Mother Of Iraqi War Veteran Reflects On President's Decision To End War

WHITTIER (CBS) — Rossana Cambron lives in a state of anxiety every time her son, 28 year old Arturo Cambron, is deployed to serve in Iraq.

"There are days when I'm just a nervous wreck," she told KCAL9's Stephanie Abrams.

Cambron has trouble even looking out the window of her home in Whittier, afraid of who might be coming to see her. "I don't know if they're coming to give me bad news...it's horrifying. Every day I'm afraid for his life."

Today, Mrs. Cambron heard President Obama declare an end to the war in Iraq. Her response was far from relief. "It's like this tornado. A hurricane of emotions going on," she said. "On the one hand I'm glad that we're moving forward and ending this war. I'm really happy about that, but I want to make sure people understand that it's not this happy ending that we see in the movies. Especially for us."

Rossana says when her son entered the military he had hoped it would lead to a better life. Now after three deployments, and the post traumatic stress that he's endured upon each return home, there is only disappointment. Now, they say, they feel stuck in a system fighting for wars they no longer believe in.

"As a mother I want to protect my son," said Cambron through tears. "I know the war was never really about 9/11 or anything. They got Osama Bin Laden, and then they got Hussein. Yet, they keep deploying all our children... all our children constantly."

That's one reason why the announcement of an end to the deployment in Iraq doesn't give her complete peace. She's afraid her son will be deployed again even before he returns home. "I'm concerned about him being sent to Afghanistan. So we have to stop forging forward with the war in Afghanistan as well, so that they finally get a rest."

Mrs. Cambron has a clear directive to legislators for her son and all the other men and women who've fought for this country. "You sent them there. You have to take care of them," she says. "They need help and a decent job when they come back otherwise they're left hanging, like we see many veterans, homeless and distraught and in such bad shape. It's just so shameless for our nation to have that."