Obama administration warns public to expect rise in US casualties

[Jesus Jones]

I guess the recession won't effect the military!

The Obama administration warned the US public yesterday to brace itself for an increase in American casualties as it prepares to step up the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan.

Against a background of widespread protests in Pakistan and Afghanistan over US operations since Obama became president, the vice-president, Joe Biden, said yesterday that US forces would be engaged in many more operations as the US takes the fight to its enemies in the region.

The Obama administration is to double the number of US troops in Afghanistan to 60,000 and when asked in a television interview if the US public should expect more American casualties, Biden said: "I hate to say it, but yes, I think there will be. There will be an uptick."


Greater US involvement in Afghanistan is a political risk for Obama, with the danger that mounting American casualties could make the war as unpopular as Iraq. Obama, in his first military action as president, sanctioned two missile attacks inside Pakistan on Friday, killing 22 people, reportedly women and children among them. The attacks drew criticism from Pakistani officials at the weekend.

Obama administration warns public to expect rise in US casualties | World news | guardian.co.uk

Same shit different puppet.

[panama hat]

You mean AQ is in Afghanistan, not Iraq? Well I'll be . . . So, in the right country this time?

[raycarey]

yeah, right country...just 7 years late.

[Butterfly]

finally, they know where the good war is, not the fake one

[Rural Surin]

The more things 'change', the more they stay the same.

[Rural Surin]

Why doesn't the good young President do something useful, practical, and civilized as to close the hundreds of US military bases overseas. Cause and effect syndrome. Never learn.

[baldrick]

Why doesn't the good young President do something useful, practical, and civilized

create a couple of battalions of ex-bankers,accountants and stockbrokers and deploy them in Afghanistan

[DrB0b]

Why doesn't the good young President do something useful, practical, and civilized as to close the hundreds of US military bases overseas. Cause and effect syndrome. Never learn.

Have you read the many orders he's issued since his inauguration? Many of them eminently useful, practical, and civilized.

[killerbees]

^^excellent idea. I think Bernie Madoff's got some time on his hands these days. Round up a few other corporate criminals and you've got yourself a rich man's Dirty Dozen.

[Texpat]

Tell me again -- what country is AQ from?

[baldrick]

Tell me again -- what country is AQ from?

sired by the seppos, nurtured in saudi

[Texpat]

Thought it was Afghanistan and Yemen?

Oh dear. The do seem to move around a bit. You think they might be fighting in London or Boston or Toronto if not in Baghdad and Kabul? Or is that simply out of the question?

[panama hat]

Tell me again -- what country is AQ from?

From Bush's best mates . . . Saudi . . . and hiding out in Afghanistan, so we are told. Cornered like a rat, dying for how many years now from kidney failure or something similar . . .

Iraq has no mention in this story.

[Texpat]

I'm not so sure most AQ members today aren't from/in Africa.

You know, the big continent Bush gave squillions to ...

Somehow that's offended them.

[Rural Surin]

Thought it was Afghanistan and Yemen?

Oh dear. The do seem to move around a bit. You think they might be fighting in London or Boston or Toronto if not in Baghdad and Kabul? Or is that simply out of the question?

You must have missed the post atop of you. This is correct.

[barbaro]

Tell me again -- what country is AQ from?

AQ is composed of people from many nations.

I know you know this, Tex.

How big is AQ? Is it really much of an organization, now?

[baldrick]

Thought it was Afghanistan and Yemen?

the place where the CIA did the impregnation could have been a park bench anywhere

You know, the big continent Bush gave squillions to ...

it didn't work for leopold either

[Texpat]

Offending the world at every turn...

Tripling aid to Africa between 2000 and 2005 ...

We really must apologize...

[baldrick]

aid

aid normally means to help - I am sure the intentions were all good

china is also giving a lot of "aid" to African countries now

[Texpat]

Of course not ...

Your BDS should begin receding soon.

If the Messiah were to implement the exact same measures, he'd be lauded. Full stop.

[DrB0b]

I guess the recession won't effect the military!

The Obama administration warned the US public yesterday to brace itself for an increase in American casualties as it prepares to step up the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan.
....
Same shit different puppet.

Different shit. Obama has said all along that he will increase troop numbers in Afghanistan and withdraw troops from Iraq. The war in Afghanistan is completely different to the war in Iraq. It was terrorists in Afghanistan, supported by the then Afghan Government, who launched the attacks against the US and other western targets. Those people, or many of them at least, are still there and are still a major threat. IMO the war in Afghanistan is legitimate. The war in Iraq was never legitimate.

It's refreshing to see a US President who's aware that troops are wounded and killed in warfare and who's honest enough to say so. Death and injury are part and parcel of the risks soldiers take. To attempt to hide the fact that wars are ultimately fought and won by people putting their bodies in the way of speeding chunks of metal by bullshitting about shock-and-awe, sci-fi smart weapons or superior air-power, and by hiding body-bags and coffins and skewing body-counts is both hypocritical and disrespectful, to say the least.

Perhaps a leader who's aware of the fact that wars are won by people and not by special-effects will show more respect and give more support to those doing the actual fighting. Certainly, I think, acknowledging that people die in war is a good start.

[Texpat]

The war in Iraq ended months after it started. Initially, it was never part of the GWOT. What we've witnessed since then is a mere security bungle. It's hardly a war.

AQ moved into Iraq and set up camp. It became a defacto extension, but I agree, two different animals.

I laugh every time I hear about the two wars ongoing. Seems nobody's willing to concede that US forces have been practically silent and inactive for well on a year now.

[Texpat]

Initially, it was never part of the GWOT. What we've witnessed since then is a mere security bungle. It's hardly a war.

This is what happens when you drink too much and live in denial, denial, and denial. You are become more Thai by the day Texpat, I would be careful if I was you

Nine Americans have died in Iraq this year.
Four of them were non-combat related.
Nearly all of the fighting that remains is between different Iraqi factions -- and it's trifling. They'll never stop hating each other.

Security isn't even the top priority now.
Check out this story:

DefenseLink News Article: Report Charts Continued Progress in Iraq

Does this sound like a war? Or is a convenient media and political buzzword to mold malleable and naive minds? Who are the susceptible ones?

[panama hat]

Who coined it as the 'War on Terror'?

[Texpat]

Fighting terrorists, wherever they are -- is the war on terror -- also known as the Global War on Terror. That's not limited by geography. The war in Iraq (2003) was never part of the war on terror, initially.

When AQ streamed in (don't they have to follow international protocol and get visas and pass through immigration like everyone else?) much later and starting fighting coalition/Iraq forces they became terrorists (no country, no uniform, no rules). They're not an army, they're subversive, lawless terrorists bent on destabilizing the Iraqi government.

This really isn't that difficult, is it?