http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/17/anti_war_military_families_meet_with_romney_over_iraq/Anti-war military families meet with Romney over Iraq
By Theo Emery, Associated Press Writer | October 17, 2005
BOSTON --A group of anti-war military families, some of whose children have been killed in Iraq, met with Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday to urge him to seek the withdrawal of Massachusetts National Guard troops from Iraq. Romney said he would pursue some of what the families urged, such as discouraging strong-arm recruiting tactics of youngsters and others who might not understand the implications of enlisting, but said he stood by his view that troops must stay. "It's important for us as a nation to successfully complete the transition of security from American forces to Iraqi forces as quickly as we can, and for us then to be able to return home. Bringing home our troops unilaterally before that mission is complete, in my view, would be a mistake," he said.
One woman, 30-year-old Rose Gonzalez, of Somerville, stormed out of the meeting in tears, her 5-month-old son Marcos in a sling across her chest. Gonzalez, whose mother is serving in Iraq, said tearfully outside the governor's office that Romney couldn't understand what families like hers were going through. "I don't even know why I showed up. It's the politicians duty to smile and act like they're concerned, but they don't really know what the cost is, or what it's like, because they don't have to experience it.
The group, which is called Military Families Speak Out, afterward held a press conference to say they were launching a petition drive for a ballot initiative that, if passed, would require Romney to seek the return of Massachusetts National Guard members from Iraq. "I do not want for (other) families to go through what I went through," said Carlos Arrendondo, 45, whose son Marine Lance Cpl. Alexander Arrendondo was killed last year. Carlos Arrendondo, when marines arrived to tell him of his son's death, set fire to their van and himself in the process. "We need the National Guard back here."
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Among the concerns of the group, which had requested the meeting after a group of anti-war families visited Massachusetts last month, was strong-arm recruitment tactics. Romney said it was a "valid question" that he would bring up with the head of the state National Guard. "I do want to make sure that in the recruitment effort... we don't place undue pressure on individuals or exert influence or market to those that don't have the mental capacity or the maturity to know what they're getting into," he said.
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