It was perhaps unsurprising to anyone paying close attention, but as nine NATO troops were killed in a helicopter crash the death toll for 2010 formally passed that of all of 2009, making this year the deadliest yet, with more than three months to spare.
Which was inevitable, of course. Every single month of 2010 has been the worst such month on record for the war, so it was only natural it would also be the worst year. But the fact that it came so early will raise a few eyebrows.
Moreover, the trend isn’t just toward slight increases in violence every year. Nine years into the war NATO is a good bet to lose 10 times as many troops as they did in some of the earlier years, and perhaps even more telling, the total for the last 20 months, 2009 and what has happened so far in 2010, is actually more deaths than the whole rest of the war combined.
Since the US invasion 2,097 NATO troops have been killed, including 1,298 Americans. Despite previous talk of a drawdown officials are now conceding that the war could take another decade, or even longer.
An additional eight US soldiers were reported killed yesterday, September 20, throughout Afghanistan by the Department of Defense at the DOD website under Press Resources/News Releases. So the total US/Nato deaths is at least 17 in two days. I will post the entire list of US deaths later today as time permits.
All is well folks, there's plenty of unemployed to fill the ranks. We just have to figure a way to make it mandatory (like a draft, only without calling it that). "Your Patriotic Duty" or "A True Hero's Task" or even "What Jesus Would Do", that sounds like the right kind of tripe to feed the proles.
You have to admit that these guys voluntarily are making war and, in some cases, murdering folks. But what of the civilians who just want to live their lives?
But, war IS good for the economy. Just look around you.
The war in Afghanistan can never be won, End of the story…