Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Afghanistan: The Ongoing Betrayal of Our Troops

The image above shows a U.S. Army honor guard carrying the casket of Army Spc. Ryan Jayne, 22, Tuesday at Elmira Corning Regional Airport. According to the Department of Defense, Jayne died of wounds suffered Nov. 3, when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Paktia province, Afghanistan.   The sad thing is that, if one knows the history of Afghanistan stretching back for two milennia, is that Jayne, and some 2030+ other young men and women gave up their lives for nothing.  Nothing other than the hubris, idiocy and  sabre rattling of Chimperator George W. Bush and Dick "Emperor Palpatine" Cheney.  The Daily Advertiser summarizes the wasted lives of our troops at the hands of Bush/Cheney and predominately the Congressional Republicans who maintained pressure on Barack Obama to not admit the futility of the war in Afghanistan.  Here are highlights:

As of Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012, at least 2,030 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.

The AP count is one less than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST.

At least 1,693 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 118 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 17,992 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department.

Like my son-in-law, I am sure that Spc. Ryan Jayne was following the flawed orders of senior military officers and seeking to honorably serve his country.  Meanwhile, my son-in-law had yet another surgery today to repair his body from burns, shrapnel, and related wounds incurred two weeks ago today.  He faces many weeks of recovery.  Yet he's one of the lucky ones, because he is alive.   The Pakistan New Service shows the continued inability to maintain even a semblance of order within Afghanistan:

KABUL/JALALABAD: Defence ministry on Monday said six Afghan National Army (ANA) troops were killed and 10 more wounded during separate hostile incidents over the past 24 hours.

The ANA troops were killed and wounded in explosions and direct attacks while discharging security responsibilities in Ghazni, Helmand, Uruzgan, Wardak and Faryab province, the defence ministry said in a statement.

It said two anti-government gunmen were killed by combined force in Charchino district of Uruzgan while three suspects were detained in Kandahar city and Muhammad Agha district of Logar province, adding the security force also recovered 450 kg of explosions in Narkh district of Wardak province.

Meanwhile, two police among six persons were wounded in two back-to-back bomb explosions in Haska Maina district of eastern Ningarhar province this morning, sources said Monday.

A roadside bomb exploded near a police vehicle in Baghiband Kandao area of Haska Maina at about 7:30 a.m. (local time), injuring two police, security forces told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

To use one of Chimperator Bush's terms, its a" heck of a job" that our disingenuous senior military officers have done in Afghanistan.  Anyone who truly supports our military troops ought to be blowing up the phones of their Senators and members of the House demanding that ALL of our troops come home NOW.

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