AFSC/War/Iraq

Military families urge governors to oppose Guard deployments

WOI/Des Moines/IA/USA/15-Jul-05/AP

… DES MOINES, Iowa Military parents and spouses are calling on the nation's governors to bring home troops and to oppose future overseas deployments of the National Guard.
Boston resident Nancy Lessin has a son who served in Iraq and she says the governors need to raise their voices louder than ever and to support the Guard troops by calling for them to be brought home.

Lessin traveled from Boston to a rally in Des Moines, where the National Governor's Association is meeting this weekend. Governors from at least 30 states are expected to attend the meeting.

A rally and memorial service were organized by the American Friends Service Committee, Military Friends Speak Out and other groups fed up with rising casualties, the lack of training and equipment and the overseas deployment of soldiers.

Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia had a son killed in Iraq last year and she says the war is a betrayal of how the Guard if marketed to recruits and contradicts its intended purpose of protecting borders at home and assisting in emergencies and natural disasters. ...