Thomas McMahon is rankled by suggestions that his opposition to the U.S. military presence in Iraq shows a lack of support for American troops.
"I don't know how much more support you can give the troops than your one and only son," said McMahon, a Herndon lawyer who fought in Vietnam with an Army infantry unit. His son, Collin, 26, a member of the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, served in Iraq in the spring and may be sent again, he said.
Parents of U.S. military personnel comfort a weeping Marie Fritz of Oakton during a news conference launching "Bring Them Home Now," a campaign aimed at bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq. Fritz's son is serving there.
(Ray Lustig -- The Washington Post)
|
|
McMahon, 58, was one of a dozen military family members and veterans who appeared yesterday at a news conference in Washington launching "Bring Them Home Now," a national campaign to return to their home bases the 150,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq.
The war has claimed the lives of 267 U.S. service members in hostile and non-hostile operations, including 58 killed since President Bush declared major combat operations over May 1. The latest casualty was a U.S. soldier killed yesterday by a roadside bomb south of Tikrit.
A Washington Post poll published yesterday showed that 56 percent of Americans surveyed approve of the way Bush is handling Iraq, a decline from earlier this summer but roughly equal to figures a month ago.
However, organizers of the "Bring Them Home Now" campaign said that they have received thousands of e-mails of support, that military families are becoming less reticent to criticize the war, and that their support is growing every day. "Many of the e-mails that we have been receiving over the last several days start with, "I'm a Republican, I voted for Bush, I supported this war when it started," said Charley Richardson, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, which initiated the campaign along with the group Veterans for Peace.
Campaign coordinators are scheduled to hold another news conference today at Fort Bragg, N.C., home to the 82nd Airborne Division and other units deployed to Iraq.
They were galvanized into action, according to the campaign's mission statement, by President Bush's "inane and reckless" response at a July news conference to Iraqi attacks on U.S. forces: "Bring 'em on."
"We want to talk about the three words of false bravado uttered by President Bush from a safe and secure location, surrounded by armed guards," said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. "George Bush said, 'Bring 'em on.' We say, 'Bring them home now.' "
Now is too late for another father at yesterday's event, Fernando Suarez del Solar, of Escondido, Calif. His son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez, was killed March 27 in Iraq.
"My question to Mr. Bush is, how many more of our sons do you need to bring our children home?" Suarez asked, standing near a placard bearing a photograph of his son in his dress uniform.
Like other speakers, Suarez accused Bush of lying to the American public about the threat Iraq posed, citing the U.S. failure to find weapons of mass destruction. "My son will not return, but I want those other children to return to our homes," Suarez said. "You're destroying the American people. I hope God will forgive you."
As he spoke, Marie Fritz of Oakton, whose son is serving in Iraq, broke into sobs.
In Crawford, Tex., yesterday, Bush expressed support for the troops and said he would meet with military families when he visits Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California today. "You'll see me speak to Marines and their families, thanking them for their service to our country, reminding them that what's taking place in Iraq is essential to U.S. security," Bush told reporters.
Larry Syverson, 54, an environmental engineer from Richmond and one of the parents at yesterday's event at the National Press Club, has his own barometer showing declining support for the war. One of his sons, Branden, 31, is a tank commander with 4th Infantry Division, and a second son, Bryce, 25, is a gunner on a Bradley fighting vehicle with the 1st Armored Division.
Many times over the last few months, Syverson has spent his lunch hour in front of the federal courthouse in Richmond, holding a sign asking drivers to honk for peace.
"During the war, I got very few honks," Syverson said. Some drivers called him a communist, others yelled that he was unpatriotic. That has changed now, he said. "The higher the [death] toll goes, the more honks."
