WASHINGTON - March 4 -

• HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, [contact: Jim McBride, jmcBride@iaff.org; Jeff Zack, jzack@iaff.org], www.iaff.org
  Schaitberger, the general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO, issued the following statement today after President Bush unveiled new political ads that use images of firefighters on September 11, 2001: "I'm disappointed but not surprised that the President would try to trade on the heroism of those firefighters in the September 11 attacks. The uses of 9/11 images are hypocrisy at its worst...."
  
  
• ADELE WELTY
  DAVID POTORTI, david@peacefultomorrows.org
  COLLEEN KELLY, colleen@peacefultomorrows.org, www.peacefultomorrows.org
  Adele Welty lost her son, Timmy, a NYC firefighter, at the World Trade Center on September 11. She, Potorti and Kelly are members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. They are also available to comment on the Bush advertising campaign. Welty is traveling to Afghanistan March 3 to 13. She will meet with Afghan families who lost loved ones to the U.S.-led bombing. "By reaching out to people who have also suffered as a result of the September 11th attacks, I'm trying to add one small stone to building a bridge to peace," Welty said. "We have to end the cycle of violence and blame, and express some common bond so these people know we don't hate them." Welty, who is part of the Women's Delegation to Afghanistan [listed below], will visit hospitals, schools and orphanages, to gauge the extent to which services are being provided to those in need.
  
  
• ELLEN FRANCIS [contact: Wahib Onar]
  Francis is a sister of the Order of Saint Helena who has lived and traveled in Iran and Afghanistan. Onar is the coordinator for the Women's Delegation that has traveled to Afghanistan to celebrate International Women's Day, which is Monday, March 8.
  
  
• SAHAR SABA, SONALI KOLHATKAR, sonali@afghanwomensmission.org, www.afghanwomensmission.org, www.rawa.org
  Kolhatkar is co-founder of Afghan Women's Mission. Sahar Saba is a representative of RAWA, Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, the oldest political and social women's organization in Afghanistan. She will be in the United States for two months, arriving on March 7.
  
  
• MEDEA BENJAMIN, medea@globalexchange.org
  VICTORIA CUNNINGHAM, victoria@codepinkalert.org, www.codepinkalert.org
  Benjamin is a founder of Code Pink, a women's peace group which is coordinating International Women's Day events around the U.S. including a "Pink Slip Bush Creative Nonviolent Direct Action" to be held near the White House at noon on March 7. Cunningham is the national coordinator for Code Pink and has just returned from Iraq.

###