HAVE A HEART: Free Reality Winner Campaign (Updated July 19, 2021)
Despite their elation that she is out of prison, though, Winner’s family and friends say she is far from free. Every day is still marked by intrusions, like the app carceral authorities require her to put on her phone to monitor her and needing prior approval to go to Walmart with her mother for errands. Winner is projected to be transferred from home confinement to supervised release in November.
That’s why they are continuing their year-and-a-half-long campaign for a presidential pardon or clemency, saying the whistleblower is being gagged from telling her own story.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Friends of Reality Winner- please take action this week to help get Reality Winner’s mom, Billie, a meeting with her Congressman Filemon Vela. After serving five years in prison, Billie’s family has not heard a word from her representative in congress. She would like to meet with him to ask that he intervene out of compassion and call for her daughter to be released from the remaining part of her prison term. She has already served 4 of her 5+ year sentence, which was the longest for the unauthorized release of a single document of government information. Early on Courage to Resist supported her as a whistleblower for exposing Russian hacking of the 2016 elections, which took place under the Trump administration. She is a decorated veteran with an honorable discharge. She suffers from depression, survived COVID and harassment while serving her time. The issue is no longer about her guilt or innocence, but her excessive sentence and if Congress member Filemon Vela will have a heart and step up and say she is no longer a threat to security and should be released. At the very least, he should be willing to meet with the parents.
Congressman Filemon Vela
DC Office 202-456-1111
Texas Office 956-544-8352
Please call Congress member Filemon Vela’s offices in DC and Texas beginning 3-10 to 3-19. Then another group will continue calling until we get our meeting. Identify yourself as a military family, if you are one, and demand that he meet with Reality Winner’s parents and that he intervene to get her released for the following reasons:
- Reality has received the longest sentence for the release of a single classified document
- Reality is a decorated veteran living in his district- it’s long past time for him to hear them out
- Her family and friends are concerned about her health- she is suffering from depression,harassment and had COVID
- She is not a threat to anyone and in fact looks forward to a life of service to her country
NEXT WEEK VETERANS CHAPTER 110 FOR PEACE WILL CALL FOR THIS SUSTAINED ACTION UNTIL REALITY IS RELEASED OR CONGRESS MEMBER VELA MEETS THE PARENTS- spread the word!
MFSO Position Statement on Iraq and Iran
Again, we are in a very precarious position in the Middle East.
MFSO believes that every effort should be made to resolve this issue with no military intervention. We need to bring all our troops home and utilize diplomacy to solve any conflicts with Iran. We strongly oppose the presence of our military troops in the area, which only serves to increase tension If Iraq wants the U.S. to leave their country, we should honor that request.
It is clear, with the release of the Afghanistan Papers last month, that our government has no truth, accountability, or strategy in conflict zones. We perpetuate violence, confusion and chaos.
Our presence in Iraq only deepens the suffering of the ordinary citizens and do nothing to make peace with those governments.
We call upon President Trump and Congress to deflate this aggressive posturing and bring our troops home now.
Marine Iraq War veteran to be deported Tuesday to El Salvador (Marine Times)
Marine Iraq War veteran to be deported Tuesday to El Salvador (Marine Times)
“…Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Jeff Merrick said that deporting the Marine veteran after he served his prison sentence was a second punishment after he already paid his debt to society.
It’s “a real injustice to allow a veteran to be deported just because he got in trouble with the law,” Merrick said. “He paid his dues, now he is getting a lifetime sentence to a country he knows nothing about.”
Merrick is a board member of Military Families Speak Out, an organization of military and veterans families calling for improving the treatment of veterans when returning from war.
Merrick compared Segovia-Benitez’s deportation with failures at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals around the country.
“It’s kind of like, ‘I’ll call you a hero until I have to pay something, once you’re out of the service I don’t care about you,'” Merrick said….”
Marine combat veteran who served in Iraq facing deportation to El Salvador (NBC News)
Marine combat veteran who served in Iraq facing deportation to El Salvador (NBC News)
“… His sister said that during his time in detention, Segovia Benitez has helped other detainees and is “really loved.”
“He’s very helpful and obviously cares about people,” she said.
Jeff Merrick, a retired master sergeant with the Air Force, said deporting veterans like Segovia Benitez after they served time was a “total disgrace.”
“They got into trouble, yes, they had issues, but they served their time, and instead of like other citizens, where they’re released back into the community, where they can have a life again, they’re committed to a life term of exile,” said Merrick, who is a board member with the group Military Families Speak Out.”
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