October 7th is a grim reminder of 17 years of war in Afghanistan – a war that has brought death, destruction and grievous injury to so many, with little, if any, success and no conclusion.

Most Americans cannot explain why we are currently at war in seven countries – Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Niger.People don’t know and are shocked to learn that U.S. Special Forces were in 149 countries last year. There are 193 countries in the world. That’s a military presence in 77% of the world’s countries.

Perpetual War has become the new “normal” and the American people barely bat an eye.

Unfortunately, the American public is totally disengaged from the country’s wars and its military interventions. Less than 1% of Americans serve in the military. The rest of Americans have been asked to sacrifice nothing. There is no draft and since 9/11 no increased taxes to pay for these wars. With no “skin in the game”, and the wars rarely covered in the media, it is easier for people, with very busy lives, to just accept that the government is keeping them safe, no need to question.

Since 9/11 U.S. wars have not achieved their military objectives; they do not bring peace, democracy or freedom. They do not make the lives of the people in these countries better. The American people are told that the U.S. military is a force for good, but in reality, it has brought chaos and increasing terrorism to the Middle East and the region.

Since 9/11 the U.S. has created a vast national-security state surveilling Americans.

Militarism abroad has gone hand in hand with the militarization of U.S. borders and of poor communities across the country.
Military weapons from our wars are returning home to local police departments to be used against brown and black communities. The weapons used on the streets of Baghdad are literally the same weapons used on the streets of Ferguson. Young black males are 9x more likely to be killed by police officers than other Americans. This is the same racism that goes together with the war against immigrants and refugees.

War creates millions of refugees. The UN reports that approximately half of the world’s refugees come from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia. All places the U.S. military has intervened.

And the most dangerous blowback, for every living thing on the planet, is the increased production of nuclear weapons and the devastating effects war has on climate change.

Wars since 9/11 have little to do with protecting Americans but are all about the immensely profitable business of war. We are told that our massive war spending is necessary to support the troops. But, in fact, it supports defense contractors making record profits.

How are we supporting the troops when there is a move to privatize the VA, so corporations can pillage the system for profit, instead of appropriately funding VA services to handle the ever-increasing number of veterans who need care?

How are we supporting the troops when the military knowingly exposed untold numbers of service men and women in Iraq & Afghanistan to deadly toxins through the extensive use of open-air burn pits instead of ensuring waste was properly handled?

Supporting our troops means bringing them home now and taking care of them when they return.

Instead of instigating wars of choice, America should have been focusing on poverty in America, maintaining our infrastructure, climate change, and understanding cyber-threats (like shutting down the electrical grid).

After 17 years of unwinnable wars, our only accomplishments are more terrorist cells and more hatred of America. These are the choices our country has made and they basically come down to hurting people – here at home and abroad.

We need to ask ourselves: Who Are We as a Nation?

And When Will We Stand Up to Change the Direction of our Country?

Mary Hladky
Military Families Speak Out

Many of us in MFSO were very heartened and encouraged to see how MFSO, Veterans for Peace, and About Face ( IVAW), collaborated to support the Poor People’s Campaign, Phase 1, last May and June. The National Poor People’s Campaign is a call for moral revival that supports Dr. King’s vision to oppose the 4 pillars he identified that uphold the ills of society: Poverty, Racism, the Environment and the War Economy. Dr. Barber, the national organizer of the PPC today, laid out a plan that for 40 days we would confront each pillar by organizing direct actions at each state capitol, as was successfully practiced in South Carolina with Moral Mondays. An essential part of the campaign included a call for people to risk arrest. Over 35 states had actions that resulted in what has been recognized as the largest mass demonstration across the US with over 2,000 people being arrested across the country.

MFSO, VFP and AF focused on week 3-the week on militarism and the war. In California, 20 MFSO, VFP members and supporters were arrested in Sacramento for disruptions that resulted in the halting of the State Assembly while in session. To do this, it required weeks of coordinating at many different levels. Three vans of participants drove up from S. CA, while others drove many miles across the state to participate. With the help of Veterans for Peace LA and Orange County, we set up an exhibit of crosses representing our troops who have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to represent the countless innocent civilians who also died, the PPC Arts committee helped us build a clothesline of torn garments and a display of empty shoes. Many of our members held up posters of of loved ones and set up informational booths-all on the capitol lawn! A speak out was held on the steps with MFSO members Tim Kahlor and Laurie Loving and VFP member Anthony Palacios among the speakers.

The goal of the direct action in Sacramento was to get our message heard and stop business as usual at the state capitol. MFSO members Tim, Laurie, Pat, Rossana and Arturo Cambron, Jeff Merrick, Kathleen Hernandez VFP Associate member and other VFP members and dozens of supporters boldly took up a whole section in the State Assembly. We held up posters of our loved ones who died due to war, suicide, substance abuse and deportation and interrupted the session by shouting the names of these victims of war and demanding the end of state tax breaks to those who support war, that we bring the National Guard home from the border, stop the privatization of the VA and provide housing and support for veterans. Some State Assembly members stood up and applauded . We shut down the State Assembly but 21 people were arrested that day including MFSO members Laurie Loving and Pat Alviso, and Kathleen Hernandez.. They were kept overnight in the Sacramento jail, but all charge were eventually dropped.

All of this was made possible due to the generosity, hard work and masterful organizational skills of MFSO members Laurie and Russell Loving, who provided housing and meals, media outreach and leadership for two of the six weeks. What was accomplished is immeasurable – groups that had never worked together before organized an unforgettable message with a collaboration that all wish to continue implementing for Phase 2 of the Poor People’s Campaign.

By Pat Alviso, MFSO CA, MFSO National Coordinator and Mary Hladky MFSO MO and MFSO Steering Committee

Pictured Below:  May 29, 2018 – Sacramento, CA – Military Families Speak Out & Veterans For Peace Memorial in conjunction with The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

Military Families Speak Out is participating in The Poor People’s Campaign activities that are taking place TUESDAY May 29th. Every week there are simultaneous nonviolent direct actions in DC and State Capitols across the nation. The 40 days of rallies and direct actions are an integral part of the Poor Peoples Campaign, which was started by Dr. King, who believed the US had lost its moral compass and it’s time to connect the issues of poverty, racism, the war, and now the environment.

In 2007, our application was rejected by the city of Long Beach and Pageantry Productions because of our political stance. We were only asking for the right to march under our organization’s banner and with our organization’s t-shirts. Because we stayed the course, meeting with several officials, and making the front for several days in our local newspaper and some national television news, we were eventually granted permission to march. That was after our friends from Iraq Veterans Against the War rejected an offer to sit on the fire truck, sans IVAW t-shirts, but showed up and saluted all parade marchers in the median on the day of the march.

It was a moment we will never forget and that is another reason to continue to take this annual opportunity to be part of the parade, so we can point out that the wars continue.

We do not participate to glorify war but remind people that we want peace now. Also, we continue to have students pass out informational materials to youth, so they consider the truth and consequences about enlistment and war.

By Mary Hladky, Military Families Speak Out

October 5, 2017 — Watching the PBS series on Vietnam is a graphic reminder of the horrors of war.  Unfortunately, one of the few things the U.S. government learned from Vietnam was how to hide the horrors of the Afghanistan war from public view as much as possible, to prevent the backlash experienced during the Vietnam war.  No body counts, no reporters roaming free, only embedded journalists, minimal media coverage with little footage of the actual war, and no pictures of coffins returning home.

The Trump Administration has decided to continue to support the war in Afghanistan, only with more troops and no stated end game.  As this war completes its 16^th year, on October 7, more troops are on their way to Afghanistan.  The suffering of our troops, their families and the Afghan people will continue.

Afghanistan is the forgotten war, even though it is currently the United States’ largest military foreign engagement, with 16,000+ troops and tens of thousands of defense and agency contractors.
The only people who benefit from this war are the military contractors and the corrupt Afghan government, made up of many drug and war lords guilty of human rights abuses and war crimes.  The Afghan government and Taliban controls, protects, and benefits from the enormous poppy crop that supplies over 90% of the world’s heroin.  SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction) reports that reconstruction in Afghanistan is nearly nonexistent after spending $100 billion.

The Afghan government, which the U.S. has propped up with billions of dollars and thousands of American livesremains overwhelmingly corrupt, a government the Afghan people will never accept.
In the meantime, the Taliban has grown in numbers and holds more territory than ever before, 40-50% of the country.

The human costs of war for our troops, the Afghan forces and civilians has been enormous.  Death, injuries and nearly a trillion dollars have been wasted for no redeemable benefit.  Yet instead of pursuing peace, our government continues to opt for more war.
Americans need to take a stand against the Afghanistan war.  We need to reflect on what it is that we believe – ask yourself two basic questions:

How, as Americans, do we continually accept sending young men and women to risk their lives for a futile, never ending war?
What would you say to a mother who loses her son or daughter in Afghanistan?  Can you explain what her child actually died for?  What was the noble cause?

It’s up to everyone one of us who are uncomfortable with the answers to these questions, to demand an end to the Afghanistan War.      

The Teaneck demonstration was one of a half dozen protests that Military Families Speak Out, a national anti-war group of military families, held across the country this week in New York, Texas, West Virginia and California. (Click for video & story via NorthNewJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network) 

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.