HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA – August 20, 2017 –  Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) members know the true costs of the war.  In response to President Trump’s upcoming Afghanistan policy announcement, we are prepared to hold demonstrations to protest any increase of “boots on the ground” in Afghanistan.  This will occur on the day following Trump’s official announcement in conjunction with simultaneous protests at Congressional offices by members of Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, and supporting organizations in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Long Beach, California.

Since the start of the war on Afghanistan, over 2400 American service members and many thousands of civilians have been killed according to icasualties.org. Countless others have been injured, lost to suicide, or suffer from invisible wounds such as Traumatic Brain Injury, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, along with drug and alcohol abuse. To many Americans these are just statistics, but these are our loved ones.

“The losses and injuries our families have already suffered from the ongoing wars in the Middle East have not been addressed and there is no end is in sight for them. We simply cannot ask our troops to make any more sacrifices than they already have,” says Military Families Speak Out National Coordinator, Pat Alviso, whose son was recently been deployed for the sixth time.

Our members know the long-term effects of military action as part of an unjust war.  We have members available for interviews nationwide to talk about how this will affect the lives of their loved ones and their families

When:  Tuesday, August 20th, at 4 PM

Address: Pacific Coast Highway and Main St. in Huntington Beach by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s office (101 Main Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92648)

Media Contacts:

Pat Alviso  562-833-8035

Tim Kahlor  951-216-9620

Military Families Speak Out continues our demand that the military cease involvement in Afghanistan and bring all our troops home now! We call for the use of diplomacy.

Take Out Your iPhone!

By Paula Rogovin, MFSO, Bergen County NJ

When I spoke at the Cranford, NJ Peace Fair on August 6, I started by telling about my distress during my son’s two deployments to Iraq, my friend, John Fenton’s, distress when he watched his son’s head shrink before he died in the hospital after being struck by an IED in Iraq, my friends, Kevin and Joyce Lucey’ distress when their son, Jeffrey, hung himself after he was told to return to the VA for help after he dealt with his alcohol abuse, and my friend, Marcia Westbrook’s distress, when she received the call that her son in the Special Forces, Tyler, had died by suicide.

I asked people in the crowd, “Why did the U.S. intervene in Iraq?” People shouted, “Oil!” Then I asked people to take out their iphones and hold them up high. So, why is the U.S. involved in Afghanistan and why is President Trump considering sending 3,000-5,000 additional troops to Afghanistan? Several people shouted, “Minerals!” This was a Peace Fair and many of the people read recent articles in the news. Yup, President Trump is concerned that we hadn’t really secured the oil contracts in Iraq and the mineral rights in Afghanistan during the time of Cheney/Bush. Now, he’s talking about securing the mineral contracts in Afghanistan.

If you read excerpts from the articles below, you will see that there is lots of lithium – which used in iPhones and other devices. We know that it’s not OUR oil or OUR minerals. To sacrifice the lives and well-being of U.S. service members and their families for profit, for greed, is totally unacceptable!

I told the crowd at the Cranford Peace Fair that Military Families Speak Out says: NO military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan! Bring the troops home NOW!

The crowd agreed and shouted: Bring the troops home NOW!

Trump Finds Reason for the U.S. to Remain in Afghanistan: Minerals (New York Times). (By MARK LANDLER and JAMES RISENJULY 25, 2017
“The lure of Afghanistan as a war-torn Klondike is well established: In 2006, the George W. Bush administration conducted aerial surveys of the country to map its mineral resources. Under President Barack Obama, the Pentagon set up a task force to try to build a mining industry in Afghanistan — a challenge that was stymied by rampant corruption, as well as security problems and the lack of roads, bridges or railroads.

None of these hurdles has been removed in the last eight years, according to former officials, and some have worsened. They warn that the Trump administration is fooling itself if it believes that extracting minerals is a panacea for Afghanistan’s myriad ills…..

But for Mr. Trump, as a businessman, it is arguably the only appealing thing about Afghanistan. Officials said he viewed mining as a “win-win” that could boost that country’s economy, generate jobs for Americans and give the United States a valuable new beachhead in the market for rare-earth minerals, which has been all but monopolized by China….. Mr. Silver, the chemical executive, may head an effort to maximize the rights for American companies to extract these minerals, according to a senior official.”

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, March 25, 2017
“Here is part of the list: “gold, copper, lithium,uranium, iron ore, cobalt, natural gas and oil. Afghanistan’s resources could make it one of the richest mining regions in the world.

According to a joint report by the Pentagon, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and USAID, Afghanistan is now said to possess “previously unknown” and untapped mineral reserves, estimated authoritatively to be of the order of one trillion dollars (New York Times, U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com, June 14, 2010, See also BBC, 14 June 2010).
“The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys…..

“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said… “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines. (New York Times, op. cit.)
Afghanistan could become, according to The New York Times “the Saudi Arabia of lithium”. “Lithium is an increasingly vital resource, used in batteries for everything from mobile phones to laptops and key to the future of the electric car.” At present Chile, Australia, China and Argentina are the main suppliers of lithium to the world market. Bolivia and Chile are the countries with the largest known reserves of lithium. “The Pentagon has been conducting ground surveys in western Afghanistan. “Pentagon officials said that their initial analysis at one location in Ghazni province showed the potential for lithium deposits as large as those of Bolivia” (U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com, June 14, 2010, see also Lithium – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Psychologists James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen were the architects of the CIA’s torture program. Now, in a groundbreaking lawsuit, three survivors and victims of the torture program are seeking to hold Mitchell and Jessen accountable.

This Friday in federal court in Spokane, Washington, Mitchell and Jessen’s lawyers will argue that they can’t be held responsible for their actions. In an extraordinary legal filing, Mitchell and Jessen claim they aren’t legally responsible to the people hurt by their methods because they “simply did business with the CIA pursuant to their contracts.”

A key part of Mitchell and Jessen’s argument hinges on the claim that poison gas manufacturers weren’t held responsible by a British military tribunal for providing the Nazis with the gas because the Nazi government, not contractors, had final say on whether to use it. They argue that they are like a corporate gassing technician who was charged with and acquitted of assisting the Nazis because “even if [Mitchell and Jessen] played an integral part of the supply and use of” torture methods, they had no “influence” over the CIA’s decision to use them and can’t be accountable.

JOIN VETERANS FOR PEACE & MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT  (Chapter 110/ OC)

In a demonstration against another troop level  increase in Afghanistan

4:00 p.m. the day after the Trump Administration makes the announcement

PCH and Main St. in Huntington Beach by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s office

Please join veterans, military families and other peace groups that are opposed to the increase of troop levels in Afghanistan. Each new sitting president has increased troop levels and it’s time to “END THESE ESCALATIONS”

On July 6, 2016 President Obama announced his intention to maintain 8,400 troops on the ground and in harms way in Afghanistan.

That announcement was followed by news that the President had authorized an additional 500 troops for Iraq, bringing the total authorized US force in Iraq to over 4,600. There are reportedly hundreds, if not thousands, of further US troops in Iraq in Syria on ‘rotational’ deployments and non-disclosed missions.

Miiltary Families Speak Out [MFSO] opposes this continuation of ENDLESS WAR that has neither reduced incidences of terrorism throughout the world, nor made life safer for the people of Afghanistan or here at home. After nearly 15 years, it is time to end, not prolong, the war in Afghanistan. This has to stop.

Bring Home Our Troops, Take Care of Them When They Get Here!

Take Action:

• Sign The Petition
• Contact President Obama! E-mail, Call (202)-456-1111, or Fax (202)-456-246
• White a letter to the editor or op-ed
• Share, post, tweet this alert!
• Donate to MFSO

10/07/2015

Fourteen years ago today, the United States attacked Afghanistan; this was the beginning of the longest war in U.S. history.  After years of war and nothing to show for it, the public was told last June, that the war in Afghanistan was finally winding down, ground troops would be phased out and our troops would be limited to  advisory roles only. Instead, we mark this day with sadness and alarm after the recent US bombing of the only functional medical facility in the Afghan city of Kunduz. We were horrified to learn that this Doctors Without Borders hospital was bombed repeatedly, even though staffers had informed the US and Afghan military officials of its GPS coordinates several times. Over 22 patients and hospital staff died, including children that were helplessly engulfed in flames after bombs set the hospital on fire. The Taliban now describes our troops as “barbaric American forces”, and in the eyes of the international community, we have sunk to a new low.

Last week, the LA Times reported that officials from the Obama administration had privately acknowledged that “airstrikes and violent raids in civilian areas help fuel support for insurgents” ¹, so, the Obama administration could not have made a worse decision than to send “advisers” out on combat missions again.  Instead of removing all of our troops from Afghanistan, as we and so many Americans urged, this decision resulted in a major humanitarian catastrophe, a crime against humanity.

Join MFSO by calling President Obama today and demanding that he end all combat operations, including airstrikes, and bring all of our troops home now.  Tell President Obama that every day our loved ones are put in the position of fighting these wars, the result can only be more deaths, injuries, and the inevitable moral injury our troops have endured for fourteen years. This is enough!

MFSO calls on the American people to rise up and demand an end to the war in Afghanistan now!  March, vigil, rally, and be sure to voice your demands today- the 14^th year of the war in Afghanistan.

Call President Obama today: 202-456-1111

Military Families Call for Immediate End to the War in Afghanistan

After more than ten years of war in Afghanistan, military families, along with the majority of the American public, want to see a real end to the war. The U.S. – Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by President Obama and President Karzai on May 1st, however, continues combat operations through 2014 and commits the U.S. to military and financial support for Afghanistan well beyond 2014.

At least 1,957 troops have died and 15,300 troops have been injured trying to create a stable Afghanistan. We have lost 381 service members since Osama bin Laden was assassinated. Yet after 11 years and over half a trillion dollars, the U.S. has not been able to stop the Taliban nor create an effective Afghan government.

“Why is it that neither the military nor our president can ever clearly explain how the U.S. benefits from another 2 years of combat? Our troops could easily be home by the end of 2012. How many more young lives will be sacrificed before 2014? How many more times will my son be sent into harm’s way in a war that’s wasting our country’s resources and not making us any safer?” asked Mary Hladky of Springfield, Ohio, whose son just returned from his first deployment to Afghanistan.

While many U.S. troops will come home by the end of 2014, others will remain in Afghanistan for training and counterterrorism operations with the Afghan National Army, a mission that still includes combat and other significant risks. Furthermore, there is a significant threat posed by the Afghan troops being trained, many of whom have turned their guns on their U.S. counterparts, resulting in 35 deaths last year and an unknown number of attempted attacks.

“When an Afghan in uniform wounds — or misses — his American target, it has not been reported. We don’t know how many of our service members have been attacked by ANA troops or Afghan police.  Since our loved ones will be working closely with the ANA in training for the next 12 years, this horror of war is unacceptable,” said Anna Berlinrut of Maplewood, New Jersey, whose son will deploy to Afghanistan in Fall 2012 for his 6th combat tour.

There is no military solution in Afghanistan. 2 more years or 12 more years is not going to change that fact.  The time for our troops to come home is now.

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Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) is a grassroots organization over over 3,000 military families whose loved ones have served in the military since September 11, 2001.  As the only organization of military families in the U.S. speaking out against the war in Afghanistan, we say: End the war now, bring the troops home, and take care of them when they get here.  For more information visit mfso.org

When a NATO troop is killed by an Afghan in uniform, that death is reported. But The Associated Press has learned from a U.S. official granted anonymity in order to give a fuller picture of the “insider” problem, that when an Afghan in uniform wounds — or misses — his U.S. or allied target, the attack is not reported. Nor are the number of troops wounded who were attacked alongside those who were killed reported.

In recent weeks a soldier in the Afghan National Army (“ANA”) opened fire on a group of American soldiers but missed the group entirely. The Americans quickly shot him to death. Not a word about this was reported by the International Security Assistance Force (“ISAF”).

ISAF also said nothing about an April attack in which two Afghan policemen in Kandahar province fired on U.S. soldiers, wounding two. Reporters learned of it from Afghan officials and from U.S. officials in Washington. The two Afghan policemen were shot to death by the Americans present.

The April attack that killed U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Brittonmihalo, 25, of Simi Valley, Calif., also wounded three other American soldiers. The death was reported by ISAF as an insider attack, but it made no mention of the wounded — or that an Afghan civilian also was killed.

The attacker was an Afghan Special Forces soldier who opened fire with a machine gun at a base in Kandahar province. He was killed by return fire. That attack apparently was the first by a member of the Afghan Special Forces, who are more closely vetted than conventional Afghan forces, and are often described by American officials as the most effective and reliable in the Afghan military.

Coalition officials do not dispute that such non-fatal attacks happen, but they have not provided a full accounting.

Jamie Graybeal, an ISAF spokesman in Kabul, disclosed that in most of the fatal attacks a number of other NATO troops were wounded. By policy, the fact that the attacks resulted in wounded as well as a fatality is not reported because the coalition does not have consent from all coalition governments to do so. “All releases must be consistent with the national policies of troop contributing nations.”

 Graybeal said a new review of this year’s data showed that the 10 fatal attacks this year resulted in the deaths of 19 ISAF service members. Most of those killed this year have been Americans but France, Britain and other coalition member countries also have suffered fatalities.

Graybeal said each attack in 2012 and 2011 was “an isolated incident and has its own underlying circumstances and motives.” Last May, however, an unclassified internal ISAF study, called “A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility,” concluded, “Such fratricide-murder incidents are no longer isolated; they reflect a growing systemic threat.” It said many attacks stemmed from Afghan grievances related to cultural and other conflicts with U.S. troops.

Until now there has been little public notice of non-fatal insider attacks, even though they would appear to reflect the same deadly intent as that of Afghans who succeed in killing their foreign partners.

The insider threat has existed for years but has grown more deadly. The U.S. and its military partners are working more closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility to them by the end of 2014. Training ANA troops will be a major emphasis of U.S. military personnel in the next 12 years. It is likely that many more of our troops will be killed or wounded by Afghans in uniform.

[see http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/04/ap-isaf-under-reporting-attacks-afghan-allies-043012/ for full story]