Veterans group presses Obama on ‘welcome home’ for Iraq troops - YAHOO!
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Arlington County firefighter and US Marine Corps veteran Lt. Jacob Johnson, …A small but vocal veterans group has enlisted more than 20,000 people on a petition urging President Barack Obama to honor soldiers returning home from Iraq with a national day including parades in major cities.
"As history closes the chapter on Iraq, Americans want to respect all those who served there, remember those who died, and respond to the challenges they're now facing as they transition home," Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) urges on its official Internet site.
Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama plan to honor returning Iraq veterans by hosting a black-tie, state dinner-style affair at the White House on Feb. 29 for around 200 hand-picked guests from the various branches of the military. Members of "Gold Star Families" that have lost a loved one in the conflict will also be present.
"It's a welcome gesture from your administration to our veterans after a decade of war, and I'm honored to have received an invitation to attend," IAVA executive director Paul Rieckhoff said in an open letter to Obama dated Wednesday.
"However, IAVA represents over one million Iraq veterans who have served in the past eight years. Millions of Americans nationwide want to say "thank you" to these veterans too—and I'm writing in hopes that the White House can help make this possible," wrote Rieckhoff, whose official biography says he served as a first lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq in 2003-2004.
Some 1.5 million Americans fought in Iraq after the March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Combat troops withdrew in December after a bloody conflict that left about 4,500 American troops dead and 32,000 wounded. IAVA claims 200,000 members and supporters.
The IAVA petition, which as of 11:15 a.m. Thursday had 20,547 supporters, asks Obama and mayors nationwide "to organize a single national day of action, coordinating the efforts of cities and towns nationwide to celebrate our nation's newest heroes and connect them with the resources they have earned."
The Pentagon has indicated discomfort with such an effort, with officials noting that the roughly 90,000 US troops still fighting in Afghanistan includes many Iraq War veterans and urging that celebrations be put off until that conflict winds down.
"There are many Iraq vets who are now fighting on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and the feeling was that the appropriate time to have a national New York-style tickertape parade was the time when combat troops were back home," Assistant Secretary of Defense Doug Wilson has said.
"That does not mean that communities all over the country shouldn't do initiatives and events on their own; they should. The event in St. Louis was terrific, and it was something that we applaud and we know that there will be more of," Wilson said, referring to a late-January parade that organizers estimated drew 100,000 people.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), which claims some two million members, echoed the Pentagon view.
"Our position is that certainly our veterans deserve a parade. However, when we have 90,000 or so troops fighting in Afghanistan, and conceivably some of those at least have served in Iraq, we think that's a little bit premature," VFW communications director Jerry Newberry told Yahoo News.
The American Legion has no formal position, an official there told Yahoo News.
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