An entire Afghan army unit attacking American troops...........1 out of 5 combat deaths are insider attacks.
Two days after the U.S. military resumed joint operations with Afghan security forces last week following a spate of “insider attacks,” a platoon of American soldiers stopped at an Afghan army checkpoint in a volatile eastern province.
The Americans had a cordial conversation and cracked a few jokes with their Afghan comrades during the Saturday afternoon patrol in Wardak province. The Afghans offered the Americans tea. Then, according to a U.S. military official, an Afghan soldier, without warning or provocation, raised his weapon and opened fire — mortally wounding the senior American on the patrol.
In a war in which insider attacks have become commonplace, what happened next made the incident extraordinary, the American official said. Another Afghan soldier at the checkpoint opened fire on the Americans, killing a U.S. civilian contractor and wounding two other American soldiers. Soon, Afghan soldiers and possibly insurgents began firing at the Americans from several directions.
The War in Afghanistan, America's longest war has now entered its 12th year.
Did you hear this on the morning talk shows? Did you even hear the Afghan war mentioned?
Bill Moyers - Honoring a Fallen Soldier’s Plea...........
“Why are we killing kids that don’t need to die?”
That’s the question Florida Congressman Bill Young was moved to ask after reading a letter written to him by Matthew Sitton, a young soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in August. In this powerful broadcast essay, Bill talks about the congressman’s surprising change in perspective, the soldier who inspired him, and how that question needs to be posed to the two men now vying to be our Commander-in-Chief.
Defense hawk wants out of Afghanistan: '
One of the strongest defense hawks in Congress says the United States should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan amid increasing signs that even Republican proponents of the war believe it's no longer worth the cost. Young's comments reflect the growing weariness with a conflict that has dragged on for more than a decade, with polls showing more than 60 percent of Americans opposing the war and military fights drawing little of the public's attention. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney didn't even mention the troops or the war in his convention acceptance speech last month, a striking omission for a GOP candidate.
Congressman Young says many in congress feel the same way he does, but they "tend not to want to go public."
Here are the 15 in congress who have already gone public....We must build on these brave voices of 15 members of congress.
It is the fault of congress, who continue to fund a war without end, a war that just needs a little more time, a few more years, a few more billion of dollars. "Bring them home! Now!
68,000 American troops remain, with over 113,000 US paid private contractors.
Who will be the next to die? Who will be the last to die? And in what year or what decade?
Was that the talk on the morning talk shows? Did you hear the war even mentioned this morning?
It took nine years of fighting in Afghanistan before 1,000 US troops were killed. But the second 1,000 US troop deaths have come in the past two years. Last month in the Afghanistan war, America reached the grim 2,000-US-troops-killed-in-action milestone. On Saturday, two more US troops were killed by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. Though the work of US troops has become increasingly deadly, many analysts warn that it has not been increasingly effective.
The VA operates 131 cemeteries, 152 hospitals....How much longer can this go on?
The Real Costs of the Wars........in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as our military actions in Pakistan.
The Dead
6051 U.S. service members
2,300 U.S. contractors
9,922 Iraqi security forces
8,756 Afghan security forces
3,520 Pakistani security forces
1,192 Other allied troops
11,700 Afghan civilians
125,000 Iraqi civilians
35,600 Pakistanis (civilians and insurgents)
10,000 Afghan insurgents
10,000 Members of Saddam Hussein’s army
168 Journalists
266 Humanitarian workers
Total: 224,475 lives lost
The Wounded
99,065 U.S. soldiers
51,031 U.S. contractors
29,766 Iraq security forces
26,268 Afghan security forces
12,332 Other allied troops
17,544 Afghan civilians
109,558 Iraqi civilians
19,819 Pakistani civilians
Total: 365,383 wounded
The Displaced
3,315,000 Afghan civilians
3,500,000 Iraqi civilians
1,000,000 Pakistani civilians
Total: 7,815,000 refugees and internally displaced people
Costs to the American Taxpayer
$1.3 trillion in Congressional War Appropriations to the Pentagon — the official budget for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
$3.7-4.4 trillion estimated total costs to American taxpayers. This includes the official Pentagon budget (above), veterans’ medical and disability costs, homeland security expenses, war-related international aid and the Pentagon’s projected expenditures to 2020.
$1 trillion more in interest payments through 2020 on money the U.S. borrowed for war.
2:06 PM PT: What happened to this country? This abyss we have falling into, silently accepting our longest war - the Afghanistan War, billions upon billions spent and a nation remains mostly silent. What would it take to get you out in the streets protesting this war? So much loss of lives and at a cost of 2 billions dollars a week. Can you sit back silently, and if so, for how much longer? There are some voices in congress now speaking out. Will you contact your representatives and tell them it is time to end this war?