ID :
93744
Tue, 12/08/2009 - 12:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/93744
The shortlink copeid
Military families petition for UK withdrawal from Afghanistan
London, Dec 7, IRNA – Military Families Against the War (MFAW) are planning to deliver a petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown before Christmas calling for withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.
The delegation, which is demanding to also see Brown, is being led on December 21 by Joan Humphries, grandmother of Private Kevin Elliott, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009 and Graham Knight, father of Sergeant Ben Knight, who was killed in 2006.
“We have suffered terrible personal loss in this war in Afghanistan and we don't want any more families to go through the same pain,” the petition says, according to a copy obtained by IRNA.
“Everyone knows now this is a pointless war, deeply unpopular in Britain and Afghanistan. The most recent poll shows 71 percent of people in Britain want troops home within a year,” it said.
MFAW was originally founded by bereaved military families opposed to the Iraq war but now includes relatives of troops killed in Afghanistan.
In a joint appeal, Humphries and Knight said that Christmas in the UK is always a time of reflection for people who have suffered loss. “But we don't have to suffer alone, and we don't have to suffer in silence.”
“Instead, we want to remind the government of the sacrifices our loved ones have made, and continue to make,” the bereaved families said.
“Young lives are being sacrificed so that politicians can save face. Britain is supporting the US just to keep up the so-called special relationship. Meanwhile the death toll is mounting. It is high time the troops came home,” they said in their appeal.
MFAW are also planning on holding a vigil outside the Prime Minister’s Office, while presenting the petition to Brown signed by tens of thousands of people who are calling for the troops to be brought home./end
The delegation, which is demanding to also see Brown, is being led on December 21 by Joan Humphries, grandmother of Private Kevin Elliott, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009 and Graham Knight, father of Sergeant Ben Knight, who was killed in 2006.
“We have suffered terrible personal loss in this war in Afghanistan and we don't want any more families to go through the same pain,” the petition says, according to a copy obtained by IRNA.
“Everyone knows now this is a pointless war, deeply unpopular in Britain and Afghanistan. The most recent poll shows 71 percent of people in Britain want troops home within a year,” it said.
MFAW was originally founded by bereaved military families opposed to the Iraq war but now includes relatives of troops killed in Afghanistan.
In a joint appeal, Humphries and Knight said that Christmas in the UK is always a time of reflection for people who have suffered loss. “But we don't have to suffer alone, and we don't have to suffer in silence.”
“Instead, we want to remind the government of the sacrifices our loved ones have made, and continue to make,” the bereaved families said.
“Young lives are being sacrificed so that politicians can save face. Britain is supporting the US just to keep up the so-called special relationship. Meanwhile the death toll is mounting. It is high time the troops came home,” they said in their appeal.
MFAW are also planning on holding a vigil outside the Prime Minister’s Office, while presenting the petition to Brown signed by tens of thousands of people who are calling for the troops to be brought home./end
