Member - Military Families Speak Out 

November 23, 2003 
Delray Beach, Florida 

"Good afternoon. 

I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring our message to Mrs. Janet Reno, Congressman Peter Deutsch, the people present here today, and the people of the United States of America. 

My name is Maritza Castillo, I am an active member of Military Families Speak Out and mother of a Florida National Guard soldier. 

Last year in October, a day after one the end-of-the-month weekend drills of the National Guard, my son came home, and with a worried face told me that we should mentally prepare for the possibility that he would be sent to war in Iraq. 

The very same day my son told me of that possibility, I set aside my household chores, and begun to dedicate my time to finding information that would help me understand the reasons for that war. 

During months I searched, I looked through the internet, I read the papers within the US and abroad. I listened carefully to every one of the reports of the United Nations inspectors and I observed the anger of the Bush administration grow towards the inspectors, because they couldn't find the evidence the White House claimed they had. 

In this state of fear, feeling impotent and deeply concerned, I saw how the Bush administration, amidst many false reports, ignored the world opposition to the war in Iraq. For instance, on February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Collin Powell, used the graduation thesis of a young Iraqi student who in his work speculated that Saddam Hussein had mobile laboratories in which supposedly he produced chemical weapons. This statement proved to be wrong when it was clearly established that the so-called mobile laboratories were no more than trucks carrying basic grains for the consumption of the Iraqi people. Another of these false reports was the alleged purchase of Uranium that Mr. Hussein made to Nigeria. This asseveration also proved to be based on false grounds. Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Has the Bush Administration been able to establish the link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda? 

In that monstrous context of lies, they took away my granddaughter's father, they took away my son, a psychology student, and with him, they took away the young men and women who represent the future of America. Our youth was taken to a strange land, where they don't know the culture, the language, the customs. They were taken to an illegal war, a criminal invasion, a war built on false reports and against the opinion of the majority of the citizens of the world, and without the support of the United Nations. 

On May 1 of this year, after bombing and occupying Iraq, Mr. Bush, wearing his colorful Air Force pilot suit and while exiting a military aircraft just returning from Iraq, with a triumphant voice, told us the mission in Iraq had been accomplished. Now we're told that was just the end of major combat. 

The suffering of our troops increased with the end of major combat. Many complaints were forwarded by hundreds of families during those first months. We learnt of the exhausting labor our soldiers were subjected to. We learnt of the lack of food, water, even a bed to sleep on. Meanwhile they patrolled the streets, raided the homes of alleged guerrilla fighters, without a bulletproof vest, lacking ammunition, uniforms, and wearing worn-out boots. Their situation somewhat improved only after we sent hundreds of letters to the media and to senators, and after protesting about the living conditions of our troops. 

Several times we heard rumors that our soldiers were returning. Once and again we heard the same rumor of their return, until suddenly, in September, at point blank, they told us their mission had been extended from 12 to 18 months. The mental and physical well being of our soldiers was never considered while making this decision. The flowers and smiles promised by President Bush, day by day, turn into bullets that kill our soldiers. The so-called Coalition is just an illusion. The few Nations that provided troops are no longer willing to be a part of this adventure. A few weeks ago Turkey decided not to send troops to Iraq. 

The bad news keeps coming: our dead are in the hundreds, our wounded and maimed are in the thousands. I believe the CIA gentlemen are correct; Iraq is in true chaos. The lives of our troops have become a living hell. As months go by, more cities join the guerrilla war to slaughter our soldiers. Let me just mention some of those cities, not all of them: Northern, Central, and Southern Baghdad, Tikrit, Ad Dwar, Balad, Nasiriya, Ar Ramadi, Musul, Baquba, Husayba City. Those are the towns where our troops live, where they are exposed to the wrath of the people. 

Mr. Bush was not mistaken when on Veteran's Day he said: "ŠThe World is watching us". He should also know that millions of Muslims, who are unhappy with their Bush-friendly governments, are also watching. It is no wonder, that with the operations with which the Iraqi people are being punished, those neighbors are becoming the ammunition of the resistance, to join their struggle. 

Our troops are living the worst ambush as a consequence of Mr. Bush's preemptive war policy and the unjustified occupation of Iraq. The enemy our troops are fighting has no face, because that enemy lives in every man, woman and child of Iraq, it can be found in every corner of that country. 

It makes me sad and angry to hear Mr. Bush say, irresponsibly and with great contempt toward the lives of our soldiers, that our troops are not leaving Iraq. Completely ignoring the suffering of 130,000 soldiers and their children, parents, siblings and friends, which makes about a million Americans who live weeks and months of horror, expecting, at any moment, the worst of news, seeing how every day the number of deaths of young soldiers increases, all thanks to the stubborn attitude of this administration, all because of a war that no one at the Pentagon, and not even the President, has been able to justify. 

From this stage I want to tell President Bush: I am the mother of a National Guard soldier, and along with relatives of some of the 130,000 soldiers in Iraq, and 10,000 in Afghanistan, we want Mr. Bush to know that we will not be quiet, that we will hold him accountable for all the reasons he used to take our children to war. We demand to know: Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Where are the chemical weapons? Where are the links between Hussein and Al Qaeda? Who are we fighting in this war? Who is the enemy in Iraq? What companies were given the contracts to exploit the oil and rebuild Iraq? 

The lives of our troops, our youth and our children are in our hands, the hands of the citizens of this great nation, the hands of our senators and members of Congress. We must take back the power given to the president to declare war without consulting Congress as dictated by our Constitution. 

Lets not allow a group of stubborn people to destroy the democracy of this country. There is still time to save our troops from that trap. There is still time to mend the error of invading a sovereign nation. 

Please, lets not allow anymore of our soldiers to die in this futile adventure, lets not allow more punishment to the people of Iraq, lets not allow that this wrong deed pushes the Middle East to become the burial ground of our soldiers. 

Peace for the people of Iraq! 

Peace for the people of America! 

Bring our troops home now!!! "