Dodge, Vietnam-era Veteran, US Women’s Army Corps, Member Military Families Speak Out, Marana, AZ
- Erika Illanes, Iraq War Veteran, Recently Discharged After Returning from One Year Deployment to Baghdad, Currently on Inactive Ready Reserve, Member Iraq Veterans Against the War & Military Families Speak Out, Santa Barbara, CA
- Timothy Baker, US Army, Inactive Ready Reserve, Two Deployments to Iraq, Member Iraq Veterans Against the War
- Stanley Comisiak, Vietnam Veteran, 1967-68
- Mark Ellis, US Army Veteran
- Julie Anderson, Mother of US Air Force Airman and Member Military Families Speak Out
- William Massey, U.S. Marine Corps veteran
- Michael Massey, U.S. Marine Corps veteran
For more info and to sign the statement, go to MarchOnPentaton.org.
