Vets, Poet, Iraqi, Mother of a Soldier, Giant Puppets Decry Human Cost of War

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Contact: Cres Vellucci, Sacramento Coalition to End the War, 916/996-9170

ATTN: Assignment Desk

Vets, Poet, Iraqi, Mother of a Soldier, Giant
Puppets Decry Human Cost of War - Iraqi
and American - at Tuesday War Protest

SACRAMENTO – With giant puppets of mourning women looming behind them and
displays of American and Iraqi casualties nearby, speakers will address how
the horror of the Iraq war impacts the people of Iraq and their loved ones
Tuesday, March 6, 10:15 a.m. at the Federal Building (501 I Street).

It's the first such demonstration here focusing primarily on Iraqi casualties.

Inside the Federal Building, a sit-in goes into its 9th consecutive week.
Peace-in members are asking that Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, publicly
commit to voting against any more funding for the war, including voting
against President Bush's supplemental request for another $100 billion for
2007. The House is expected to vote on the request next week.

"I think of Fadila, a widow with four children, whose husband was killed in
Baghdad," said Ukiah Poet Laureate David Smith Ferri who met with Iraqi
refugees in December, 2006. Ferri quoted Fadila as saying: "My husband is
dead because of your government. You couldn't have made my life any worse."

"I hate this war," said Zohreh Whitaker, a Sacramento mother whose 33-year
old son is serving in Iraq. "We have lost nearly 3200 men and women in
the U.S. military and caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis. We must stop the occupation and bring the troops home now."
Whitaker is a member of the national organization Military Families Speak
Out.

"The American people want the war ended and the Iraqi people want the U.S.
military to leave their country," said Iraqi-American Samira Alqazzaz.
"It is unthinkable that Congress is even considering giving Bush more
money for this war."

Iraq war veteran Jeremy McLaughlin, who served as a hospital medic in the
Navy in 2003, will also speak. McLaughlin is a member of Iraq Veterans
Against the War, which on March 1 sent a letter to Congress stating:
"Voting more funds for this war would be abandoning our troops. It would
leave them with the possibility of joining the over 3,160 who have died as
a result of a war that should never have started, or the tens of thousands
who have been wounded physically, psychologically, or both."

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