Feb 2009 – Join Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) in Washington DC for REAL CHANGE WE NEED!

With the election of President-elect Barrack Obama who ran on a campaign promise to end the Iraq War, one would hope and pray that the need for any Pro-Peace demonstration would just have to wait until the next war based on lies, deception, plus government corporate, and mainstream media promotional campaigns to buy and sell the war.

In fact, when it comes to war, peace, and foreign policy, President Obama is going to need more help from the Peace movement than anything near the pressure he is already getting to do something about the U.S. economy. That is where his focus is because only less than one percent of American voters can actually relate and carry the burden to implement WAR.

Robert L. Hanafin
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired

“In a city made noisy by hammers and saws preparing for the inauguration of a new president — a city already reverberating with partisan rancor, and with the constant chattering of the opinionated — it was hard to hear the sound of a single snare drum along Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and Capitol Hill, but there it was: a mere handful of men and women, 70 at most, had come out this rain-swept morning to bear witness to the dead – to the victims of war.” Moyers noted (link) video.

It’s quite evident that President Obama is in for just as equal opportunity treatment as President Bush when it comes to what’s wrong with the War on Terror. It remains to be seen if those who made an industry out of Bush bashing will commit the same ferver to Obama bashing or not?

Public television has shown that it is willing to be just as forceful with Obama and Democrat pro-war Chicken hawks as it was with President Bush and his Republican pro-war Chicken hawks, now it remains to be seen if mainstream media will be just as hard on President Obama as it was on Bush when and if things go very wrong in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. That I believe is a sentiment that even Rush Limbaugh would agree with me on.

In the meantime, MFSO is about to add to the demand for CHANGE WE REALLY NEED this coming February 2009.

Here are a list of events:

From Friday February 6 through Monday, February 9, MFSO will bring our message "The Change WE Need: Bring them Home NOW!" to Washington. We are working with our allies to plan a series of events and actions that will include:

– A Friday teach-in on Iraq and the need for the immediate and complete withdrawal of U.S. troops. We hope to have the teach-in broadcast on C-Span.

– A Saturday march from Arlington National Cemetery to the White House. Military families, veterans, and Iraqis will lay flowers symbolizing U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. Letters collected from veterans, military families, and Iraqis will be brought by these individuals to President-elect Obama, and laid along with the flowers.

[We believe that national and DC law enforcement officers will show more restraint, professionalism, and respect for the U.S. Constitution by not repeating the brutal police attacks with horses that happened the last time Iraq Veterans attempted to deliver concerns to Candidates Obama and McCain during their last debate. Just because these young Vets did not have the America Supports Bush (ASY) tax payer funded stamp of approval was not justificaton for beating Veteran up. Major Hanafin]

– A Sunday legislative briefing, followed by time for an MFSO meet and greet.

– A Monday lobbying day on Capitol Hill [with Representatives who do not consider MFSO a liberal left democratic party entity – WE are NOT liberal or leftist – period. We are Military Families and Veterans. Most important WE are VOTERS, that more than anything it would behoove members of Congress to remember during a season of CHANGE (wink) Major Hanafin ]

As a staff writer for VT, I’m not in the habit of soliciting donations or contributions, but for those who wish to donate to MFSO to help make it possible for other military families to bring the MFSO message to Washington please contact THEM not ME at MFSO [link].

In Peace and Solidarity,

MFSO Board and Staff

Robert L. Hanafin

Readers are more than welcome to use the articles I’ve posted on Veterans Today, I’ve had to take a break from VT as Veterans Issues and Peace Activism Editor and staff writer due to personal medical reasons in our military family that take away too much time needed to properly express future stories or respond to readers in a timely manner.

My association with VT since its founding in 2004 has been a very rewarding experience for me.

Retired from both the Air Force and Civil Service. Went in the regular Army at 17 during Vietnam (1968), stayed in the Army Reserve to complete my eight year commitment in 1976. Served in Air Defense Artillery, and a Mechanized Infantry Division (4MID) at Fort Carson, Co. Used the GI Bill to go to college, worked full time at the VA, and non-scholarship Air Force 2-Year ROTC program for prior service military. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1977. Served as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1977 to 1994. Upon retirement I entered retail drugstore management training with Safeway Drugs Stores in California. Retail Sales Management was not my cup of tea, so I applied my former U.S. Civil Service status with the VA to get my foot in the door at the Justice Department, and later Department of the Navy retiring with disability from the Civil Service in 2000.

I’ve been with Veterans Today since the site originated. I’m now on the Editorial Board. I was also on the Editorial Board of Our Troops News Ladder another progressive leaning Veterans and Military Family news clearing house.

I remain married for over 45 years. I am both a Vietnam Era and Gulf War Veteran. I served on Okinawa and Fort Carson, Colorado during Vietnam and in the Office of the Air Force Inspector General at Norton AFB, CA during Desert Storm. I retired from the Air Force in 1994 having worked on the Air Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon.