By FITSNews || Improvised explosive devices killed three American soldiers in Afghanistan on Thursday, bringing the U.S. death toll for July to 63 – the bloodiest month in the history of the nine-year war.
According to the Associated Press, 60 American soldiers died in June.
Since 2001, more than 1,200 American soldiers have been killed in the Afghan War – including 580 in the last two years. Meanwhile, over 4,400 American soldiers have been killed in the Iraq War, which began in 2003. By comparison, 58,000 U.S. troops were killed in the Vietnam War and 405,000 were killed in World War II.
Earlier this week, Congress appropriated another $59 billion to continue fighting the two conflicts – with the majority of that money going to pay for President Barack Obama’s “Afghan surge.” More than $1 trillion has been spent overall on the two wars.
By countryboy July 30, 2010 at 11:35 am
We need to institute a “kill zone” along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border (and probably the Iran/Afhganistan as well). Say 5 to 10 miles on each side. Kill anything that even resembles a human moving in that zone. Allow only two or three corridors to travel between the two countries, with rigid inspections at check points. We had a no-fly zone in Iraq for years, going back to the first gulf war, so what’s the difference?
By snodgrass July 30, 2010 at 4:07 pm
The article doesn’t mention the number of dead civilians. It also doesn’t mention the number of soldiers and civilians that have been wounded or maimed.
I guess it’s just the large numbers that matter.
By James the Foot Soldier July 30, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Yet another failure by the Obama administration – thank President Obama (and especially shit-for-brain Biden) for under-cutting the request for a sufficient level of soldiers>
By snodgrass July 30, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Mr. James the Foot Soldier, what do you consider to be a “sufficient” level of soldiers? How many soldiers would you need to defeat a country that has no army, navy or air force? How many soldiers would you need to defeat terrorism? How would your soldiers know when they’ve won the war on terror?
By eggaday July 30, 2010 at 8:38 pm
war without end… amen…. amen.
By James the Foot Soldier July 30, 2010 at 10:58 pm
snodgras – the request for troops was made at a rank with lots of stars on his shoulder and the panty-wearers in the White House did not grant the full request. I’ll defer to the General’s assessment over a Vice President who predicted the War in Iraq was lost.
Furthermore, the root cause of the increasing death toll in Afghanistan is a DIRECT result of the rules of engagement as dictated by the “commander” in chief whereby American soldiers are not allowed to fire their weapons until fired upon, i.e., until they’ve been shot.
Obama/Biden are a deadly combination for America’s soldiers.
By countryboy July 31, 2010 at 7:57 am
I’m sick of hearing about killing Afghan (or Pakistani) civilians. How the f$ck are our soldiers supposed to know when no one has a uniform and any of them (including teens) can kill you? And I am sick of the so-called governments of both those countries, where half the members of the governments are allied witht he f$cing enemy. We either need to execute the war on our terms, period, or get the hell out. Oh, damn I forgot. Our terms now means Obama’s terms, which means we don’t have a clue how to execute a war. Never mind.
By snodgrass July 31, 2010 at 8:42 am
Nice dodge there, Mr. Foot Soldier. You should have been a politician. You attempted to answer my questions by not answering my questions. You’re not alone, though. Neither our generals with all their stars or our “leaders” with all their hubris can answer those questions either. That’s why they – like you – just sputter tired, worn out rhetoric when asked.
Both the Bush and Obama administrations should be tried for war crimes. The deadliest threat to our soldiers is the combination of war-mongering chickenhawks and their philosophy of American Exceptionalism.
By snodgrass July 31, 2010 at 2:16 pm
That’s right countryboy, any of them can kill our soldiers. They have no military, so they wear no uniforms. Everyone there is a potential terrorist. Are you suggesting we kill them all? Do those terms suit you?
You can kill a terrorist, but you can’t kill terrorism. If you can’t kill terrorism, you can’t win a “war on terror”.
I wonder how many years, deaths and dollars it will take to make people understand that.
By countryboy July 31, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Snodgrass, I’m not one to say “kill ‘em all and let god sort ‘em out”. On the other hand, if it were my call I would not hesitate to put a missile into a building that definitely housed enemy combatants and “might” also contain non-combatants.
By snodgrass July 31, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Gee, that’s a really thoughtful policy you have there, countryboy. You wouldn’t just “kill ‘em all and let god sort ‘em out”. You’d just kill`em all – building by building – and let god sort`em out.
God eventually gets around to sorting all of us out, my friend. I hope He’s more merciful with your fate than you are with others.
I realize war isn’t sanitary. Collateral damage is a reality that can’t be avoided. Wars almost always claim more civilian casualties than military casualties. That’s exactly why we should be extremely reluctant about waging wars.
Did you know that the rate of suicide among active members of the military is higher than ever before? It’s even higher than the general population. Look it up. Think about it. Ask yourself why that is.
Killing civilians because some political operatives have deemed them all to be “enemy combatants”, “potential terrorists” or “high-value targets” doesn’t change the way a soldier feels when he sees someone…perhaps just an unlucky citizen…lying in a pool of blood just after he pulls his trigger. Some of our soldiers have personal experience with that; some of them find it hard to live with.
Several hundred soldiers die each year simply because they give a damn. What a tragedy. Most of the people they fought for don’t.
By lincoln July 31, 2010 at 10:50 pm
On a related note, snodgrass, the traitor who allegedly released top secret data to wikileaks is actually an open homosexual who opposes don’t ask don’t tell. Now why would the Democrats force open homosexuals on the military despite the Pentagon’s objections?
By James the Foot Soldier August 1, 2010 at 9:22 am
snod – if you had an ounce of reading comprehension you would have understood my answer to your question.
Your comprehension of military history is clearly lacking as well – Hitler would never have been defeated and Japan would never have as well -were America to follow pussy-whipped rules of engagement that you espouse.
When weapons are stored in a building it is no longer a mosque, it is a weapons depot – and should have been bombed back to the day of Mohammed the Goat Fucker.
By snodgrass August 1, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Ah..the flaming attack. I’ve underestimated your shrewd intellect.
Silly me.
By Another Comment August 1, 2010 at 1:05 pm
always amazed at how short some peoples memories are. James i dont remember you complaining when Bush understaffed and underfunded this war? Nothing like a couch soldier to tell everyone how to do it huh James? When everyone was screaming how we took our eyes off the ball to settle an old family score for the Bushes, you proably called all those people “America haters” didnt ya James..now the only thing you can call this is truthful.
It was the Bush admin who understaffed, under-planned and underestimated both Afghanistan and Iraq They neglected teh true threat so they could put a majority of our forces in Iraq. A country that had not attacked us nor had anything to do with 9/11. Im not a fan of Obamas policy either as too little too late. Afghanistan is not winnable. For thousands of years many empires have tried to conquer Afghanistan, most of those gave two shits about what the world thought of them so gloves off, and they didn’t stand a chance. If the Russians who blatantly violated standards of war etc couldnt win what makes us think we can win? Sure we can occupy a tiny village or two but as soon as we leave it reverts back to Taliban control. Unless you want to put 500k troops on the ground the only sensible solution is to continue with hunter killer teams specifically targeting the higher ups, and pull most of our ground troops out. How is a country that worries about its world standing going to defeat a nation wearing kid gloves? either wipe them the fuck out or disengage. American troops arent worth a fools errand.
By lincoln August 1, 2010 at 6:37 pm
AC-Agree that Afghanistan isn’t worth it. Bush’s military planners realized as much but Mr. Obama is a prisoner of his Bush-bashing campaign rhetoric which embraced the notion that Iraq was Bush’s misplaced war and that we should be going after Afghanistan with gusto. Iraq is much more governable that the primitive Afghanistan which remains ungovernable due to its lack of infrastructure and its ancient tribal structure.
Now that the monthly death toll in Afghanistan climbs it becomes more and more apparent that Obama needs to re-tool his Afghanistan strategy.
My hope is that our war-planners ultimately deployed our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to contain the one country we now surround–Iran…
By Reality Check August 1, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Snod, country, lincoln, and Jake:
Why don’t you war-heroes-to-be get off your fat asses and enlist? Oh, your contribution to America is commenting on a blog? I’m sure your forefathers are proud.
Until then, take your digital bravado and shove it. No one gives a fuck what you think.
By James the Foot Soldier August 1, 2010 at 8:32 pm
AC – actually, I’ve advocated a complete withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan for years – just as I advocate the removal of multiple divisions of forces defending Germany and France – it’s waaaaay past time for the German and French people to fully fund their defense – just as it is well past the time for Iraqi’s and Afghans to step up and defend their sovereignty.
That said – since bush-lite has no fortitude to stand up to either left-wingers or right-wingers – perhaps he and Joe “Iraq will crumble into three countries” Biden will one day listen to the Generals they’ve hired to fight the war.
By lincoln August 2, 2010 at 7:09 pm
RC- I’ve served my country, son. I’m too damn old to run to Iraq with my M-16, but I’ve literally paid probably a million dollars in income taxes over the years (and still paying). You?