US Families Want Troops Home

A movement calling for the immediate withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq has been started by the families of US soldiers and army veterans.

Supporters of the movement, calling itself Bring Them Home Now, say US soldiers, who face daily attacks in Iraq, are demoralised.

US soldiers of the Third Infantry Division have returned home to their base in Fort Stewart in Georgia after six months in Iraq.

When they returned, their families were euphoric, but these are some of the luckier troops who have been rotated back to the US.

US President George Bush recently praised the troops and their families from the Rose Garden of the White House.

He said: "The American people are proud of our armed forces and we are grateful for their sacrifice and their service in fighting the war on terror.

"We also appreciate the military families who share in the hardship and uncertainties of this essential mission."

Far from over

The Pentagon has been making it increasingly clear that while the war is over in Iraq, the peace is far from won.

But now some Americans have had enough, and have started the campaign to bring the troops home.

Joining the cause have been a range of people — mothers whose sons are still serving in Iraq, people who supported the war but are now disillusioned, and peace activists always opposed to American intervention.

Some former soldiers also describe the current operation as folly. Tom McMann, a veteran of the Vietnam conflict, is one.

"My objective is to try to pressure Congress and pressure the White House and Pentagon to internationalise the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq. I'm tired of America's sons and daughters having to do all of the policing of this world," he said.

His views are echoed by Susan Schurman, whose son signed up with the Massachusetts National Guard, only to be unexpectedly despatched to Baghdad.

She said: "Sixty to 70% of the troops are reservists, which means they are not full time soldiers.

"My son has a job, he has a life — he had a life before he went to Iraq. I think they gotten much more than they bargained for."

Many Americans were uneasy about the Iraq war and the confusion surrounding the weapons of mass destruction debate has added to that disillusionment.

Deaths expected

Dr Stephen Kull studies public attitudes to government policy for the University of Maryland.

He acknowledges there has been a significant increase in pessimism about whether Iraq will be made stable soon.

But he said that does not mean that there is a groundswell of opinion yet calling for a US military withdrawal.

"Americans went into this operation with the expectation that US troops would need to be in Iraq for two years," he said.

"The median estimate was also that 1,000 American troops would die in this operation one way or another. And at this point it has not really superseded their expectations."

Many involved in the Bring the Troops Home campaign argue that they are prevented from knowing the truth about American involvement in Iraq.

Stan Goff, a special forces veteran who now supports the Bring The Troops Home campaign, said: "The American public is the most indoctrinated public in the world.

"People are getting their information in sound bites now so it makes people far more easy to manipulate."

Right to fight

The military insists the troops are there in the defence of the US and remain proud to serve.

Pentagon officials see their role as convincing the public of this in the face of some media reports that war-weary soldiers want to come home.

Frank Gaffney, a defence analyst close to Pentagon thinking, said: "I think partly this is a function of public education.

"Iraq represents a front in the war on terror. If we're not fighting terrorists and disrupting the state sponsors of terrorism, we're likely to see a great deal more terrorism on our own shores.

"It's that kind of calculus, I think, that will cause the American people — if properly educated and properly led — to understand the need to stay the course."

More troops will be rotated home from Iraq in the coming months, and they will be expressing their views to friends and family.

Many of those that have come back say it was right to fight the war, but they did not anticipate they would be part of an extended policing operation in Iraq.

And at a cost of $4bn a year, some opinion leaders, both pro- and anti-war, are starting to look harder for alternative options to the current heavy US commitment in Iraq.