Veterans' Groups and Family Members Speak Out Against the Iraq War on Veterans Day

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Veterans' Groups and Family Members Speak Out Against the Iraq War on Veterans Day
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2007-11-12 01:03. Nonviolent Resistance

What: Press event - Veterans speaking out against the war
When: 12 Noon - Monday, November 12, 2007
Where: South Steps - OK State Capitol


Oklahoma City - - Two Oklahoma fathers who have paid the ultimate price in losing their sons to the Iraq war are speaking out against a war that they believe should end. The event will take place on Veterans Day holiday, at 12 noon, Nov 12th on the south steps of the State Capitol.

“Support the troops, bring them home,” said Warren Henthorn, USAF veteran of Choctaw, OK, whose son Jeffrey served eight years in the military before dying in Iraq, February 8, 2005. Henthorn is a regular participant in weekly vigils in Oklahoma City where signs calling drivers to “honk for peace” are held.

John Scripsick of Wayne, OK, in memory of his son Bryan, killed in Iraq on Sept. 6 of this year, is also calling for the troops to come home. Scripsick said he believes that the death and destruction caused by the war in Iraq is only winning more hostility and hatred against the United States. “Bryan had his doubts about the mission of the war, but he went to Iraq out of loyalty to his buddies in his unit, “Scripsick said. “We must end this thing and bring our troops home immediately,” he said.

“We need to honor our young veterans by ending this illegal war immediately,” said Veterans for Peace member Jeri Reed of Norman, the mother of an Iraq veteran. “We need to spend our tax dollars on providing better care for returning veterans, not sending more of our young men and women to be killed for no good reason or to return with lifelong injuries and PTSD.”

Col. (ret.) Katherine Scheirman, Senior Advisor for VoteVets.org, served 20 years as a medical doctor in the US Air Force. Her final assignment was as Chief of Medical Operations at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where casualties from Iraq are evacuated. “I urge everyone to call our representatives for an end to the war in Iraq,” Scheirman said. “If members of Congress hear from constituents every day, they will get the message that Americans want our troops out of Iraq,” she said.

This Veterans Day weekend there was a concert sponsored by the Iraq Veterans Against the War in Lawton, OK led by IVAW South Central Region Coordinator, Justin Cliburn, who served one year in Iraq. An active duty member of the Oklahoma National Guard whose company is deploying again next year and is attending Cameron State college. "I am taking more and more responsibility within IVAW to end this war," said Cliburn, " to take care of our veterans, and provide reparations for the Iraqi people and it feels right."

Nathaniel Batchelder, Vietnam veteran and director of Oklahoma City's Peace House said, “Let us remember that we are speaking out because of what we are for, not only what we are against.” He said the Peace House works for human rights, an end to the worst poverty and disease in the world, for fair wages for workers, preserving Social Security, and national health care. “Right now, what stands in the way of these affordable goals is a war that Americans should not be tolerating,” he said.