We wonder how the Administration will spin the fact that of the past eleven years, 70% of the deaths have occurred under Obama's watch. It must be Bush's fault! The former President must have been firing the bullets and IEDs that killed these guys and gals!
Could it be Obama's announced plans to leave that is causing an increased number of deaths in the past couple months? Or poor leadership of the generals that Obama has selected? Or is Afghanistan the death pit all other nations have found when they got involved there?
Whatever the reason the White House ultimately will blame Bush, as that mantra is their one-trick-pony when it comes to any issue. It is time for this Administration to step up and be forthcoming with the country and admit, they are out of their element and have no answers. Of course, they never will do that as that would be folly in an election year.
Hopefully, we can rid ourselves of this albatross in November!
Conservative Tom
Could it be Obama's announced plans to leave that is causing an increased number of deaths in the past couple months? Or poor leadership of the generals that Obama has selected? Or is Afghanistan the death pit all other nations have found when they got involved there?
Whatever the reason the White House ultimately will blame Bush, as that mantra is their one-trick-pony when it comes to any issue. It is time for this Administration to step up and be forthcoming with the country and admit, they are out of their element and have no answers. Of course, they never will do that as that would be folly in an election year.
Hopefully, we can rid ourselves of this albatross in November!
Conservative Tom
70% of U.S. Military Fatalities in 11-Year Afghan War Have Occurred on Obama's Watch
President Barack Obama at Pittsburgh International Airport on June 24, 2011. (Official White House photo/Pete Souza)
(CNSNews.com) - Of the 1,912 U.S. military personnel who have died in the now nearly 11-year-long war in Afghanistan, 1,343 have died since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009.
Seventy percent of the Afghan War casualties have happened on Obama's watch.
The war in Afghanistan started on Oct. 7, 2001, when the United States invaded that country to track down al Qaeda terrorists and overthrow the Taliban regime that had provided sanctuary to al Qaeda in the years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
So far this year, 155 U.S. military personnel have died in Afghanistan. That is about 22 percent less than the 198 U.S. military personnel who were killed in Afghanistan from January to June last year. May was the deadliest month so far in 2012 with 40 deaths. It was also deadliest May of the war.
The three years of the Obama have been the three deadliest for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. In 2009, 303 U.S. service members perished there. In 2010, 497 did. In 2011, 399 U.S. military personnel died in Afghanistan.
Obama has also presided over the top five deadliest months of the war, which include: August 2011, when there were 71 deaths; July 2010, when there were 65 deaths; June 2010, when there were 60 deaths; October 2009, when there were 58 deaths; and August 2010, when there were 55 deaths.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), also known as homemade bombs, continue to be the number one killer of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, accounting for death of about half of the U.S. military personnel who have died inthe war.
American fatalities have been concentrated in the southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. These two provinces, which border Pakistan, have been the focus of most U.S.-led military activity during the conflict.
That activity is now extending to eastern Afghanistan, which also borders Pakistan.
In all, about 80 percent of all U.S. military casualties have taken place in Afghan provinces that border Pakistan.
The majority of the U.S. military personnel who have died inthe Afghan War have died due to combat-related injuries. Non-combat related deaths are those caused by accidents, illnesses, drowning, or other non-combat incidents in and around Afghanistan.
By the end of 2014, the U.S.-led coalition forces are expected to transfer the lead in security responsibilities to the Afghan National Security Forces.
President Obama has agreed that some U.S. forces will remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014 to support training and counterterrorism operations led by the Afghan forces. The scope of the U.S. force that will stay behind has not been decided yet.
Historically, the Afghan summer months of June to September are when most of the heavy fighting and thus most of the U.S. military casualties take place. Those months are known as the “fighting season.”
On June 20, David Sedney, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia, told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that the 2012 fighting season “will be the most significant challenge for the Afghan security forces, as they are more in the lead than ever before.”
CNSNews.com’s detailed database of U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan is derived from official Department of Defense (DOD) casualty reports enhanced by information taken from the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and media accounts.
The CNSNews.com count of U.S. military fatalities in the Afghan War includes all U.S. military personnel who died or were fatally injured in Afghanistan itself, plus four who died on ships at sea supporting operations in Afghanistan, plus 12 who died in Pakistan. It does not count military personnel who have died while participating in Operation Enduring Freedom in other regions of the world, where they were not supporting military operations in Afghanistan.
The overall Operation Enduring Freedom has covered U.S.-led military activity in 15 countries in addition to Afghanistan.
American military deaths under the overall Operation Enduring Freedom marked a grim milestone in June as they surpassed 2,000. There have been at least 114 American fatalities in locations other than Afghanistan since the operation started in 2001.
Bush had only about 18,000 troops in Afghanistan. Obama escalated the war. Now, I fear that he or Romney will start another Mideast war in Iran, Syria, or someplace. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. What did we gain from wars? I am still planning to vote for Ron Paul in November as a symbolic protest.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, on the banks, have you been following the Barclays scandal? The CEO and Chairman have both resigned. The fact is, you can't rig the LIBOR without several huge banks, including JP Morgan, participating in the collusion. It is the interest rate foundation for around $750 trillion in global debt. However, you can bet no U.S. bank CEO will be held accountable.
-- David (OWS)
Voting for Ron Paul is really a vote for Obama. do you really want that? Do you want to double the untenable debt we already have? Do you want to continue having a President who enforces only the laws that he agrees with? Do you want a President who makes side agreements with the Russians but cannot do anything until after the election when "he has more flexibility?" Do you want a President who apologizes to the world and denies the exceptional spirit of Americans? Or do you want a President who sent our military into an operation in Libya when we had not been attacked?
ReplyDeleteAs far as the LIBOR rigging, I want to see them go to jail as well as those in the US government who rigged the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler and the bailout of the banks including US
Congressmen!
Come on out to Washington state. You will see Ron Paul signs all over the place. The motto of the Libertarian Party is "You will never get what you want if you don't vote for it." A vote for Ron Paul is a vote for Ron Paul. I don't want Obama or Romney. They are both owned by Wall Street and likely to start more wars.
ReplyDelete4th of July quote of the day....
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."
by THOMAS JEFFERSON
--David (OWS)