Escalation of Violence in Iraq Leads to Renewed Calls for U.S. Withdrawal

Interview with Charlie Richardson, Military Families Speak Out co-founder, conducted by Scott Harris

As the U.S. commemorated the nation's war dead on Memorial Day May 29, the killing in Iraq continued with the deaths of 31 Iraqis in bombings and shootings, an American soldier and two crewmen working for CBS News, with dozens of others injured. The roadside bombing which claimed the lives of the news crew also critically wounded CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier. Escalating bloodshed in Iraq comes as the public is getting new details of what appears to be the execution of 24 Iraqi civilians -- men, women and children -- at the hands of U.S. Marines last November in the western city of Haditha.

While the costs of war are the focus of official attention on one day a year in the U.S., anxiety and heartache are something that the families of both Iraqis and Americans killed or injured in the conflict must live with on a daily basis. Thus far, more than 2,400 U.S. servicemen and women have died with tens of thousands injured. Estimates of Iraqi civilians killed in the war range from nearly 40,000 to over 100,000.

In the fall of 2002, Nancy Lessin and her husband Charlie Richardson attended an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. Their son was a Marine who would soon be deployed to Iraq. They met another military family opposed to the war and co-founded the group Military Families Speak Out to give voice to the families who would bear the brunt of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Since then, nearly 3,000 families have joined. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Military Families Speak Out co-founder Charlie Richardson, who looks at the conduct of the war and the efforts of many with loved ones in the military to end the conflict.

Call Military Families Speak Out. at 617-983-0710 or visit their website at www.mfso.org

Related links:

* Bring Them Home Now at www.bringthemhomenow.org

* United for Peace and Justice at www.unitedforpeace.org

* Veterans for Peace at www.veteransforpeace.org

* War Resisters League at www.warresisters.org

* American Friends Service Committee at www.AFSC.org

* Iraq Veterans Against the War at www.ivaw.org

LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:

http://www.btlonline.org

*

"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit: http://www.btlonline.org

*

"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising months of April and October).

*

For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Weekly Summary" which features a RealAudio link to the week's program for Between The Lines, send an email to btlsummary-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

*

For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A" which features a RealAudio link and weekly transcript to one of the interviews featured on Between The Lines, send an email to btlqa-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

*

betweenthelines@snet.net

*

http://www.squeakywheel.net/

*

Distributed by Squeaky Wheel Productions

©2006 Between The Lines. All Rights Reserved.

The Devil (Bush), Rice, Rumsfeld, Negroponte, Cheney, Olmert, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX: "SORRY TO OIL THE OCCUPATION AND THE SALVADOR OPTION BUT OIL COMES FIRST !!!!!! HOW DO YOU LIKE OUR ETHICS TRAINING ?????? FILL HER UP ??????"