Bring Our Troops Home (a letter from Nancy)

I keep thinking of the poor parents of a teenage boy who recently died trying to leap out of his car at 30 mph. He was trying to imitate the stunts like those on the movie "Jackass" while his friends filmed him. My heart goes out to his parents. My son was in Iraq driving a humvee on the most dangerous highway in Iraq---Rocket Propelled Grenade Alley--- for 11 months. Needless to say, I was worried sick and thought a lot about what it would mean if he died. Thank God he made it through---and it wasn't easy - four from his battalion didn't make it home. During the past year while working to support my son and his fellow soldiers by asking to bring them home and take care of them when they get here-I met many, many parents and spouses who did have the worst possible thing happen to them: they lost their son or daughter, husband or wife in Iraq. Cindy Sheehan was one of the mothers I met several times. I can tell you that she is a genuine and caring person. And I can tell you that she is really is trying to find the meaning in her son Casey's death. She wants to meet with the president and ask him why her son died. I know her: and it is that simple, though many on the right are trying to make her out as some crazy liberal with other motives. I also have met two Vermont parents of soldiers who are asking the same question publicly: Why did my son die? I cried yesterday when I heard the father talk about his son who died in Iraq, distraught over driving by Iraqi children begging for water on the side of the road. I know too well why he had to drive by them, my son had to do the same thing so that he could live. What are experiences like this costing my son and others like him? I am sure that the parents of the teenager who just died trying that stunt are also at this moment asking themselves why he died. And I ask myself: is their son's death any more senseless than Casey Sheehan's death when he was looking for nonexistent WMDs? I see the tear-streaked faces of parents on the left and on the right and know that they are trying to make sense of their children's deaths. Thank God my son made it home and I have not had to face that. I pray that he will not have to return to Iraq, like so many of them have had to. This weekend at the antiwar rally in DC I met several parents and spouses of soldiers who are on their second and third tour. I met a mother whose son has been in Iraq for over 500 days. How can any of them possibly bear it? I know that some of the parents say their loved ones died for a noble cause. Looking for WMDS. Getting rid of Saddam. Freedom. Bush keeps changing the noble causes that they are supposed to be dying for. But for me, it is too hard to ignore the realities on the ground in Iraq and what our own generals are telling us about this war. We are not creating freedom in Iraq. We are not gaining in Iraq, we are losing ground, and no amount of denial or wishful thinking will change that. The noble cause that I will work for is the one of not letting one more innocent Iraqi or American soldier die in a war based on lies. We need to withdraw from Iraq and our mission needs to be one of completing peace and justice. As Cindy Sheehan said last Saturday in DC: "We in the peace movement need to agree on one thing: yes we need an exit plan, but it is not a strategy, it is a command. The command should be: have all of our military personnel and paid killer mercenaries out of Iraq within 6 months, and the generals carry out the command. Simple, it's not brain surgery, and I think it is so easy even George Bush can sign the order. We can't give the homicidal maniacs any wiggle room or long-term strategy sessions. For one thing, when our leaders strategize, we are put in even more jeopardy - they have proven that they are not too bright or even a little compassionate. But the most important thing is that people die every day in Iraq for absolutely no reason and for lies. We have to say NOW because the people on the other side are saying NEVER. We can't compromise, we can't say please, and we can't retreat. If we do, our country is doomed. We have to honor the sacrifices of our loved ones by completing the mission of peace and justice. It is time. Bring our troops home, NOW!" The definition of insanity is to continue to do the same and expect different results. Hanging in there doing the same thing in Iraq will not win the war and make everything come out all right. To withdraw from Iraq is not "cutting and running" it is "coming to our senses" and realizing that our leaders lied to us and deserve to be impeached and fired. And saying we are "cutting and running" is really just calling us cowards--which may work on the playground, or in Bush's 'challenged' mind, but doesn't work with us or the rest of the world. As one sign read this weekend: the whole world can't be wrong. And as far as my actions helping terrorists: our president and his entourage have created more terrorists by their actions way faster than we can kill those terrorists. It is the acts of this administration that is at fault for ruining the United State's reputation and honor world-wide, not my actions or those of the other people brave enough to stand up and say"No more! Enough! Not one more American soldier or Iraqi death!" Over 25 families were at the Military Families Speak Out meeting last Sunday in DC. During introductions, we were asked talk about their loved ones, many of who died in Iraq. It went on for hours. There is no room big enough--nay, the whole world is not big enough--to hold their grief, and I am profoundly changed by hearing their stories. And from those I heard, those who have made that ultimate sacrifice ---I heard these words: "End the war: bring the troops home now. Not one more life." The time for action is now. Not one more life. Nancy