Bring Our Children Home Now

Editor's Note: Nancy Lessin, the co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, a rapidly growing antiwar group organized by family members of soldiers posted in Iraq, gave the following speech at a congressional hearing organized by Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Sept. 9.

We want to thank congresswoman Maxine Waters for giving us this very special opportunity to bring our message to members of Congress. And thank you to Congressman Conyers and Congressman McDermott as well.

My name is Nancy Lessin, and I am a co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. We formed this organization last November, 2002 with two families speaking out against what we saw as an illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. In our case, my stepson Joe, a Marine, deployed in August, 2002 and my husband and I we jolted by those drumbeats of war.

Leaders in Washington, D.C. were saying, "We've got to go to war!" But they weren't going anywhere -- nor were their loved ones. Our loved ones, however, were being put in harm's way, and try as we might, we did not see that this was for any good reason.

We were not convinced that the mysterious weapons of mass destruction, supposedly hidden somewhere in Iraq, were imminent threats to this country. We never saw a link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. We could not see how invading Iraq would address the terrible tragedy of Sept. 11th or solve the problem of terrorism.

We could not help believing that if the greatest natural resource in Iraq was olive oil, the leaders of this country would not have been talking about launching a virtually unilateral, preemptive war of aggression against another sovereign nation. The sign my husband and I made one year ago this month had Joe's picture on it, and it said, "Our son is a Marine -- Don't send him to war for oil!"

Much has happened since the fall of 2002.

An invasion of Iraq in March has turned into a military occupation. Hundreds of troops and untold thousands of Iraqis have died. We don't have an accurate picture, but we know there has been untold damage from injuries, illnesses, psychological trauma and suicides

Our organization has grown, from two families in November to 600 in July, 2003. And last month, together with Veterans for Peace and other veterans groups, we launched the "Bring Them Home NOW!" campaign. We're working our way through 6,000 emails that we have received since then, and we estimate that our membership is now between 800 and 1,000 military families, and growing every day.

Members of Military Families Speak Out are here today to speak of the betrayal that we have experienced; that our loved ones have experienced; that this nation has experienced. Our loved ones took an oath to defend this country and our Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. But there is a commitment our government makes to our troops in return: that it will not send our young men and women in uniform into reckless misadventures that put them at risk needlessly.

This is the part of the bargain that has been broken.

Yes, war is hell; but this is something else, and our loved ones and all our troops have been betrayed. We were all betrayed by this administration when it cited a litany of reasons for invading Iraq that shifted like desert sands and seemed to be based upon quicksand. We were betrayed by an administration that went against the international community and called millions of protesters a "focus group."

We were betrayed by a lack of planning -- active military and their families are now dealing with back-to-back two year deployments, announced a few weeks ago. And today National Guard and reservists and their families are reeling from the news about their tours of duty being extended. And yes, there is a problem with troops being short on water, short on food, short on supplies and short on equipment. This morning we received an email from a mother whose son is in Iraq. The email read: