Military Families Respond to Announcement of Increased Troop Deployments to Afghanistan
Press Release
Contact: Deborah Forter, Military Families Speak Out:
617-983-0710 or press@mfso.org
Military
Families Respond to Announcement of Increased Troop Deployments to
Afghanistan
December 2, 2009 - Nationwide – Military Families Speak Out,
an organization of over 4,000 military families opposed to the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, issued the following statement regarding last
night’s speech by President Obama regarding Afghanistan.
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.
In the 9th year of this conflict it should be clear that there is no
military solution. Military families do not need more of our loved ones
coming home in flag-draped coffins. New deaths will not honor those who
have already died, nor their families. We know that the increase in
deaths we will see from this war escalation will not just come from
weapons like IED’s and RPG’s. Record breaking rates
of suicide, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury,
depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are the result of seemingly
endless and pointless war.
We take no comfort from the goals and objectives laid out in this war
escalation strategy. What President Obama failed to acknowledge are the
ongoing impacts of this war on the Afghan people, on our troops, and
their families. We know the real outcomes of this strategy: the growing
numbers of family members here and in Afghanistan mourning for lost
loved ones, more families torn apart, and children crying for their
parents’ return.
The only surge that we should be seeing now is an immediate surge of
troops homeward – with U.S. troops in both Afghanistan and
Iraq being brought home quickly and safely. Once home, our troops must
receive the care they need to begin healing from physical and
psychological injuries of war which have been heightened by their
multiple and extended deployments.
With the Commander in Chief now having embarked on a very wrong course
of action in Afghanistan, it is incumbent upon Congress to support our
troops by refusing to fund the continuation and escalation of this war,
and the death and destruction it will bring. It is past time for
Congress to use their “power of the purse” to bring
all of our troops home now.
Members of Military Families Speak Out, including families with loved
ones currently in Afghanistan or those facing deployment or
redeployment, along with members of Gold Star Families Speak Out whose
loved ones have died as a result of these wars, are available for
interview.
To arrange for an interview, contact Deborah Forter at Military
Families Speak Out, 617-983-0710 or press@mfso.org
For more information about Military Families Speak Out, see http://www.mfso.org;
for more information about Gold Star Families Speak Out see http://www.gsfso.org.
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