The NDAA commits $642 billion of taxpayer money to the military budget, with $88 billion authorized to continue the war in Afghanistan.

Representatives Lee, McGovern, Conyers, and others have introduced strong amendments aimed at stopping the war and preventing a military confrontation with Iran.  Though we believe that overall the NDAA should not be passed, these amendments offer the best opportunity to end the wars, bring our troops home, and ensure they are never again sent to a preemptive war of aggression.

Contact your Representative TODAY! Your calls and emails can make the difference!
*Ask your Representative to support ALL amendments designed to end the war in Afghanistan, avoid a military intervention in Iran, and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the military budget.
Call your Representative – Capitol Switchboard 1-877-429-0678. (*toll free number provided by FCNL)
Click here to email your Representative

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

4,486 American Troops killed in Iraq; 1,957 American Troops killed in Afghanistan                   

In the News:

Security Pact Ensures America’s Presence in Afghanistan (Cato-at-Liberty.org, May 2, 2012) The signing of a strategic partnership agreement extends Washington’s military and financial aid ten more years, repeating a mistake experts say contributed to 9/11:unwavering support of the Muslim world’s most corrupt regimes.

SIGAR Report Finds Afghanistan Reconstruction Compromised By Security, Corruption (Huffington­Post.com, May 1, 2012) Afghan reconstruction efforts remain severely hampered even after nearly $100 billion in spending over the last 10 years, according to a new watchdog report. The most immediate challenge stems from the insistence by Afghanistan’s government that the private army of hired guns providing security for ongoing projects be replaced with Afghan locals, who do not appear to be up to the job, the report noted.

Troop Brain Injuries Hit Record(USA Today, Apr 12, 2012) Improved battlefield diagnosis has led to a record number of concussions detected among U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq last year, with an average of 16 inflicted each day last spring, according to newly released Pentagon figures.

Costs Rise For Disposal Of Chemical Weapons(Washington Post, Apr 18, 2012)Work to destroy the U.S. Army’s remaining stockpiles of chemical weapons in Kentucky and Colorado may take longer than expected and cost about $2.5 billion extra, officials said.

Panetta: ‘We’re Within An Inch Of War Almost Every Day’ (CNN.com, Apr 19, 2012)The U.S. is prepared for “any contingency” when it comes to dealing with North Korea, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told CNN.

TRICARE Increases Opposed(LA Times, April 29, 2012) The House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel declined to give the Obama administration new authority it sought to phase in higher Tricare fees on military retirees over the next four years and to peg future Tricare fee hikes to medical inflation.

Tajikistan: President Denies Requests for Foreign Bases(New York Times, Apr 18, 2012)Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan, has rejected requests by foreign powers to allow them to set up military bases on its territory because it does not want to upset Russia, its president said Tuesday.

Rare Earths Shortage Would Spur Pentagon To Action(Bloomberg.com, Apr 10, 2012)The Defense Department would intervene in case of a shortage of rare earth materials for defense electronics and motors.

Vietnam, US To Hold Five Day Naval Exchange(Yahoo.com) Vietnam and the US will hold five days of “non-combatant” naval exchange activities next week in the port city of Danang, the US Embassy said, amid rising tensions in the South China Sea.

Pakistan Delays Decision On NATO Supplies Restoration(Xinhua News Agency, Apr 18, 2012)Pakistan has delayed decision to reopen key supply route for NATO-led troops in neighboring Afghanistan

Watchdog: Pentagon Buys Weapons Backwards(ABCNews.com, Apr 24, 2012) The federal agency charged with catching U.S. government waste said in a new report that the Pentagon has squandered millions in taxpayer dollars on expensive and complex weapons systems by spending first and asking questions later.

Pakistan Says It Test-Fires Nuclear-Capable Missile(NYTimes, Apr 25, 2012) Pakistan successfully tested an improved intermediate-range ballistic missile, according to a statement by the Pakistani military.

Defense Department Plans New Intelligence Gathering Service (NY Times, Apr 24, 2012)The Pentagon is revamping spy operations to focus on high-priority targets like Iran and China in a reorganization that reflects a shift away from the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan that have dominated Americas security landscape for the past decade.

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]

Please donate today, spread the word, and help keep the voices of military families in the media and in front of Congress.

Nine days after Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly massacred 17 unarmed civilians in Afghanistan, including young children, a top-level Pentagon health official ordered an emergency review of the military’s use of mefloquine an anti-malaria drug, commonly known under the trade name of Lariam (made by Hoffman-LaRoche).

The normal dosage of Lariam is one pill before going into an area known to have malaria-infected mosquitoes and one pill each week the patient is in that area. Normally, tourists take only a couple of Lariam pills during a vacation. But our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan take many more pills — the average deployment for Marines is seven months and the average Army deployment is twelve months. Many troops have been deployed over five times in the war zones in more than a decade of war.

Scientific journals reported dangers associated with Lariam to tourists as early as the 1980s. A study in the British Medical Journal (August 31, 1996) found a significant excess of adverse neuropsychiatric events of intermediate degrees of severity associated with the use of mefloquine compared with alternative drugs.

A 2006 study conducted at Walter Reed Medical Center found that rats given a single dose suffered impairment of motor function and degeneration of brain stem nuclei, as well as activity that suggested sleep disorders. The data also suggested the drug could lead to permanent damage to the central nervous system.

The FDA’s website reports: Mefloquine may cause psychiatric symptoms in a number of patients, ranging from anxiety, paranoia, and depression to hallucinations and psychotic behavior. Rare cases of suicidal ideation and suicide have been reported.

“Lariam Action” support groups have been formed in the U.K., the U.S., New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Denmark and Switzerland by victims of side-effects of this drug. The Roche (Australia) product information website lists side-effects including panic attacks,“epileptic type” seizures, headaches, visual and auditory hallucinations, aggression and thoughts of suicide which have been reported to continue long after Lariam has been stopped.

A recently released report by the U.S. Army entitled “Generating Health and Discipline in the Force” describes a fighting force more prone to inexcusable violence and an “epidemic” of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”). An average of 18 veterans commit suicide every day. Military analysts credit more than a decade of war with repeated deployments as a cause. The report notes that the average infantryman in World War II in the South Pacific experienced a total of 40 days of combat during the entire war. Our troops are in constant danger from IEDs and snipers in a very different type of war. But could Lariam also be a cause of personality changes?

The Army nearly stopped using mefloquine in 2009 because of its dangers and the fact that it should not be given to anyone with symptoms of a brain injury, depression or anxiety disorder, which describes many troops who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. The Army’s new choice for anti-malarial protection is doxycycline, a generic antibiotic. The Air Force is no longer giving it to Air Force pilots.

Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a former Army psychiatrist wrote in the Time magazine “Battleland” blog, “One obvious question to consider is whether he [Bales] was on mefloquine .” “This mediation has been increasingly associated with neuropsychiatric side effects, including depression, psychosis, and suicidal ideation.”

The Army has refused to say whether Staff Sgt. Bales was taking mefloquine, citing medical privacy issues, but they did leak that Bales had at least one traumatic brain injury and that he was using alcohol the night before the massacre. The Army apparently picks and chooses what information it considers to be a privacy concern.

Knowing the side-effects of mefloquine, should it ever be given to our troops?

Many Military Families Struggle with Finances(AP, Mar 25, 2012) Military families understand the financial struggles Staff Sgt. Robert Bales faced at home. A 2010 military survey found that 27% of service members had over $10,000 in credit card debt compared to 16% of civilians. Unemployment among military spouses is 26%.

$51 For 2 Minutes: German Pay Phones Anger Troops (NY Times, Mar 2, 2012) For many troops passing through Leipzig to war zones, the steep cost of a quick call home has been a source of growing indignation.

Support In U.S. For Afghan War Drops Sharply, Poll Finds (NY Times, Mar 27, 2012)Support for the war in Afghanistan has dropped sharply among both Republicans and Democrats, according to the latest NY Times/CBS News poll. Now 69 % think the U.S. should not be at war in Afghanistan compared with 53% four months.

Afghanistan’s Wounded Struggle With Genital Injuries (HuffingtonPost.com, Mar 22, 2012) Before they went off to Afghanistan, the guys of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines talked quietly about their deepest fear: having their genitals ripped off, burned away or crushed in the fiery blast of an improvised explosive device.

How Many Deployments Are Too Many? (USA Today, Mar 22, 2012) After nearly 11 years of war and hundreds of millions of dollars in research on the mental health of troops, the military is no closer to understanding how many deployments are too many for individual servicemembers, researchers say.

40% Of PTSD Cases Reversed (Seattle Times, Mar 20, 2012) A Madigan Army Medical Center screening team reversed more than 40 percent of the post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses of patients under consideration for medical retirement since 2007, according to information released by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.

Audit: Afghan Guards Will Cost More (Washington Post, Mar 29, 2012) The cost of providing security for U.S. development work in Afghanistan will increase sharply as program managers are forced to rely on a security enterprise run by the Afghan government, according to the preliminary findings of a U.S. government audit.

Afghan Policeman Kills 9 Sleeping Fellow Officers (AP, Mar 30, 2012) An Afghan policeman killed nine of his fellow officers as they lay sleeping in a village in the eastern Paktika province Friday.

Allen Wants ‘Significant Combat Power’ In 2013 (ArmyTimes.com, Mar 22, 2012) Marine Gen. John Allen will hold off on a recommendation of further reductions beyond the “surge” cut this year and no cut for next year.

Afghan Child Hunger Among Worst In World (AFP, Mar 6, 2012) Children in Afghanistan suffer one of the highest levels of malnutrition in the world despite billions of dollars in aid poured into the war-torn country.

Israel’s Secret Staging Ground (ForeignPolicy.com, Mar 29, 2012) U.S. officials believe that the Israelis have gained access to airbases in Azerbaijan. Does this bring them one step closer to a war with Iran?

U.S. War Game Sees Perils Of Israeli Strike Against Iran (NY Times, Mar 20, 2012) A classified war simulation held to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, drawing in the U.S. and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.

U.S. Intelligence Report Warns Of Global Water Tensions (NY Times, Mar 22, 2012)The American intelligence community warned in a report released Thursday that problems with water could destabilize countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia over the next decade.

No one is paying attention to this war – not even Congress – very few are asking questions – but everyone needs to care about what is happening in Afghanistan.

Lobbyists continually pressure Congress to keep war going, war is a lucrative business

According to a Pew Research Center Poll last summer, 59% of Americans want an Immediate Withdrawal from Afghanistan

If we want the war to end we must pressure our President and Congress. Call, write, email, or visit your local congressional offices. Click here to find your Senators and Representatives contact information.

• The Human Costs of War – Afghanistan – as of March 1, 2012: 1,909 U.S. service members dead and over 15,000 injured (Injuries do not include Post Traumatic Stress or Traumatic Brain Injury)

• Afghanistan is the 2^nd most corrupt country in the world behind North Korea and Somalia which are tied for first place (Transparency International).Why should any more Americans die or be injured in support of the Karzai government? The Karzai government’s corruption actually pushes Afghans to the insurgency.
• We have spent (actually borrowed) $440 billion on Afghanistan alone and will spend another $113 million in 2012.
• The cost of keeping one American service member in Afghanistan costs between $850,000 and $1.4 million a year, depending on who you ask. (CNN, L. Shaughnessy)
• More U.S. Troops Killed by Afghans They Armed and Trained In 2012 (March 4, 2012 by Alex Newman)
  • at least 1 out of 4 coalition troops slain in Afghanistan this year (as of March 4, 2012) was killed by Afghan security forces.
  • Pentagon data cited by the Associated Press show that, since 2007, more than 75 coalition personnel have been killed by Afghan security forces and over 110 have been wounded.
  • A recent Washington Post analysis revealed that the numbers are likely greater than NATO has been willing to admit.
• After $52 billion spent training and equipping the Afghan National Security forces, Pentagon officials estimate that 1% of Afghan units can operate without NATO assistance. (Afghanistan Study Group)
• Afghan Police and Afghan Army members, trained by the U.S., continue to desert in droves
• The SURGE has not worked. As we escalated the war, the insurgency fought harder and got more recruits to fight against us – Afghans consider us foreign occupiers in their homeland. (Information below from interviews with Matthew Hoh and Lt Col Davis)
  • In 2011 there was a 10% increase in IED attacks from the previous high in 2010
  • In 2011 there were 16,000 IED attacks against our troops – 45x a day – a record
  • We have not stopped the insurgency’s momentum if they can carry out 16,000 IED attacks in one year
  • 24 months BEFORE surge – 3,400 Americans killed and wounded (472 killed – the rest wounded)
  • 24 months AFTER surge – 11,000 Americans killed and wounded (917 killed – the rest wounded)
  • Over, 5,500 Americans killed and wounded in 2011 (418 killed – the rest wounded)
  • A ratio of about 1 dead to every 10 wounded – in past wars the ratio was 1 dead to every 3 wounded
• Al-Qaeda is gone and Osama Bin Laden is dead, our presence in Afghanistan is counterproductive. It hurts our national security by creating more enemies and hurts our economy.
• A recent report by U.N. Mission in Afghanistan states that 2011 was the 5^th straight year in which Afghan civilian casualties rose. We are not winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, so obvious in the current rioting over the burning of the Koran.
• Leaked Kabul reports state that the Taliban feel they are winning putting the U.S. in a much more difficult negotiating position
• Our military gains mean very little when up against a corrupt Karzai government and an inept Afghan police and Afghan Army – How Do We Justify Continued Sacrifice for an Unsustainable Result?
• “Our military men and women have succeeded in everything we’ve asked of them. It’s our political leaders – from both parties – who have failed us. It’s Time to Declare Victory in Afghanistan and Come Home – Before we have to Shoot our Way Out, .” KT McFarland, Feb 29, 2012
• Congress has lost sight of their responsibility to learn the truth about war, instead simply deferring to whatever the military generals recommend. Congress has not asked the hard questions getting to the truth about war, demanding that the military backup its recommendations with solid, detailed military evidence.
  • “Both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees have exhibited little or no interest in probing behind the official claims of success in Afghanistan. That passive role reflects what many political observers, including some members of Congress, see as cozy relationships among most committee members, military leaders, Pentagon officials and major military contractors.” (quote from Gareth Porter article Army Officer’s Leaked Report Rips Afghan War Success Story – http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106726

• More time, money, and resources will not change the realities in Afghanistan – end combat operations now – work toward a diplomatic political solution for Afghanistan and the region – continue humanitarian aid to independent agencies (not attached to the military) working to assist the Afghan people.

Lt. Col. Davis

• Lt. Col. Davis – a highly respected, active duty Army officer, wrote a scathing report about the actual state of affairs in Afghanistan after his recent return from Afghanistan, his 2^nd tour of duty there.
• Davis was a staff officer of the “Rapid Equipping Force” traveling more than 9,000 miles to every area where U.S. troop presence was significant and had conversations with more than 250 U.S. soldiers from privates to division commanders.

• The Afghanistan Report the Pentagon Doesn’t Want you to Read – Rolling Stones, Feb 10, 2012 – http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/the-afghanistan-report-the-pentagon-doesnt-want-you-to-read-20120210

• Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leaders’ Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort – The Unclassified Report by Lt. Col Davis – Draft Jan 27 2012 http://www1.rollingstone.com/extras/RS_REPORT.pdf

Lt Col. Davis’ remarks:

“Senior ranking U.S. military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the U.S. Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable This deception has damaged America’s credibility among both our allies and enemies, severely limiting our ability to reach a political solution to the war in Afghanistan.”

On Afghan army and police:

”What I saw first-hand, in virtually every circumstance,” “was a barely functioning organization – often cooperating with the insurgent enemy…”

• The inaccurate assigning of the reason for the 2007 Iraq surge’s success has profound implications for our current war in Afghanistan and doubly so for the surge forces ordered by the President in late 2009.
• Had the President known the truth of what really happened in 2007 Iraq it is a virtual certainty he would not have made the decision he did in November / December 2009.
• The turning point in the Iraq War was in 2007 when the heart of the Sunni insurgency turned against Al-Qaeda and joined US forces against them, dramatically reducing the violence in Iraq almost overnight
• We did not win Sunnis to our side with COIN (protecting the population) and the surge in troops (only played a supporting role)
• In 2007 the Sunnis were fighting the U.S. – they wanted us out of their country. The Sunnis only turned to the Americans when Al-Qaeda instituted a campaign of absolute terror against the Sunnis. The Sunnis sided with Americans to stop Al-Qaeda’s slaughter of Sunnis.
• “had Al-Qaeda not turned to such brutality and begin slaughtering what ought to have been their natural Sunni allies, they would have almost certainly never come to the American’s side.”
• The National Intelligence Estimate (signed by all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies) backs up Lt. Col Davis’ claims – THE NIE finds the war in Afghanistan a “stalemate”.
• Reps. McGovern, Jones and others are calling for the release of an unclassified NIE report
• Our leaders and the American people need the truth and all the facts about Afghanistan to make informed decisions about the war.

Our troops and all Americans deserve the truth.

Lt. COL. DAVIS RECOMMENDS:

• U.S. Congress – the House and Senate Armed Services Committees – “should conduct a bi-partisan investigation into the various charges of deception or dishonesty in this report and hold broad hearings as well,” “These hearings need to include the very senior generals and former generals whom I refer to in this report so they can be given every chance to publicly give their version of events.”
• “In other words, put the generals under oath, and then see what story they tell.” (quote from Rolling Stones article author, Michael Hastings)
• Testimony should include not only senior military officials but platoon leaders, sergeants, as well as mid- and senior- level intelligence analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies.

TAKE ACTION: IT’S OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO SPEAK UP FOR OUR BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM

Visit, call, write, or email the President and your Congressional representatives today. Tell them to end combat operations in Afghanistan now and work on a diplomatic political solution for Afghanistan and the region.