Military Families and
Veterans Speak Out

Patriots for Peace

by Jung Hee Choi

With 250,000 U.S. troops now at war with Iraq, military families, personnel and veterans speak about their fears for themselves and their loved ones and their hopes for peace. They worry that U.S. soldiers will not learn the cruel lessons of war until it is too late--until they have killed, destroyed, died or been injured themselves. Jung Hee Choi, communications director for the Women of Color Resource Center and a War Times editor, interviewed military-related people about their experiences.

• To Save Our Son's Life
• Betrayed by My Government
• Stop this Ugly War

To Save Our Son's Life

Charley Richardson and Nancy Lessin
co-founders of Military Families Speak Out (www.mfso.org)

Our son Joe, a 25-year-old marine, is on a ship somewhere in the Persian Gulf. On the weekend before he shipped out, we body surfed, rode bikes and relaxed as if the world weren't crashing down around us.

One of the hardest things is coming home to find a message from him on the answering machine. When we miss his calls, we feel as if we shouldn't leave home.

We are very concerned about his physical well being--that he might be killed or injured. Or that he might kill or wound an innocent Iraqi. If that happens, it will kill part of him and a part of us. When we think about our son, we think of other military families--their sons and daughters--and the innocent children of Iraq. We think about how all theirs lives will be destroyed.

We work night and day, 24-7-- organizing, strategizing and thinking--about what it will take to stop this war so that we can save our son's life. We support our son even if we don't support his job description. "Supporting our troops" doesn't mean supporting the president as he leads us blindly into war. We've been told we are a disgrace to our son, but we are doing the most loving and supportive thing that any parent can do.

This is not some abstract war that they are talking about. Our sons and daughters will die, as will so many others.

Betrayed by My Government

Major Dr. Doug Rokke, Medical Service Corps, U.S. Army Reserve

I fought in Vietnam and Desert Storm. During the Persian Gulf War, I taught nuclear, biological and chemical warfare operations in the U.S. Army. I was also part of the Depleted Uranium Assessment Team. We were charged with cleaning up the mess left by the thousands of bombs, rockets and missiles enriched with depleted uranium that U.S. dropped on Iraq.

My service has cost me dearly. I am one of many Gulf War veterans suffering from illnesses related to exposure to depleted uranium (DU). My breathing is lousy. My eyesight is deteriorating. My muscles ache. And I have had 15 kidney surgeries since the spring of 1995.

But the worse part is the betrayal by my own government. The Department of Defense and Veterans Administration officials continue to deny medical care to thousands of U.S. soldiers who are sick and dying from DU and other chemical exposures and to refuse to implement programs designed to resolve the ongoing health and environmental issues.

If the government acknowledges the effects of DU on us, they have to acknowledge its effects on all the Iraqis--the innocent women and children who are dying from cancer. They don't want to do that because it's a crime against humanity.

Although many have recommended banning DU, the U.S. refuses because it is the best killing machine and war is meant to kill. Even now, they are sending these kids off to war with defective equipment, without proper training, and lying to them about the hazards. For what? This war is without justification. It is flat out wrong.

Stop This Ugly War

An Afghan-American Special Forces Volunteer

Almost all my family-my brothers, uncles, sisters and parents-were killed in the war with the Soviets. I know what war is about. The Taliban were killing many people. I thought freeing the country from the Taliban would help. So right after Sept. 11 I signed up and joined the U.S. military invasion of my home country, Afghanistan. But the U.S. has done nothing to improve our lives.

I am a taxi driver. Since August I have polled over 200 of my riders about war in Iraq. Only one, a young university student, said she was for the war. After I told her about what war did to my family, she changed her mind.

On March 7 I will be sent to Iraq as part of a special service, which I cannot name. But I am totally against that war. Bush wants to murder people for oil and control. It's unbelievable! They support Israel's killing of Palestinians for no reason. Israel is the American cancer in the Middle East. America is being taught to hate Muslims like me, and is getting ready to slaughter Arabs.

Good luck in your antiwar work. I hope you can stop this ugly war.

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