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We the undersigned,
- Appreciate your message to The American People that you are our friend in the White House
- Appreciate your commitment to American military families and the mothers and fathers who have lost their beloved children to war...
- Appreciate your understanding how husbands and wives at home are keeping their families on track while their wives and husbands are deployed...and how grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers are taking care of children while single moms or dads in uniform are away.
We agree with you that our nation must do everything in our power to support them.
And we also recognize that there are hundreds of thousands of families - mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers - in the Middle East and, now, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Central Asia, who have lost their beloved children to war and its aftermath. They also need our support… our understanding…and our friendship.
Here are just four snippets from more than 30 verbatim stories shared in the book, Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror:
In Iraq, Anwar Jeward challenged:
- "Tell Americans there is tragedy in Iraq!" (Anwar's husband and three children were shot to death in a Baghdad street.)
In Afghanistan, Fatima Akbar suggests:
- “The message I’d like to share is that women who want to do something should never think that we cannot do it. If we are willing to try it, we are always capable of doing it.” (Fatima spent nine years as a refugee in Iran where she learned to make furniture.)
Israeli mother Nurit Peled Elhanan says:
- “Bush, Saddam, Milosovic…they are all the same. These politicians have a mafia logic and they use our kids like chips in a gambling game…then, when our kids get killed they say, “Oops, sorry!” and they move on…” (Nurit's daughter died in a suicide bombing; her two oldest sons are IDF refusers working with Palestinians as Combatants for Peace.)
In a small south Lebanon village, Elham asks:
- “Why do American women send their children to die in Iraq? Is it for democracy? Shouldn’t democracy be built by the people? Shouldn’t it come from within and not be imposed from outside? If it is imposed by those outside, isn’t that occupation?” (Elham's home was one of over 30,000 damaged or destroyed during the 33 Day War against Lebanon in summer 2006.)
In the U.S., our young people -- as young as 17- and 18-years old -- can make legally binding choices independent of parents and family, to enlist in the military. As you know, many parents go along with this choice, believing that the military will somehow teach their child discipline. It may very well do that but it also teaches our children to kill. Or to be killed. This is what most Americans refuse to openly acknowledge: that they have allowed their child to learn how to kill other mothers’ children…or be grievously wounded or killed themselves. And for what?
First Lady Michelle Obama, be a true friend in the White House. Be a true friend to our miiltary families and urge your husband to really bring loved ones home… no more subterfuge about ending the war in Iraq just to hand over its management to contractors while we ratchet up another war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Be a true friend to families in America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, West Bank and Gaza, Syria, Lebanon by reading the candid stories of mothers, fathers, troops, and bereaved families struggling with the effects of war and terror.
As First Lady you can help the American People understand the implications of war on our nation and on other nations. We urge you to raise your awareness about the plight of our military youth and families in other lands. We urge you to raise your own awareness - and that of your husband - about the plight of these families. Please
__ order an author autographed hardcover edition of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror from the website
__ order a hardcover edition from any bookstore or online
__ We the undersigned feel so strongly that you must read these stories to understand the "big picture" that we're sending copies of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror to you at:
First Lady Michelle Obama
White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20500
Then work with your husband to end the policies that perpetuate these wars….