FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 6, 2014

Contact: Colonel Ann Wright, microann@yahoo.com, 808-741-1141

Alli McCracken, CODEPINK organizer, alli@codepink.org, 860-575-5692

US Veterans Speak out in Support of Return of Sergeant Bergdahl

Press Conference followed by rally at White House

When: Press Conference on Tuesday, June 10th at 2:00pm

Where: Zenger Room, National Press Club, Washington DC

Following the press conference, there will be a 4pm rally at the White House to say: Welcome Home Sgt. Bergdahl, End the War in Afghanistan Now, and Shut Down Guantanamo!

Washington, DC–– A group of prestigious military veterans will appear at a press conference on Tuesday, June 10 at the National Press Club to express support for Sergeant Bergdahl and his family, and to denounce the media firestorm that has surrounded Bergdahl’s release. They will urge the media to focus on why Bergdahl and so many others in the military—as well as the majority of Americans—have had deep concerns about US military actions in Afghanistan.

The following is a list of speakers:

Ret. Colonel Ann Wright had a 29-year career in the military and a 16-year career in the US State Department. “As a retired US Army Colonel, I know that no US soldier should ever be left behind,” said Col. Wright. “Before he left his base in Afghanistan, Bergdahl had expressed serious concerns about the military actions of the United States in Afghanistan –– concerns that are shared by many other soldiers, and veterans like me. That's why Fox News is so intent on attacking him,” she added.

Ret. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson was former Chief of Staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. He was deputy director of the Marine Corps War College at Quantico and currently teaches courses on U.S. national security at the College of William and Mary. He appears as a frequent Republican commentator on The Ed Show with Ed Schultz on MSNBC.

Matthew Hoh is a U.S. Marine captain and a former State Department official. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy and formerly directed the Afghanistan Study Group. “This is the most unpopular war in American history. About 83 percent of the American public is opposed to the war and about half the population thinks that putting American troops into Afghanistan in 2001 was a mistake,” said Hoh. “So that's the debate we should be having right now.”

Brock McIntosh is an Army National Guard Veteran who enlisted in May 2006 and has since become active in Veterans for Rethinking Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Operation Recovery, and is an applicant for conscientious objection. “When I was in Afghanistan, I started questioning why we were there.” said Brock McIntosh, who was based near where Bergdahl was captured. “Congress played a big role in putting us there, and now they’re taking advantage of a POW, and using him for political gains. I think it’s pretty sick, disgusting, and shameful.”

Initial Sponsors of the 4pm White House rally are: ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK, Imam Mahdi Bray, March Forward, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans

##