Military Familes Respond To House Vote on Iraq

Military Familes Respond To House Vote On Non-Binding Resolution Opposing Iraq War Escalation

Group Says: “Condemning the Escalation is Not Enough”

February 16, 2007, Washington, D.C. – Responding to the non-binding resolution passed today by the U.S. House of Representatives, Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) renews the call for Congress to support our troops by voting against President Bush’s supplemental appropriations request that will allow the war in Iraq to continue. Military Families Speak Out, an organization of over 3,200 military families opposed to the war in Iraq, is the largest organization of military families opposing a war in the history of the United States.

“As military families personally and daily connected to the horrific devastation and destruction of this war, we are looking for action that will bring it to an end. Today’s vote in the House is significant only to the extent that it leads to voting down President Bush’s supplemental appropriations request to continue this war,” said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out and stepmother of a Marine who served in Iraq. “It is not enough to make a symbolic gesture denouncing the addition of 21,500 troops to a war that should never have happened. We have no patience for timidity and political maneuvering while more than 130,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, currently dying at a rate of three per day.”

“Today’s vote might have been a practice vote for many in Congress, but the real test will be in four weeks when the President’s supplemental funding request comes before the House,” added Charley Richardson, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out and the father of a Marine. “We need more than resolutions, limitations and investigations. While there was much talk in the last three days about not ‘abandoning our troops,’ Congress must understand that by leaving our troops in Iraq, they are being abandoned. Using their ‘power of the purse,’ Congress has the means to end this war by ending the funding that allows it to continue, and at long last, bring our troops home. We expect no less.”

Military families across the country with loved ones currently serving in Iraq, those with loved ones soon to deploy or re-deploy, families with loved ones who have been wounded physically and/or psychologically, and those whose loved ones died as a result of the war in Iraq are available for interview regarding today’s vote in the House of Representatives.

ENDS

© Scoop Media