U.S. Iraq war casualties reach new milestone

[Rome]

Kucinich plagiarized Thomas Jefferson lock, stock and barrel with that last quote.

Good stuff otherwise, though.

[PhillyGirl]

"we had a bad month in afghanistan"

lol

My old roommate Billy aka shellback (igy you gave him a beer at the Seahawks tailgate) was sent to southern Afghanistan where U.S. Intelligence believes much of the Taliban has fled. He called me a few nights ago while I was at my cousin's wedding...said it's been pretty quiet. Then I got this email this morning:

our outpost got attacked 2 nights ago.  It happened around 1am.  farging freaky, dude.  A farging RPG came through a mud wall right where I used to sleep and slammed into a stack of MRE's in the Staff NCO tent where I sleep.  We're on pretty high alert every night now.  Gotta love war. 

Holy shtein, that's crazy!

[ATV]

Iraq Vet Made Famous By Photo Dies Of Drug Overdose...

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/06/iraq-vet-made-famous-by-photo-dies-of-drug-overdose/

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Bush admin looking to pull troops from Iraq, likely redeploy to Afghanistan.

[Drunkmasterflex]

^ This is not news.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

^ This is not news.

Not to you, I'd hope.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

"Good" news

Still soldiers dying, thankfully at a greatly reduced rate.

[Phanatic]

Guy I know sent me a military assessment of Afghanistan and I think it is very informative. Here's a part of it.

4. THE BOTTOM LINE: SIX ASSERTIONS.

1. Afghanistan is in misery. 68% of the population has never known peace. Life expectancy is 44 years. It has the
second highest maternal mortality rate in the world: One of six pregnant Afghan women dies for each live birth.
Terrorist incidents and main force insurgent violence is rising (34% increase this year in kinetic events.) Battle
action and casualties are now much higher in Afghanistan for US forces than they are in Iraq. The Afghan
government at provincial and district level is largely dysfunctional and corrupt. The security situation (2.8
million refugees); the economy (unemployment 40% and rising, extreme poverty 41%, acute food shortages,
inflation 12% and rising, agriculture broken); the giant heroin/opium criminal enterprise ($4 billion and 800
metric tons of heroin); and Afghan governance are all likely to get worse in the coming 24 months.

2. The magnificent, resilient Afghan people absolutely reject the ideology and violence of the Taliban (90% or
greater) but have little faith in the ability of the government to provide security, justice, clean water, electricity, or
jobs. Much of Afghanistan has great faith in US military forces, but enormous suspicion of the commitment and
staying power of our NATO allies.

3. The courageous and determined NATO Forces (the employable forces are principally US, Canadian, British,
Polish, and Dutch) and the Afghan National Army (the ANA is a splendid success story) cannot be defeated in
battle. They will continue to slaughter the Pashtun insurgents, criminals, and international terrorist syndicates
who directly confront them. (7000+ killed during 2007 alone.) The Taliban will increasingly turn to terrorism
directed against the people and the Afghan National Police. However, the atmosphere of terror cannot be
countered by relying mainly on military means. We cannot win through a war of attrition. The economic and
political support provided by the international community is currently inadequate to deal with the situation.

4. 2009 will be the year of decision. The Taliban and a greatly enhanced foreign fighter presence will: strike
decisive blows against selected NATO units; will try to erase the FATA and Baluchi borders with Afghanistan;
will try to sever the road networks and stop the construction of new roads (Route # 1 -- the Ring Road from Kabul
to Kandahar is frequently now interdicted); and will try to strangle and isolate the capital. Without more effective
and non-corrupt Afghan political leadership at province and district level, Afghanistan may become a failed state
hosting foreign terrorist communities with global ambitions. Afghan political elites are focused more on the
struggle for power than governance.

5. US unilateral reinforcements driven by US Defense Secretary Bob Gates have provided additional Army and
Marine combat forces and significant enhanced training and equipment support for Afghan security forces. This
has combined with greatly increased US nation-building support (PRT's, road building, support for the Pakistani
Armed Forces, etc.) to temporarily halt the slide into total warfare. The total US outlay in Afghanistan this year
will be in excess of $34 billion: a burn rate of more than $2.8 billion per month. However, there has been no
corresponding significant effort by the international community. The skillful employment of US Air Force,
Army, and Naval air power (to include greatly expanded use of armed and reconnaissance UAV's : Predator,
Reaper, Global hawk, and Shadow) has narrowly prevented the Taliban from massing and achieving local tactical
victories over isolated and outnumbered US and coalition forces in the East and South.

6. There is no unity of command in Afghanistan. A sensible coordination of all political and military elements of the
Afghan theater of operations does not exist. There is no single military headquarters tactically commanding all
US forces. All NATO military forces do not fully respond to the NATO ISAF Commander because of extensive
national operational restrictions and caveats. In theory, NATO ISAF Forces respond to the (US) SACEUR...but
US Forces in ISAF (half the total ISAF forces are US) respond to the US CENTCOM commander. However, US
Special Operations Forces respond to US SOCOM.....not (US) SACEUR or US CENTCOM. There is no
accepted Combined NATO-Afghan military headquarters. There is no clear political governance relationship
organizing the government of Afghanistan, the United Nations and its many Agencies, NATO and its political and
military presence, the 26 Afghan deployed allied nations, the hundreds of NGO's, and private entities and
contractors. There is little formal dialog between the government and military of Pakistan and Afghanistan,
except that cobbled together by the US Forces in Regional Command East along the Pakistan frontier.

[Cerevant]

"A generation shaped by Vietnam must remember the lessons of Vietnam: When America uses force in the world, the cause must be just, the goal must be clear, and the victory must be overwhelming"

- George W. Bush, at his acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican National Convention

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

the cause must be just

Well, it certainly started out that way.

the goal must be clear

Mission accomplished!  But seriously, is there a goal anymore?  When was the goal lost?  2003?

the victory must be overwhelming

"Not gonna happen."

[mussa]

I wonder what countries are supplying weapons to terrorists in afghan....pakistan, iran...russia...china???

[Seabiscuit36]

North Korea obviously.  Actually they did supply Iran with missles, i would say its Nick Cage

[mpmcgraw]

Russia is trying to fight off civil war, they are not going to be throwing around weapons to rogue terrorist groups at this point. 

[Cerevant]

the cause must be just

Well, it certainly started out that way.

You mean using false/misleading/intentionally mis-interpreted intelligence to convince the public it was a just cause?  Not sure I agree.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

The initial cause of starting the "war" was to retaliate for the single-largest attack on civilians in the history of the world.  That was plenty just.