The 1000th Death in Afghanistan: There Must Be a Better Way

[G_j]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-1000th-Death-in-Afghan-by-Madelyn-Hoffman-100308-319.html


The 1000th Death in Afghanistan: There Must Be a Better Way!

By Madelyn Hoffman (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

For OpEdNews: Madelyn Hoffman - Writer

As of February 23, 2010, a grim milestone was reached in Afghanistan. The 1000th member of the U.S. military was killed. On March 19th, 2010, the world will mark the 7th anniversary of the U. S. invasion of Iraq.

Despite a 10% unemployment rate and a record $1.4 trillion deficit President Obama is expected to ask Congress this spring for an additional $33 billion on top of a record $708 billion defense budget for 2011 to continue fighting both wars.

Add these two figures together and you get nearly three quarters of one trillion dollars spent on the wars. In the 2008 book titled The Three Trillion Dollar War, noted economist Joseph Siglitz and Linda Bilmes examine the true costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and predict that when military operations cease, the wars will have cost three trillion dollars - a figure at once both staggering and obviously conservative.

What expenses will the $33 billion supplemental cover? It will fund the deployment of an additional 30,000 U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan. It will also pay for the expanded use of pilotless drones used for surveillance and attack missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan by speeding up the purchase of new Reaper drones and expanding Predator and Reaper drone flights through 2013. The rationale for this strategy articulated by the Obama administration is that more troops and more drones will stabilize Afghanistan and allow U. S. troops to be brought home.

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Of the 2,412 Afghan civilians killed last year, a recent UN report attributed 25% to the U.S. led coalition and Afghan security forces; 359 civilians were killed in aerial attacks, or 61 percent of civilian deaths attributed to pro-government forces.

<snip>

According to Imran Khan, Pakistan politician and Chairman of the Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) Party: "To win a war against terrorism, the people amongst whom the terrorists are operating must think they are terrorists." Drone attacks on civilians and the presence of foreign troops increase the appeal of the militants, as Khan says: "unless NATO forces withdraw, there can be no chance of peace - because everyone (from) Alexander to the British to the Soviets; whenever anyone has invaded the Pushtuns they have fought them with full force - someone else attacks them and then they unite against the invader - this is Pushtun nationalism."
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[gimama]

1. Rallies march 20th, hell's anniversary

www.march20.org

www.answercoalition.org

thank You for posting this:thumbsup:

[Ramulux]

2. Yeah, our troops

Its sad that, a certain number of deaths must occur on our side in order for people to pay attention. So the 1000s of Afghan civilians aren't as important?

[G_j]

3. that is also mentioned, though

I agree, it is rarely mentioned or treated with equal importance.

[G_j]

4. --