Our children will die

http://www.war-times.org/current/9art6.html

War Times, April 2003

Military Families and Veterans Speak Out

Patriots for Peace

by Jung Hee Choi

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.