May combat deaths in Afghanistan outpace Iraq

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

It's a grim gauge of U.S. wars going in opposite directions: American and allied combat deaths in Afghanistan in May passed the monthly toll in Iraq for the first time.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates used the statistical comparison to dramatize his point to NATO defense ministers that they need to do more to get Afghanistan moving in a better direction. He wants more allied combat troops, more trainers and more public commitment.

More positively, the May death totals point to security improvements in Iraq that few thought likely a year ago.

But the deterioration in Afghanistan suggests a troubling additional possibility: a widening of the war to Pakistan, where the Taliban and al-Qaida have found haven.

By the Pentagon's count, 15 U.S. and two allied troops were killed in action in Iraq last month, a total of 17. In Afghanistan it was 19, including 14 Americans and five coalition troops. One month does not make a trend, but in this case the statistics are so out of whack with perceptions of the two wars that Gates could use them to drive home his point about Afghanistan.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25149857/

[humbled_opinion]

1. The never ending war

As violence ebbs in Iraq thanks in large part to Al-Sadr's cooling of his militias, it sparks up in Afghanistan soon to be engulfed in Pakistan. Seems no one has any real answers anymore....

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

2. Well, looks like

the surge is working in Iraq. :sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

[Middle finga]

3. Slow bleed..Those two unending wars will eventually

bankrupt this country and ruin our Military. When casualties were high in Iraq we moved resources from Afghanistan to Iraq, now as casualties rise in Afghanistan I assume we will be moving resources from Iraq to Afghanistan. Just a never ending game of wack a mole. What a legacy Mr. Bush