MFSO Newsletter – January 2020
Troops Home Now?
Editorials from MFSO members:
By Bill Habedank
Red Wing, MN
Just before Christmas I had a letter to the editor published in my local newspaper that everyone’s New Years resolution should be working toward world peace. What influenced my urge to write this editorial was the release of the Afghan Papers which said that we had been lied to about what was going on in Afghanistan, just as we had been with Viet Nam and Iraq.
Reaching that goal now will be exceedingly more difficult with the assassination of Iran’s military leader.
So what do we do now as people who want peace. We must mobilize everywhere we can by speaking to friends, local politicians and Members of Congress and civil disobedience if necessary. We must convey the utter insanity of starting another war (as if we weren’t still at war!). A war with Iran will be a disaster for the entire world and yes that includes citizens of the United States. The potential for a world war is high. There will be no winners.
The real losers will be unprivileged people because of austerity in social programs that provide real security. This has been the case with every war. If a new war with Iran is to keep US citizens safe it will do just the opposite. This war will make any attempts to provide the real security of healthcare, education, a place to live, and a liveable environment impossible. The voices of reason and sanity must prevail. You can be that voice. Silence will be our doom. There is still time to make your New Year’s resolution to work for peace.
Bill and Diane have a son in the Army
Join the Global Day of Protest, Saturday January 25:
No War on Iran!
https://www.unacpeace.org
In the News:
MFSO member Mary Hladky in MO and Rossana and Arturo Cambron, Pat Alviso, About Face and VFP leaders John Motter and Anthony Palacios in Los Angeles at No War with Iran rallies
Who Signs Up to Fight? Makeup of U.S. Recruits Shows Glaring Disparity
More and more, new recruits come from the same small number of counties and are the children of old recruits.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/
Pompeo: US troops ‘to continue mission’ in Iraq
The Iraqi government is asking for the withdrawal of American soldiers
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/
Everything You Need to Know About Vets’ and Caregivers’ New Base Access
Some veterans are being granted access to military commissary, exchange and MWR
https://www.military.com/
US Dismisses Iraq Request to Work on a Troop Withdrawal Plan
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s caretaker prime minister asked Washington to start working out a road map for an American troop withdrawal, but the U.S. State Department on Friday bluntly rejected the request,
https://www.military.com/
Troops on Middle East Snap Deployment May Be Entitled to These Extra Pays
Here is a rundown of pays that service members deployed during tensions with Iran may be entitled to receive, according to Defense Department guidelines
https://www.military.com/
Note: The opinions reflected above and in future editorials are not a reflection of any official stance approved by the MFSO board, which meets monthly and posts official positions decided by the board on our website. Your responses and opinions are welcome. If you would like to send your half page editorial on any MFSO related issue, please send to mfsooc@earthlink.net
MFSO-Newsletter-January-2020.html (928 downloads )
Reach Out to Us
MFSO Newsletter November 2019
Marine Iraq War veteran to be deported Tuesday to El Salvador (Marine Times)
Marine Iraq War veteran to be deported Tuesday to El Salvador (Marine Times)
“…Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Jeff Merrick said that deporting the Marine veteran after he served his prison sentence was a second punishment after he already paid his debt to society.
It’s “a real injustice to allow a veteran to be deported just because he got in trouble with the law,” Merrick said. “He paid his dues, now he is getting a lifetime sentence to a country he knows nothing about.”
Merrick is a board member of Military Families Speak Out, an organization of military and veterans families calling for improving the treatment of veterans when returning from war.
Merrick compared Segovia-Benitez’s deportation with failures at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals around the country.
“It’s kind of like, ‘I’ll call you a hero until I have to pay something, once you’re out of the service I don’t care about you,'” Merrick said….”
Marine combat veteran who served in Iraq facing deportation to El Salvador (NBC News)
Marine combat veteran who served in Iraq facing deportation to El Salvador (NBC News)
“… His sister said that during his time in detention, Segovia Benitez has helped other detainees and is “really loved.”
“He’s very helpful and obviously cares about people,” she said.
Jeff Merrick, a retired master sergeant with the Air Force, said deporting veterans like Segovia Benitez after they served time was a “total disgrace.”
“They got into trouble, yes, they had issues, but they served their time, and instead of like other citizens, where they’re released back into the community, where they can have a life again, they’re committed to a life term of exile,” said Merrick, who is a board member with the group Military Families Speak Out.”
Military Families Speak Out participated in the 23rd annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade
Military Families Speak Out participated in the 23rd annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 9, 2019 on Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach. Photo by Geronimo Quitoriano
POSITION STATEMENT ON WAR WITH IRAN, September 2019
POSITION STATEMENT ON WAR WITH IRAN, September 2019
Military Families Speak Out is opposed to the recent decision made
by the President to send troops to Saudi Arabia. There is no need to
sacrifice the lives of our loved ones in the US military over a regional
conflict between the nations of Saudi Arabia and Iran. The US should
be joining the international effort to find diplomatic solutions instead, to prevent another disastrous war in the Middle East.
Letter from MFSO to House Foreign Affairs Committee Members for Repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) – HR Bill 1229
March 13, 2018
Military Families Speak Out urges all members on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to move HR Bill 1229 (Repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force) out of the committee and into the House of Representatives for a full vote. Military Families Speak Out is a national organization made up of families that have loved ones in the military since 9-11. This bill is of utmost importance to our families because the AUMF has been the legal authority used to justify sending our families to fight in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and anywhere else in the world without first getting any new authorization from members of congress. We urge you to co-sponsor the bill and get the repeal of the AUMF out of committee for the following reasons:
- The AUMF has been the legal authority used to justify our continued presence in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Congress has failed in its constitutional responsibility to vote to authorize the use of military force for over 16 years.
- The AUMF had expanded the president’s power to use military force anywhere in the world and has reduced congressional oversight
- It is extremely dangerous to allow the current 2001 AUMF to be the final say for allowing armed conflict. New wars, such as in Niger or even war with N. Korea is under consideration and could be justified under the AUMF.
- The War Powers Act of 1973 is a federal law that was intended to check the power of the president so that troops can only be committed to armed conflict if congress can declare war. A constitutional crisis has been brewing while the AUMF repeal bill sits in committee,
- The AUMF has no time or geographic distinctions and three presidential administrations have refused to step forward to get an approval for wars that have killed thousands of our troops, caused endless suffering and resulted in the killing of well over a million innocent civilians, mostly women and children.
- With no credible information of why military force is being used it is imperative that Congress vote on the AUMF.
- It is our families who pay the price for wars. We are at the front lines making the sacrifices of America’s most treasured resources.
It is our military men and women, their families, and innocent civilians involved in these many conflicts, who have suffered most.
It’s time for Congress to show some courage and do its constitutional duty to debate and then vote on the authorization of war. It is the least they can do when asking our military men and women to put their lives on the line.
Pat Alviso
National Coordinator
Military Families Speak Out
P.O. Box 4193
Seal Beach, CA 90740