August tied for deadliest month in Afghanistan

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP

August tied for deadliest month in Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 9 mins ago

KABUL – A U.S. service member died Thursday in a militant attack involving a roadside bomb and gunfire, a death that pushed August into a tie with July as the deadliest months of the eight-year war.

The death brings to 44 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan this month. But with four days left in the month, August is likely to set a new record.

More than 60,000 U.S. troops are now in the country — a record number — to combat rising insurgent violence. The number of roadside bombs deployed by militants across the country has skyrocketed, and U.S. forces have moved into new and deadlier areas of the country this summer, in part to help secure the country's Aug. 20 presidential election.

Violence is on the rise in Afghanistan even as it falls in Iraq, where nearly twice as many U.S. troops are still based. Five U.S. troops have died in Iraq this month, three fewer than in July.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090827/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

[saigon68]

1. "BRING EM ON" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[zbdent]

2. Isn't it amazing? Back when lefties protested the President, it was "emboldening

the enemy" ...

now they're called patriots, and there's no "connection" between protesters and violence against the troops ... :mad:

[laststeamtrain]

3. What is the connection between protesters & violence against the troops? n/t

[zbdent]

4. I don't know, but the Repugs claimed that lefties protesting Bush

were killing our troops.

Wouldn't that logic hold true for people protesting Obama?

[laststeamtrain]

6. But wait...

Here's some nifty logic.

The troops (by making war in a foreign country far, far from home) are defending the protesters right to protest.

But...wait for it...the protesters should STFU!

Regarding logic & our permanent war culture, I think logic's been out the window for awhile now. Everything is 'perception managment' now.

Well, fuck that.

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."--U.S. Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler

Dat's the name of dat tune.

[Soylent Brice]

5. .

[Bragi]

7. September is shaping up to be even better

Given the need to announce the rigged election results, smart money says that September will be an even more outstanding month for the Afghan and US military funeral industries.

- B

[saigon68]

8. Country Joe

"You can be the first one on the block

To have your boy come home in the box"

NOTE SAIGON'S APOLOGIES TO THE GOLD STAR MOTHERS WHO HAD THEIR DAUGHTERS COME HOME IN A BOX (IN IRAQ = 111 dead ---as of Aug 27,2009)

http://icasualties.org/Iraq/Female.aspx

[JimWis]

9. I just got an email from my Senator - Russ Feingold - and signed

his petition. He is pushing for a better plan and an end date to get out of Afghanistan. Something he has been working on for some time now.

[Bragi]

10. Good for him, and you!

I think it's only a matter of time till Obama is forced to wind down his ill-advised escalation of this war. Until then, too many troops and too many Afghans will die.

- B

[saigon68]

13. Yes a Date is needed--Like Next week.

[PeaceDreamer]

11. Get the US out of Afghanistan Now!

The bodies are piling up and it will only get worse as we allocate more troops to the region. This war will make Obama look like another LBJ.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

12. Extremists must be dug out with a chisel not a sledge hammer.

Right? Shouldn't we be doing that, HERE, as well as over there?