Military Families to President-Elect Obama: An Immediate End to the War in Iraq Is the Change We Need

After five years of working to end the
occupation of Iraq and bring their loved ones home,
members of Military
Families Speak Out are expressing hope that with the election of Barack
Obama
an end may finally be in sight to a war that has claimed the lives of
4,190 U.S. troops and over a million Iraqis.

At the same
time, they are appealing to President-Elect Obama
to commit to making the immediate and complete return of all U.S.
troops from Iraq
his first order of business. Obama
has
said that he plans to withdraw combat troops from Iraq
over a sixteen month period, which would continue the U.S.
military occupation of Iraq
past 2009, and leave tens of thousands of U.S.
troops tasked with security, counter-terrorism, and training missions
in Iraq
indefinitely.

Addressing
the next President, Marge Haracz, of Mundelein,
IL, whose son is
now serving with the Army
in Iraq,
said:

"President-elect
Obama, in 2003 before the first bombs fell in Iraq you stood
in
opposition calling Iraq a 'dumb
war.' My son and 151,000 brothers and sisters in arms
continue to risk
their lives in that dumb war. The change these brave young
men and women
and their families need is the orderly but immediate withdrawal from Iraq and
strong
leadership as America
meets the
challenge of taking care of them when they get home."

Beth
Leahy, of York, ME,
who has a son serving in the Air Force:

"In a few
days,
my son Billy will be going to Kirkuk,
Iraq. He only recently returned from a
deployment to Afghanistan. He is 22 years old and newly married. He and his
wife had a simple,
quick ceremony with only two guests so that they could be married
before he
leaves. And yes, although unthinkable, I know it was because he knows
he may
not come home and wants to be sure that she is taken care of in case of
that
heart-breaking outcome. This is just one family affected by the war.

"It is
time for
all our troops to be brought home from Iraq and for their families to sleep easily once
again."

Keri Wheelwright, of Fountain
Hills, AZ,
is married to a West Point
graduate now serving as an Army Officer in Iraq. On learning of
Obama's victory, she said:

"President Elect Obama, as the wife of a
deployed military officer, my number one issue when voting in
this
election was ending the war in Iraq.
Now that you've been elected, I hope you make ending the war your
number one
issue as well. If you truly wish to restore faith in the
presidency, and
leave a legacy of honesty behind, you must end this war now.
Help our
country redeem itself in the eyes of the world and our own citizens by
withdrawing our soldiers from this occupation based on lies.
Bring all
our troops home from Iraq now
and make sure that those brave men and women have access to the care
they will
need when they get home. Show our brave men and women in
uniform that
they can once again trust their Commander in Chief to serve them as
they have
served us, with bravery, honor, and dignity."

Lisa Leitz, of Buellton,
CA, who is married to a Navy
fighter pilot and
serves on the Board of Directors of Military Families Speak Out said:

"Today's
military
families bear a large portion of the
burden
of the country's current wars. As such Military Families Speak Out,
asks
President-Elect Obama to honor these families by ending the war in Iraq."