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The group's intial email. |
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11/23/2002 We are parents with children in the military. We are in the very beginning stages of hopefully forming a international organization of families with relatives in the military to voice opposition to war in Iraq. We have both a special need to oppose war and a special role to play because our relatives are among the human faces of this war. Because military personnel do not have the freedom to voice their opinion without facing consequences, we also hope to provide a network for military personnel and their spouses to connect with others opposed to war. We are sharing this letter with you in hopes that we will find others interested in joining us or lending support to this effort in some way. We ask you to please distribute this email to friends, to other activists and throughout the peace/ antiwar community. We urge those who have family members in the military and who are opposed to the war to contact us. Please also read our (Nancy’s and Charley’s) email below and the attached letter about our son who is a Marine and is somewhere off the Horn of Africa.
Love, peace and solidarity, It was wonderful to get your letter today. We would like very much to talk with you about this idea of pulling together a group of us opposed to war in Iraq who have relatives in the military. I just spoke with a couple in Boston who told us about such a network that formed during the Gulf War -- when the ground troops went in. They had a son in the Marines and wrote an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe; another father who was a professor in Wisconsin wrote an op-ed piece that was published in the New York Times. These two families connected with each other, and then with many others who got in touch with them because of the two op-ed pieces. An organization formed called "Military Families Support Network." Money was raised; people joined from all over the U.S.; they met in Washington, D.C. and did a lot of lobbying of Congress. At one point they picketed the White House. The Boston couple appeared on Good Morning America. The organization no longer exists -- perhaps it is time to revive it -- or start a-new. Do you have specific ideas for this organization? We would love to hear them. We have connected with Veterans organizations both at the D.C. march and one recently held in Boston. We'd love to hear what they have to say when you speak with them. Good luck at your protests in Ft. Benning and the SOA -- yes, we are very familiar with that "school," and have friends who have been down there protesting. Thank you so much for writing, and we look forward to hearing from you. Peace and Solidarity, Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson
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