BS: Veterans for Common Sense

Subject: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: GUEST,Norton1
Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:33 PM

VETERANS FOR COMMON SENSE Press Advisory

Gulf War Veterans and Families of Current Service Members Question U.S. Military Build-Up in the Gulf

Time: 9:15 am, January 15, 2003

Location: West Room, National Press Club

529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

Contact: Jen Nader

202-543-6176

[e-mail]

To mark the 12th anniversary of the start of the 1991 Gulf War, Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) will hold a joint press conference to highlight critical questions the Bush administration has failed to address regarding Iraq. Panelists include Desert Storm combat veterans who know war and its consequences firsthand and family members of service members who have recently deployed to the Persian Gulf.

Military families and Gulf War veterans will ask President George W. Bush to reassure them and an increasingly alarmed public that his administration is not hell bent on conflict. With no "smoking gun" or "clear and present danger," war with Iraq is neither necessary nor inevitable. Americans feel the President has failed to justify a U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. We encourage him to win without war by adhering to the UN process. Yet U.S. preparations for a second major war in Iraq continue.

Wednesday's national press conference will mark the first time that families with deployed service members and Gulf War veterans have joined together to raise legitimate questions about our administration's headlong rush to war.

Panelists will include:

Moderator: Erik Gustafson, Board of Directors, VCS. Gustafson served in the 1991 Gulf War as a Specialist with the Army's 864th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy). He currently directs the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), a Washington-based human rights organization.

Charles Sheehan-Miles, Board of Directors, VCS. A decorated Gulf War veteran, Sheehan-Miles served as a tank crewman with the Army's 24th Infantry Division. Former President of the National Gulf War Resource Center, he has worked for years to secure healthcare and disability benefits for ill Gulf War veterans.

Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson, Co-founders, MFSO. Richardson directs the Labor Extension Program at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Lessin works for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. Their son Joe, an Arab language specialist in the Marines, has deployed to the Persian Gulf.

Jeffrey McKenzie, Co-Founder, MFSO. His son, Army Captain Jeremy McKenzie, is currently being deployed to Kuwait. His daughter-in-law Nicole is in the National Guard.

Steve Robinson, Executive Director, National Gulf War Resource Center. Prior to retiring as a Sergeant First Class from the Army, Robinson worked with the Pentagon's Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses. During the Gulf War, he served with the 1st /10th Special Forces in northern Iraq.

Other military families and Gulf War combat veterans will be present and available for questions.

VCS - 504 Eleventh St. SE, Washington, DC 20003 - 703-668-0353 - www.VeteransForCommonSense.org MFSO - P.O. Box 549, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 - 617-522-9323

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 12:10 AM

Thank you for posting this. It is very encouraging!

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 11:50 AM

Yeah, thanks for the info, my firend. I hadn't heard of this and hope it gets some press since it is being held at the National Press Club, but I wouldn't bet on it.

But, there's always hope.

Peace

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 11:55 AM

Thank you for this. I'm so glad that the veterans and military families have gotten involved.

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: Troll
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 01:11 PM

Thanks Steve.

troll

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 01:16 PM

Very encouraging indeed!

Ya know, I keep hearing on the news that the polls say that the majority of the country is in favor of the war -- but I don't know a single person who thinks it's a good idea. Even the Republicans I know are against war with Iraq!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 02:46 PM

There are lots of folks questioning this Iraq war. My Daughter ended up in Kuwait as of yesterday. Sgt. in the US Army you know.

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 03:04 PM

Well there are media reports spammed all over the American countryside asserting he has a 60% approval rating, too; yet 90% of the poeple I know say that 90% of the people they know are seriously dubious about his motives, intelligence, morals and competency. This 60% must be the Invisible Majority we used to hear about -- I dunno why Republicans are btter at finding them than Democrats!! :>) Maybe it's the inverse of that voter-disqualifying campaign that the Bushes and Kathleen pulled off in Florida -- if you can make voter voices vanish into thin air, no reason you can't drum them up out of thin air just as easily. Oooooo, magick!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: Veterans for Common Sense
From: Bobert
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 03:27 PM

Polls are a joke. If the person asking the question manipulates the questions carefully I'm wouldn't doubt if the American people would give Charles Manson a 60% approval rating! It's all in the wording. And we should also keep in mind that under this administration, poeple are a tad on the paranoid side and may just say what they think the pollster wants to hear for fear of being turned into Tom Ridge...

How did we get off the path here, Amos? I thought this thread was about....

Ahhh, nevermind. I apologize if I've wandered here...

Bobert