Sunday, October 01, 2006

Help the Families of the Pendleton 8

The seven Marines and Navy Corpsman charged with kidnapping and murder in connection with an incident in Hamdania, Iraq are innocent. I believe this with all my heart, and the upcoming courts-martial will vindicate these heroes. Many have donated to their astronomical legal defense fees. Experts take money. Attorneys take money. Travel to Iraq to question “witnesses” takes money. A murder defense for any one of these men costs well over $100,000. Multiply that by 8. Behind the news articles and interviews and drama are the families. The financial burden of these hearings and upcoming courts-martial have drained them completely. None of them were financially well off; they refinanced homes, took second, third, and even fourth jobs, and pulled other children from college to pay for the defense. Three of these men have very small children who need things like formula and diapers. But the question is inevitable: If every penny goes to defending their sons from being wrongfully convicted and having their lives ruined, what is left over for groceries? How do their everyday bills get paid? And why are they even in the position of having to choose between a defense and a package of diapers? That’s where we come in. The Innocent Pendleton 8 Family Fund is not for legal fees. It is not for defense experts or trial costs. It is for phone bills so their sons can call home from the brig. It is for diapers for their babies, groceries for their cupboards, gas for their cars so they can get to work. It is to help them survive financially while these horrifying circumstances are going on.
Read the whole posting, donate if you can! H/T: BLACKFIVE