From Military Families Speak Out [1], March 29:
Military Families Speak Out responds to Senate vote to continue Iraq war
Today, Military Families Speak Out, the largest organization of military families speaking out against a war in the history of the United States, issued the following statement in response to the vote in the U.S. Senate to provide continued funding for the Iraq war:
The Senate has now joined the U.S. House of Representatives in abandoning our troops by passing legislation that will provide funding for a continued U.S. military occupation of Iraq. While leaders in both the House and Senate point to the deadlines or time limits in both versions of the supplemental appropriations bill, the reality remains that the Senate version of the bill contains only non-enforceable "guidelines" for troop withdrawal, and the House version has exceptions to their August, 2008 "deadline" that would allow tens of thousand of troops to remain in Iraq indefinitely. With three U.S. troops and countless Iraqi children, women and men dying each day, with thousands more being wounded both physically and psychologically, end dates—even if they were enforceable—that extend into spring and summer of 2008 are simply unacceptable.
People across this nation voted in November for an end to the war, not for Congress to provide President Bush with the funds to continue it. Our loved ones were first betrayed when they were sent off to fight a war based on lies. Congress is now continuing that betrayal by failing cut off funding for this unjustifiable war.
Military Families Speak Out renews our call for Congress to use their "power of the purse" to support our troops and de-fund the war. We call on Congress to fund our troops by funding a safe and orderly withdrawal from Iraq and by funding care for our troops when they return home. This is the "funding for the troops" that is desperately needed.
Leadership and courage, two character traits that our loved ones rely on every day as they put their lives on the line, seem to be in short supply on Capitol Hill. We hope that as the Supplemental Appropriations bill goes through the House-Senate Conference Committee and then back to the floors of the House and Senate, we will see our elected officials stand up for our troops and for our nation by ending the funds that allow this unjustifiable war to continue and providing the funds for a safe and orderly withdrawal and the care they need when they get home.
See our last post on the Iraq war [2]. See also our last statement from Military Families Speak Out [3]
