MotherSpeak to First Lady Obama

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We the undersigned,
-- Appreciate your message that you are our friend in the White House

-- Appreciate your commitment to American military families and the mothers and fathers who have lost their beloved children to war...

-- Appreciate your understanding how husbands and wives at home are keeping their families on track while their wives and husbands are deployed...and how grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers are taking care of children while single moms or dads in uniform are away.

We agree with you that our nation must do everything in our power to support them.

And we also recognize that there are hundreds of thousands of families - mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers - in the Middle East and, now, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Central Asia, who have lost their beloved children to war and its aftermath. They also need our support our understandingand our friendship.

Here are just four snippets from more than 30 verbatim stories shared in the book, Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror:

-- In Iraq, Anwar Jeward challenged:
"Tell Americans there is tragedy in Iraq!" (Anwar's husband and three children were shot to death in a Baghdad street.)

-- In Afghanistan, Fatima Akbar suggests:
The message Id like to share is that women who want to do something should never think that we cannot do it. If we are willing to try it, we are always capable of doing it. (Fatima spent nine years as a refugee in Iran where she learned to make furniture.)

-- Israeli mother Nurit Peled Elhanan says:
Bush, Saddam, Milosovicthey are all the same. These politicians have a mafia logic and they use our kids like chips in a gambling gamethen, when our kids get killed they say, Oops, sorry! and they move on (Nurit's daughter died in a suicide bombing; her two oldest sons are IDF refusers working with Palestinians as Combatants for Peace.)

-- In a small south Lebanon village, Elham asks:
Why do American women send their children to die in Iraq? Is it for democracy? Shouldnt democracy be built by the people? Shouldnt it come from within and not be imposed from outside? If it is imposed by those outside, isnt that occupation? (Elham's home was one of over 30,000 damaged or destroyed during the 33 Day War against Lebanon in summer 2006.)


In the U.S., our young people -- as young as 17- and 18-years old -- can make legally binding choices independent of parents and family, to enlist in the military. As you know, many parents go along with this choice, believing that the military will somehow teach their child discipline. It may very well do that but it also teaches our children to kill. Or to be killed. This is what most Americans refuse to openly acknowledge: that they have allowed their child to learn how to kill other mothers childrenor be grievously wounded or killed themselves. And for what?

First Lady Michelle Obama, be a true friend in the White House. Be a true friend to our military families and urge your husband to really bring loved ones home no more subterfuge about ending the war in Iraq just to hand over its management to contractors while we ratchet up another war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Be a true friend to families in America, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, West Bank and Gaza, Syria, Lebanon by reading the candid stories of mothers, fathers, troops, and bereaved families struggling with the effects of war and terror.

As First Lady you can help the American People understand the implications of war on our nation and on other nations. We urge you to raise your awareness about the plight of our military youth and families in other lands.

Please
-- order an author autographed hardcover edition of Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror from the website

-- order a hardcover edition from any bookstore or online

-- I feel so strongly that you must read Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror that Im sending a copy to you at:
First Lady Michelle Obama
White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC 20500

Then work with your husband to end the policies that perpetuate these wars.

50 Signatures

  • Bonnie Swift
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • Barbara Lubin
    • Comments
    • I Am the Executive Director of the Middle East Children's Alliance andI have been working with children in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq for 21 years. They need your help.
    • Military family
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • U.S.A.
  • Julie Rufo
    • Comments
    • We elected President Obama to end the wars, not to escalate them. We are very disappointed.
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • lisa argento martell
    • Comments
    • thank you.
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Andrea
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Danielle DeGuerre
    • Comments
    • none
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Demitrus Booker
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States of America
  • Elizabeth Bell
  • David Goldman
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
  • Bina Sarkar Ellias
    • Comments
    • As a mother, a concerned human, and editor of Gallerie, the journal that just released its issue "Understanding Afghanistan", I urge you to invest your love, strength and power in removing American soldiers from all foreign lands. It will be an immense contribution to a more humane future. YES, YOU CAN!
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • India
  • Sasha Crow
    • Comments
    • В
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Sydney Carson
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • usa
  • harb mukhtar
    • Comments
    • Highly apreaciat Susan requirments
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • Iraq
  • Bonnie Bone
    • Military family
    • No
  • Gerri Haynes
  • Robert Abdul Hayy Darr
    • Comments
    • Please help end the wars
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Ward Reilly
    • Comments
    • "We" elected your husband to get us out of the Middle East, NOW!
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Paul Larudee
    • Comments
    • В
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • В
  • Siri Margerin
    • Comments
    • war is not the answer, another world is possible
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • Sigrid Salo and Mike Stuart
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Dr. Raymond M. Scurfield
    • Comments
    • Please be aware that the Department of Veterans Affairs (where I worked for 25 years leading PTSD programs) provides extremely minimal mental health services to children or spouses of active duty military and veterans' families--such services are extremely limited and always have been. In addition, no such services of any kind are provided to widows/children of personnel killed while on active duty. PTSD is a FAMILY problem inevitably. And our services for impacted families abroad? As a side-note, I am a Vietnam veteran and have written three books on war trauma, the most recent, War Trauma. Lessons Unlearned From Vietnam to Iraq. Thank you for your concern and support.
    • Military family
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Nancy Balassi
    • Country of origin
    • US
  • Adele Kubein
    • Comments
    • I am one of the mothers in the book. Please help us.
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • Mary Hughes
    • Comments
    • please listen with your heart
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • Ireland
  • Lily Adams
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • Anne Pyburn Craig
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • US
  • Johnna J. Beiser
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Donna Pedroza
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • mark brand
    • Comments
    • Thank you and your family for all you are doing for our country and the world. I am working in support of military families. in Europe. EVERYONE here loves you and is so happy to have your husband in the White House.
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Steve Vender
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Ron Jacobs
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
  • Phil Harris
    • Comments
    • Our killing is not for democracy. We all know that. It is for multinational corporations and for control of oil. It is to further enrich the already rich. We appear to be the most hypocritical nation in the world. And definitely, the most aggressive. Please look into the faces of all mothers and all children of the world and speak out. First Lady Obama, we both know the United States if fighting its own internal evil and corruption. Please help us to not perpetuate that onto the rest of the world. Lebanese mothers love the way you do. Iraqi mothers love the way you do. Israeli mothers love the way you do. Palestinian mothers love the way you. Pakistani mothers the same. And so on, and so on. Please help humanity make a major leap towards cultural understanding and peace. And please speak to the world saying, "We are all the same. " With deepest respect, Phil Harris
    • Country of origin
    • United States of America
  • Linda Bark PhD RN MCC
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Denise D'Anne
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • Leah Ng
    • Military family
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States of America
  • Jeremy
  • Richard D Smith
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • Catherine Batruni
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • Lebanon
  • Peter Enzminger
    • Comments
    • В
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • bello
    • Country of origin
    • morocco
  • Eva
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • Lebanon
  • Sharon Lucas
    • Military family
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States
  • Rose Mankowski
  • Valerie Urso
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • None
  • Laura Lucas
  • Ali Zaidi
    • Comments
    • Please read you are a mother =)
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • United States of America
  • Lisa Savage
    • Comments
    • Your children and mine will suffer the effects of endless wars of conquest. Please, be the voice of mothers everywhere calling for an end to U.S. tax dollars used to bomb civilians.
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • GWEN MORRIS
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
  • jaime perez
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No
    • Country of origin
    • USA
  • Sally
    • Military family
    • No
    • Family affected by war
    • No