Media Coverage of MFSO
Response to Afghan War Escalation

Media Coverage of MFSO's Response to
President Obama's Announced Escalation of War in Afghanistan

1) The Los Angeles Times reported on the vigil held by the MFSO chapter in Long Beach:

The president's words ring hollow to them

Members of an antiwar advocacy group worry about the toll the buildup will have on their loved ones.

By Louis Sahagun for the LA Times

December 2, 2009

When the president insisted that the days of funding a war "with a blank check are over," one woman scoffed, "Yeah, right." When the commander in chief suggested critics were wrong to compare the military effort in Afghanistan with the Vietnam War, several laughed out loud.

And when Barack Obama said the United States could not afford the cost of two wars, a woman muttered, "You got that right." Members of the antiwar advocacy group Military Families Speak Out had already made up their minds on the Afghanistan dilemma by the time President Obama outlined his plan for the 8-year-old war Tuesday.

Read the rest of the article on the LA Times site.

2) The same vigil also received coverage from the OC Register:

Afghanistan decision met with anxiety from military families

By JESSICA TERRELL and BRITTANY LEVINE
2009-12-01 19:52:25

LONG BEACH – Clustered close on a couch with other members of Military Families Speak Out, Huntington Beach resident Marjorie Niland clutched a friend's arm while the president explained his strategy on Afghanistan.

The decision to send more troops to war was disheartening to many of the activists who gathered in Long Beach Tuesday night to watch President Barack Obama's announcement, but for Niland it was personal – her grandson, a Marine, has been stationed in Afghanistan since January.

"I am afraid for him," she said. "This has been going on for almost nine years and it seems never-ending ... why are we sending our young people to die?"

Phones are expected to be ringing off the hook for military family readiness officers Wednesday morning, as families wonder if Obama's plan to send at least 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in the next six months will affect them, said Bill Durdin, a former Marine who now works as a family readiness officer.

"Is this me? Is this my husband? Those are the kinds of questions we're going to get," Durdin said.

The uncertainty is what bothers Erica Breuer, who's only seen her husband six months out of the 20 that he's been enlisted.

"In the military, you never know what's going on," the 24-year-old nanny said.

Her husband just recently returned from Afghanistan, but she said she knows it's possible that he may be sent again.

Breuer said she's concerned about his mental health—he often wakes up from nightmares—and hopes he's home long enough to relax.

"We know he's going to get deployed again," she said. "It's just how soon."

Read the rest of the article on the OC Register site.

3) The local ABC News affiliate aired a clip covering the MFSO vigil.

4) The LA Press Telegram produced a slide show of the MFSO Long Beach vigil.

5) The UK Guardian carried a story highlighting Military Families Speak Out board member Lisa Leitz.

View from the US: families await news from Afghanistan

By Ed Pilkinton, UK Guardian, December 1, 2009

Lisa Leitz, a sociology professor in Conway, Arkansas, has noticed that several of her friends have been behaving oddly in recent months. Some visibly jump and take cover whenever they hear a car engine backfire; others cannot stand 4 July fireworks; some spend all day playing computer war games.

Her friends are all serving military personnel who have been on active duty in Afghanistan. Leitz herself is married to David Dufault, a pilot on board the USS Nimitz who is now flying missions over Afghanistan. As a result of the increased pace of deployments, her husband has spent more than two of the past three years away, and the strain on their five-year-old marriage is punishing.

"We are a military family – we knew there would be deployments. But this is incredibly hard," she says.

"On top of the separation there's the fear that something will happen to my husband – every unexpected knock on the door makes me feel I've aged two years."

Leitz has followed the progress of the Afghan war closely and has concluded that it is unwinnable and should be brought to an end. She now sits on the board of a national group, Military Families Speak Out, and sees it as her duty to her family and to those of her military friends to talk publicly about what she sees as the futility of the conflict. "We are kidding ourselves if we think 35,000 more troops will be enough to subdue a nation. We are kidding ourselves if we think that as a nation we can afford the $35bn it will cost to send those troops into theatre, just for one year."

She adds: "I don't want my husband to have more lives on his conscience with no good reason."

Read the rest of the article in the Guardian.