Statement by the Bring Them Home Now Tour, September 19th, New York City
Today, Tuesday, September 19th, a rally in Union Square, featuring veterans, families of active-duty military service people, and parents of soldiers who died in Iraq was disrupted by the New York City Police who broke up the event, arrested an organizer, and confiscated the sound system just as Cindy finished her last sentence.
None of the members of the Tour were arrested, and they will continue to speak the ground truth about this War.
The rally’s purpose was to feature the Bring Them Home Now Tour. The three bus tour was launched from Camp Casey outside George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where Cindy Sheehan, other Gold Star and military families, Iraq War and other veterans held a nearly month long vigil requesting a meeting with the President.
“I am deeply shocked and outraged that the New York City Police would act to silence the voices of those who have most directly born the pain and loss of the War on Iraq, said Anne Roesler of Saratoga, CA whose son is serving a third deployment in Iraq. Roesler is representing Military Families Speak Out on the Bring Them Home Now tour bus traveling the northern route across the country.
The Bring Them Home Now Tour, is sponsored by Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against War and Vietnam Veterans. The Tours are planning to converge in Washington DC on September 21 in preparation for the United for Peace and Justice mass mobilization September 24-26. By it’s completion on September 21st in Washington DC, they will have spoken at over 200 events, in 51 cities, in 28 states in 21 days.