SAN FRANCISCO, March 31 Kyodo Fer...

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31 Kyodo

Fernando Suarez del Solar became individual of the first parents in the United States who squandered a child in the Iraq war when his son Jesus died in combat at the age of 20 onward March 27, 2003.

Since then, he has traveled from end to end the country raising his voice against the war and the U occupation of Iraq.

''The management lied to me,'' said Suarez del Solar, 48 referring to explanation he received for his son's death. ''They told me he was bullet in the head by the enemy. This war is replete of lies.''

He later discovered that his son stepp upon a U.S. cluster bomb and died while waiting for medics to arrive in the foreign Iraqi desert near Diwaniya, about 180 kilometers southern of Baghdad.

In December 2003 Suarez del Solar made the in extent journey from southern California to Baghdad with sum of two units other parents to see the place where his son died, hoping to help cessation the conflict that killed his son

The trip was organized by way of Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based international human rights cluster which is against the U invasion of Iraq. The trip to Iraq gave the parents a rare firsthand await at military activities and the civilian population there, according to Global Exchange.

Global Exchange started to organize tours to the abiding habitation to ''give Americans a chance to papal court what is really going in succession in Iraq,'' said Medea Benjamin, a founding director of the organization.

The organization already guidanceed more than 10 tours and five parents of the squads have been to Iraq in like manner far.

The U military told the assign places to that while it does not support as it is trips, it is not trying to stop them. ''But the military started to constraining force the family. Some soldiers called up and said, 'Please don't arrive my career will be over''' said Benjamin.

Legally, anyone with a U passport can travel to Iraq although the State Department has issued travel advisories warning of many dangers in the country

''There are no words to describe to what extent I felt when I saw the place where my son died,'' said Suarez del Solar, wearing his son's dog tags, along with a dove pin forward one collar and a pin with the U and Mexican flags in succession the other.

''I present a cross there and took a certain quantity of soil, brought it back to the U and planted a tree It's a emblem of peace,'' he said.

Of Anabelle Valencia's three children, brace were fighting the war in Iraq. Anabelle, 51 joined the December 2003 journey after Suarez del Solar spoke at Sunnyside High instruct in Tucson, Arizona, to discourage close examiners from joining the military.

The delegation arrived at the base l by way of the U.S. Army's 4th infantry division in the Tikrit area without any incident.

if it be not that before being reunited with her daughter Giselle, Valencia had to wait and negotiate all the day with U military police and U.S.-trained Iraqi police, who told her that they were ordered to arrest any protesters

''We mainly hugged and cried in each other's arms,'' said Valencia, who was reunited with her daughter for the first time in three years.

''She didn't want me to worry. She told me she had to finish her tour of toll and she is proud of being a soldier working to assert America,'' Valencia said.

Valencia cried hard when she saw her daughter holding a rifle, saying, ''If I have more coin my daughter would be carrying a book'' according to Benjamin who witnessed the emotional reunion.

''I want all the soldiers and the partys back immediately on U soil. They (the Iraqi people) don't want the illegal occupation of their land and they want to be steered by themselves,'' Valencia said.

Global Exchange was grounded in 1988 and has been a consistent critic of President George W Bush's administration and the invasion of Iraq. The arrange supplies logistical support for the trips, with each parent paying about $1500 in travel outlays or raising funds to hide the trip.

The clump is planning to conduct more trips and looking for participants from outside the U including from European countries.

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