In over a decade of war in Afghanistan, about half of all Americans killed in action and two thirds of those wounded have done so in 2010 and 2011, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
At the time the report was published on November 16, 1,723 Americans had died for the war in Afghanistan and 14,837 had been wounded. In just the past two years, 890 have been killed and 10,060 have been wounded.
The figures serve as a stark illustration that President Barack Obama’s decision to surge troops and double down on the war in 2009 has not been a success. Assurances from administration officials and military leaders that the war effort is seeing positive results seem to be belied by the dramatic rise in American casualties for elusive gains.
The report also offers figures of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, which it says should be thought of as “guideposts rather than as statements of fact” given the unreliability of estimates. Attempts to measure Afghan civilian casualties did not even begin until 2007, but since then the number killed and wounded as a result of the war – at least those that have been reported – is approximately 21,844, according to the report (11,007 killed and 10, 837 wounded).
It is unlikely that any of the deaths or the injuries occurred to children of the current Ruling Class and certainly not to them!
It's the peasants who die, the cannon fodder, the people who have no real value in this superficial world!
Only the rich and powerful have worth yet it is they who are worthless!
http://www.dangerouscreation.com
Where's Nancy Reagan when we finally need her. To Karsai's corrupt government, Just Say No!
This war is boring the ruling class. What they want is the real deal with Iran and then China Just wait. The next war will kill ya with home terrorism and the draft too.
Not to mention the price of gas.
Well, he didn't get that Nobel Peace Prize for nuttin', remember? When war is peace, it's the least the guy deserves. I say we give him a group hug too.
The 99% are dispensable.
Here's Pat Tillman, Sr. (father of Pat Tilliman whose 2004 friendly fire death in Afghanistan was covered up. The Democratic Congress's "investigations" whitewashed Gen. Stanley Chrystal's central role) take on President Obama and Gen. Petreaus & McChrystal's Afghan Surge:
"So what does Obama do? He sends 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Having interviewed Pat Tillman, Sr. (father of Pat Tillman.) I called him for a quote. “My condolences to the families in advance,” he said.”
(from Jack Neworth's "Laughing Matters" column, “Careful What You Wish For”, January 28, 2011 Santa Monica Daily Press)
Sadly prescient.
P.S. The documentary "The Tillman Story" is well worth viewing. Pat Tillman, Sr.'s FU letter (just search his name) is worth a read as well as Kevin Tillman's 2006 letter "After Pat's Birthday". You can read most of the foreward to Mary Tillman's "Boots on the Ground by Dusk" at blurb.com
Sad as this is this is good news. When war is too easy then there is no demand to stop war. Americans put a stop to the Vietnam war, not because 5 million Vietnamese died but because 58,000 Americans died. When robots and drones take over all the dangerous jobs then war will become nothing but a profitable game for the Pentagon-Corporate war machine. And who will suffer? All the native people throughout the world who stand up against profit and power.