December 3, 2009 – Following President Obama’s announcement of increased troop levels in Afghanistan, members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) and Gold Star Families Speak Out (GSFSO) expressed outrage and deep sadness by speaking out and taking part in protest actions across the country. While the military community is frequently tight-lipped about policy decisions, these military families broke that code of silence to publicly decry the President’s decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
See also our selected list of local MFSO actions organized in the last few weeks to prevent and protest against this latest escalation, and an open letter to President Obama from Goldstar Parents, Kevin and Joyce Lucey..
The Long Beach Chapter watched President Obama’s speech together and held a candlelight vigil afterwards. See excerpts of the LA Times and OC Register’s articles, a slideshow from the LA Press Telegram, and a news clip from the local ABC News affiliate.
Please also see the story from the UK Guardian highlighting MFSO’s work.
Press Release
President Obama’s decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by deploying another 30,000 troops has sent the message to military families across the United States that the President is willing to gamble in a no-win situation with the lives of our loved ones and the loved ones of others. President Obama’s surge of U.S. troops will not make the U.S. safer, nor will it bring peace and stability to the Afghan people; it will add more fuel to the fires now raging there. It will mean more deaths of military personnel and of civilians. Sending more troops will not end this war; bringing them home now will.
End, Don’t Escalate, the War in Afghanistan
MFSO issued a press release and the Open Letter itself.
Military and Gold Star Families Decry Move to Send More Troops to Afghanistan:
“Honor Veterans by Bringing Our Troops Home!”
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Join MFSO, Veterans for Peace, and many others in demonstrating to prevent escalation and to bring our troops home.
The Bombs of War Also Explode at Home
As the nation was stunned by the horrific tragedies that left 13 dead and 30 wounded on Ft. Hood yesterday, Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) and Gold Star Families Speak Out (GSFSO) would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to our fellow Military Families and those who love them. Upon first hearing about such attacks, our stress as military families intensifies, and we experience a range of emotions: the panic that it is our loved one who has been attacked, the guilty relief if our loved one escaped the bullet this time, the sorrow for those of us who suffer and face the incalculable loss of losing forever those we nurture and love.
As the facts unfold, military families on Ft. Hood and across the nation are experiencing the fear, pain, and loss that many of us thought were only associated with the battlefield, not time at home. One month before Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, he said, “The bombs in Vietnam explode at home….”
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