Navy wife wants US military out of Afghanistan now
November 03, 2009
"A number of Americans have lost their lives, many military families have been completely crushed by the burden of these wars and we have very little to show for it," Leitz continued. "We have a corrupt Afghanistan government and we have a number of people who are still trying to attack us, particularly not because they belong to the Taliban or terrorist organizations, but rather because we are occupying them.".
Leitz is a board member of Military Families Speak Out. The group is urging President Obama to bring all the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Not all family members are calling for the war to be ended now. Karen Irwin's son is serving in Afghanistan and she wants the president to send more troops to the war zone. "I would tell the president that our soldiers, our brave young men and women, including my son, have invested a lot of their time in support of that country and our country, putting their lives on the line," she told CNN's Chetry. "Some of them have given the ultimate sacrifice and I think they deserve support of our government and support of our people to give them everything they need to complete this mission and to win, leaving a free afghanistan, leaving the people the opportunities, the personal opportunities that we have here in our country."
But Leitz doesn't accept the argument that the US must continue the war to honor the lives that have already been lost. "You know, as a military family member, it breaks my heart to think of all of us who lost loved ones who have had to handle loved ones who had psychological and physical injuries and, yet, I don't think that we honor sacrifice by continuing to make a mistake. I think that we should honor those lives by doing what's right and what's right is to leave afghanistan," said Leitz.
This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast Nov. 3, 2009.
Related Post