WASHINGTON - The following was released today by Military Families Speak Out and Gold Star Families for Peace:

As we pass another horrific milestone, the 2,000th troop death in Iraq, families with loved ones who are serving in Iraq, families whose loved ones were killed in Iraq and families whose loved ones may deploy or re-deploy are calling on the Bush Administration, Congress and decision-makers at all levels to honor the fallen and prevent future deaths by ending the occupation of Iraq, bringing our troops home now and taking care of them when they get here.

These families, members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) and of Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP), are asking local, state, and national politicians to speak out against the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Two and one-half years after the war began, the violence continues to escalate, with almost three U.S. servicemen and women (on average) dying each day, along with countless Iraqi children, women and men.

Gold Star Families, in speaking out about their loved ones who have been killed in Iraq, demonstrate the true human cost of this war. Military Families with loved ones currently deployed to Iraq, show the urgency by which it must end. "Each day I wake up is a potential nightmare, as I dread that knock on my door that far too many families have already received," said MFSO member Anne Roesler, whose son in the 82nd Airborne Division is serving his third deployment to Iraq. "The fear I live with is a fact of life for military families with loved ones deployed in a war that should never have happened. It is a reality that far too few politicians understand."

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