Casualties

By Dave Lindorff

If you’re like me, now that we’re in the week that federal income taxes are due, you are finally starting to collect your records and prepare for the ordeal. Either way, whether you are a procrastinator like me, or have already finished and know how much you have paid to the government, it is a good time to stop and consider how much of your money goes to pay for our bloated and largely useless and pointless military.

The budget for the 2011 fiscal year, which has to be voted by Congress by this Oct. 1, looks to be about $3 trillion, not counting the funds collected for Social Security (since the Vietnam War, the government has included the Social Security Trust Fund in the budget as a way to make the cost of America’s imperial military adventures seem smaller in comparison to the total cost of government). Meanwhile, the military share of the budget works out to about $1.6 trillion.

FDA, VA approve drug despite its link to soldiers’ deaths
By Martha Rosenberg | Nieman Watchdog

Seroquel is a widely-prescribed medication, with almost $5 billion in sales last year. But survivors of dead servicemen, torn and angry, question its use as part of a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sgt. Eric Layne's death was not pretty.

A few months after being prescribed a drug cocktail with the antidepressant Paxil, the mood stabilizer Klonopin and AstraZeneca's controversial antipsychotic drug Seroquel, the Iraq war veteran was "suffering from incontinence, severe depression [and] continuous headaches," according to his widow, Janette Layne, at FDA hearings for new Seroquel approvals last year.

Soon he had tremors. " … [H]is breathing was labored [and] he had developed sleep apnea," said Janette Layne, who served in the National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom along with her husband. On the last day of his life, she testified, Eric stayed in the bathroom nearly all night battling acute urinary retention. He died while his family slept.

Sgt. Layne had just returned from a seven-week inpatient program at the VA Medical Center in Cincinnati where he was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A video shot during that time, played by his wife at the FDA hearings, shows a dangerously sedated figure barely able to talk.

Sgt. Layne was not the first healthy veteran to die after being prescribed medical cocktails including Seroquel for PTSD.

In the last two years, Pfc. Derek Johnson, 22, of Hurricane, West Virginia; Cpl. Andrew White, 23, of Cross Lanes, West Virginia; Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger, 21, of Roundrock, Texas; Cpl. Nicholas Endicott, 24, of Pecks Mill, West Virginia; and Spc. Ken Jacobs, 21, of Walworth, New York, have all died suddenly while taking Seroquel cocktails. Read more.

By Dave Lindorff

Massey Energy Corp., owner of the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia where at least 25 miners were killed April 5 in a methane gas explosion, apparently arranged for and purchased disability compensation insurance coverage only a month before the disaster, according to one source with inside knowledge about the company’s risk management operations.

Prior to that, the company, known for its aggressive challenges to workers’ comp claims, was self-insured for workers compensation.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2010) — The current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in extended and repeated combat-related deployments of U.S. military service members. While much has been reported about the problems, both physical and psychological, many bring back with them, new research out of UCLA shows that the family back home can have issues as well.

The suddenly single parents left at home and their children must quickly adjust to altered family roles and the stress of having a loved one in a distant and dangerous land, in addition to dealing with potential psychological or physical health problems the active-duty parent may have upon their return.

After combat, suicide top killer of Marines
By Gunnery Sgt. Bill Lisbon | Desert Warrior

According to the latest report released by the Corps, more Marines are killing themselves than die in on- or off-duty accidents, making suicide the second leading cause of death after combat.

In January, seven active duty Marines committed suicide, after a record-high 52 killed themselves in 2009, reported the Corps’ suicide prevention program manager in a February report.

The report also detailed the number of suicide attempts – 164 last year and 20 in January alone.

“The number of Marines who have died by suicide in recent years is shocking and unacceptable,” Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 25.

In contrast, one Marine died in an automobile accident in January and 10 were killed on the battlefield the same month. Read more.

Afghan and Iraqi Civilian Killings Nothing New
By Siun | FireDogLake

There are times when I feel that all of the posts I write for FDL are just variations on one story: US forces kill civilians in occupied country. US spinmeisters claim civilians were really “insurgents.” Witnesses speak up or neighbors go to local government to complain. US military quietly backtrack on original story and some officer makes a visit to the scene of the killing, pockets full of condolence cash. Officer pledges that from now on, things will change, more care will be taken – and of course we deeply regret …

And then it happens all over again.

It’s very good to see new attention being paid to civilian casualties as the horrific murders of three Afghan women, two pregnant, comes to light – and the new Wikileaks videos are documenting incidents that passed virtually unnoticed at the time. But these incidents are not unique, not surprising, not news to the people of the countries we occupy. And neither are the “regrets” and promises of more careful behavior to come.

They have seen it all before: Read more.

Last Week: US Iraq Casualties Jump to 75,095
Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered eight combat casualties in the week ending April 6, 2010* as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 74,791. The total includes 35,250 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 39,845 (as of April 3, 2010) dead, injured and sick from "non-hostile" causes requiring medical evacuation.

The actual total is well over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, Iraq Coalition Casualties names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq but are not counted by the Pentagon.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,391 as of April 6, 2010) but rarely mentioning the 31,770 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they almost always ignore the 38,845 (as of April 3, 2010)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,391 reported deaths include 911 (up one this week) who died from those same causes, including at least 207 suicides through April 3, 2010.***

* The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesday).
** New York Times, Jan 26, 2009
*** http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf

By Dave Lindorff

So finally the truth comes out...sort of.

After initially claiming that two pregnant women and a teenage girl killed in a US Special Forces raid on an Afghan home in Khataba in February had been discovered bound and slain by the Americans, the US military has admitted that they were actually shot and killed by those US troops--who then tried to cover up their “mistake” by carving the bullets out of the bodies with knives, removing other incriminating bullets from the compound’s walls, and then washing away the bloody evidence with alcohol.

In this new grisly version of the story issued from the US command in Afghanistan, it was a case of the Special Forces Unit lying to superiors about what had transpired in their botched raid, which also killed an Afghan police commander and a government prosecutor.

Newly Released Documents Reveal Details Of Civilian Casualty Claims In Afghanistan And Iraq | Press Release
ACLU Releases 13,000 Pages Of Government Files That Underscore Flaws In Compensating Victims' Families

The American Civil Liberties Union today made public more than 13,000 pages of documents regarding reports of civilians killed or injured by Coalition Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The documents include more than 800 claims for damages by the family members of those killed, including many that were denied, and reveal new details about the flaws in the system for compensating victims' families. The ACLU received the records in response to its September 2007 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which is part of an effort to make more details about the ongoing wars available to the public.

"With more U.S. forces being sent into civilian areas in Afghanistan, it is critical that the American public be informed about what is at stake," said Nasrina Bargzie, cooperating counsel with the ACLU and an attorney at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP in Oakland, CA. "These newly released records illustrate that innocent civilian victims and their families are still not being appropriately compensated for their losses. Now that this problem has been brought to light, we hope the Obama administration will be compelled to reform the broken civilian compensation program."

The files made public today comprise over 800 claims for compensation or condolence payments submitted to the U.S. Foreign Claims Commissions and the Commander's Emergency Response Program by surviving family members of Afghan and Iraqi civilians said to have been killed or injured or to have suffered property damages due to actions by Coalition Forces. Many of the claims were denied under the so-called "combat exemption" to the Foreign Claims Act (FCA), which provides that harm inflicted on residents of foreign countries by U.S. soldiers during combat cannot be compensated under the FCA, even if the victims had no involvement whatsoever in the combat. The documents reveal that, due to the claim denials, many innocent civilians were not compensated for their harm or were referred to the Commander's Emergency Response Program for a discretionary condolence payment that is subject to an automatic $2,500 limit per death.

Carrying a Backpack of Sorrow ... Soldiers on the Edge of Suicide
By Nadya Williams | Truthout

More of our young soldiers are now killing themselves than are being killed in our wars in the Middle East. The sad statistics are at the end of this article, but the following poem by a 24-year-old former Marine, who slashed his wrists twice after four years of duty and two tours of combat, tells it all.

You fell off the seat as the handlebars turned
sharp left, throwing your body onto
the hot coals of Ramadi pavement,
intertwining your legs within your bicycle.
Lifeless eyes looking to the sky,
your neck muscles twitched turning your head
directly towards us. Nothing escaped your
lips except for the blood in the left corner
of your mouth that briefly moistened them
until the sand and dust dried them out.
The blood trail went behind the stone wall
where your body was placed, weighed down
by your blue bicycle and we laughed.
I used to fall asleep to the pictures and now
I can't even bear to get a glimpse.
-Excerpted from "The Bicycle" by Jon Michael Turner

The military "broke me down into a not-good person, wearing a huge mask," Turner told the audience at his poetry reading in San Francisco's Beat Museum, in North Beach. The March 12 event - on the birthday of "Beatnik" literary icon Jack Kerouac - was organized by the venerable Jack Hirschman, San Francisco's 2006 poet laureate, and by the local IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War). Jon read from his small, self-published book "Eat the Apple" and from several large pages of dark green, handmade paper - the product of The Combat Paper Book Project, where 125 vets, ranging from World War II through Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, shredded their uniforms to make books for their poetry. "Poetry saved my life," Jon told us, more than once.

Portraits help bring closure to fallen troops' loved ones
By Patrick Oppmann | CNN

For Michael Reagan, the portraits always start the same way.

"I do the eyes first so I get this connection with the face," he said. "I am pretty exhausted after a picture. Just try staring at a photograph for five hours without any distractions."

Reagan, a professional artist for 40 years, is known for his vivid etchings of politicians, celebrities and athletes.

Today, he has a new subject: fallen members of the military.

Last Week: US Iraq Casualties Jump to 74,791
Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 23 combat casualties in the week ending March 30, 2010* as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 74,791. The total includes 35,242 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 39,549 (as of March 6) dead, injured and sick from "non-hostile" causes requiring medical evacuation.

The actual total is well over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, Iraq Coalition Casualties names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq but are not counted by the Pentagon.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,390 as of March 30) but rarely mentioning the 31,762 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they almost always ignore the 39,549 (as of March 6)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,390 reported deaths include 910 (no change this week) who died from those same causes, including at least 18 from faulty electrical work by KBR and 204 suicides through March 6.***

* The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesday).
** New York Times, Jan 26, 2009
*** http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf

Iraq War Stunts Children’s Growth, Researchers Find

ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2010) — Iraqi children born in areas affected by high levels of violence are shorter in height than children born in less violent areas, according to a study at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The level of violence has varied across the provinces and districts, with the south and centre of Iraq being most affected and it is in these areas that estimates show children are on average 0.8cm shorter than their peers growing up elsewhere in the country.

By Dave Lindorff

How pathetic a scene was this: The president of the United States, commander- in-chief of the mightiest war machine the world has ever known, sneaking into one of the poorest countries in the world and meeting with the corrupt leader of that country, where he has committed 100,000 troops to battle, to beg with that corrupt leader to “clean up” his corrupt and profoundly inept government.

Already, a thousand American soldiers as well as many civilian aid workers, not to mention tens of thousands of innocent Afghans, have died in an eight-year war that the US launched in 2001, originally with the intent solely of ousting the existing Taliban government and destroying the bases of mostly Arab fighters who had been assisting the Taliban in their fight against Russian-allied warlords.

By Dave Lindorff

London Times reporter Jerome Starkey has broken two stories of US/NATO atrocities in Afghanistan over the past month or so, the first the execution-style slaying of eight innocent Afghan students and a visiting 12-year-old shepherd boy, and the second the killing of a popular government police commander, a local government prosecutor, two pregnant women and a teenage girl.

The US/NATO response was first to lie about what happened (military spokesmen first claimed that the students had been a bomb squad and that they'd died in a firefight, and they claimed that the pregnant women had been "discovered" bound and gagged). Then, when Starkey interviewed locals and blew the lies apart, the military command under Gen. Stanley McChrystal took a more insidious step, trying to malign Starkey and his reporting.

Last Week: US Iraq Casualties Jump to 74,768****
Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered nine combat casualties in the week ending March 23, 2010* as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 74,768. The total includes 35,219 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 39,549 (as of March 6, 2010) dead, injured and sick from "non-hostile" causes requiring medical evacuation.

The actual total is well over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, Iraq Coalition Casualties names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq but are not counted by the Pentagon.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,390 as of March 23, 2010) but rarely mentioning the 31,739 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they almost always ignore the 39,549 (as of March 6, 2010)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,390 reported deaths include 910 (up one this week) who died from those same causes, including at least 18 from faulty electrical work by KBR and 204 suicides through March 6, 2010.***

* The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesday).
** New York Times, Jan 26, 2009
*** http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf
**** last week, 793 was transposed, it was 74,739

ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2010) — Living through the trauma of war seems to increase the risk of developing asthma, suggests research published ahead of print in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Those who are most traumatised are twice as likely to develop the condition as those who are least traumatised by their experiences of war, the research suggests.

The authors base their findings on a random sample of just over 2000 Kuwaiti civilians who endured the Iraqi invasion and seven month occupation of their country in 1990, and were aged between 50 and 69 at the time.

ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2010)— Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine are presenting more than 20 ground-breaking studies at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 59th annual scientific session (ACC.10) in Atlanta. Their research includes data showing that the World Trade Center (WTC) collapse has caused potentially dangerous heart problems in responders on-site.

Last Week: US Iraq Casualties Jump to 74,759****
Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 17 combat casualties in the week ending March 16, 2010* as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 74,759. The total includes 35,211 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 39,548 (as of March 6, 2010) dead, injured and sick from "non-hostile" causes requiring medical evacuation.

The actual total is well over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, Iraq Coalition Casualties names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq but are not counted by the Pentagon.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,388 as of March 16, 2010) but rarely mentioning the 31,732 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they almost always ignore the 38,548 (as of March 6, 2010)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,388 reported deaths include 909 (up three this week) who died from those same causes, including at least 18 from faulty electrical work by KBR and 204 suicides through March 6, 2010.***

The 1,000 Day Siege of Gaza
By Ann Wright

This week marked 1,000 days of an Israeli and international siege on Gaza—1,000 days of an open air prison where “inmates”, the civilian Palestinian population of 1.5 million, cannot leave or enter at will -by land, sea or air, the tiny area known as the Gaza Strip.

60 years after the World War II Nazi military siege of Leningrad that lasted for 900 days and caused the greatest destruction and largest loss of life ever known in a modern city, the Israeli military has imprisoned Gaza for 1,000 days. The blockade has caused incredible physical and emotional suffering those crowded into an incredibly small space-25 miles long and 5 miles wide—one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

The siege means that the Israeli government controls the entry of food, medicines, and gasoline and construction materials for the Palestinians. The purpose of the blockade is to force by blatantly violating international law, a change in the government represented by Hamas, the political organization the people elected. The siege began in June, 2007, following Hamas' takeover of governmental functions in Gaza.

Hamas is named by the Israeli and American governments a “terrorist” organization because its militant wing and other militant groups in Gaza, have fired homemade unguided rockets at border villages of Israel which have killed 30 Israelis over the years.

Compounding the siege, a year ago, in a disproportionate use of force that violated international law, the Israeli military, the largest and most powerful in the region, attacked the people of Gaza with U.S. provided F-16 jet fighters, Apache attack helicopters, rocket firing unmanned drones, white phosphorus and dense inert metal explosive bombs. The attack killed 1,440 persons, wounded 5,000, left 50,000 homeless and destroyed schools, hospitals, and civil infrastructure including the water facility and the sewage plant for the entire area.

As one could predict, the siege and the attack have caused the people of Gaza to suffer from long term low levels of nutrition and lack of appropriate medical treatment and care. Most children and many adults have the symptoms of post traumatic stress from the indiscriminate violence waged on them by the Israeli military.

By Dave LIndorff

Another night-time raid on a housing compound in Afghanistan. Another bunch of innocent Afghans killed. Another round of lies by the US-led forces of the so-called International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Only this time, among the dead are two pregnant mothers and a teenage girl.

And once again the US media remain mute, accepting the official story, which was of ISAF forces responding to an attack which in reality appears never to have happened.

Last Week: US Iraq Casualties Jump to 74,793
Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 10 combat casualties in the week ending March 9, 2010* as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 74,793. The total includes 35,194 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 39,545 (as of March 6, 2010) dead, injured and sick from "non-hostile" causes requiring medical evacuation.

The actual total is over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, Iraq Coalition Casualties names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq but are not counted by the Pentagon.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,384 as of March 9, 2010) but rarely mentioning the 31,716 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they almost always ignore the 38,545 (as of March 6, 2010)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,384 reported deaths include 906 (no change) who died from those same causes, including at least 18 from faulty electrical work by KBR and 204 suicides through March 6, 2010.***

* The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesday).
** New York Times, Jan 26, 2009
*** http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf

Rachel Corrie’s (Posthumous) Day in Court
By Amy Goodman | Truthdig

An unusual trial begins in Israel this week, and people around the world will be watching closely. It involves the tragic death of a 23-year-old American student named Rachel Corrie. On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer.

Corrie was volunteering with the group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which formed after Israel and the United States rejected a proposal by then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to place international human rights monitors in the occupied territories. The ISM defines itself as “a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.” Israel was building a large steel wall to separate Rafah from Egypt, and was bulldozing homes and gardens to create a “buffer zone.” Corrie and seven other ISM activists responded to a call on that March day to protect the home of the Nasrallah family, which was being threatened with demolition by two of the armored Israeli military bulldozers made by the U.S. company Caterpillar.

Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother, related what happened: “The bulldozer proceeded toward Rachel. ... She was in her orange jacket. When it kept coming, she rose on the mound, and the eyewitnesses testified that her head rose above the top of the blade of the bulldozer, so she could clearly be seen, but the bulldozer continued and proceeded over her, and so that it was covering her body. It stopped and then reversed, according to the eyewitness testimonies, without lifting its blade, so backed over her once again.

“Her friends were screaming at the bulldozer drivers through this to stop. They rushed to her, and she said to them, ‘I think my back is broken.’ And those were her final words.” Read more.

By Dave Lindorff

From Extra!, January 2010

In mid-October, hundreds of thousands of Vietnam-era veterans got some good if grim news: The Veterans Administration announced it was adding three more diseases to the 11 others it automatically presumes to have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange, the dioxin-laced herbicide spread by the U.S. military across much of South Vietnam to deny crops and cover to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters during the war.

Newspapers and radio and TV news programs across America ran stories announcing that veterans of the jungle war who now suffer or may eventually suffer from Parkinson’s Disease, ischemic heart disease or a type of cancer called hairy-cell leukemia will henceforth automatically be offered free medical care by the VA if they’d spent at least one day in uniform on the ground in Vietnam.

Disturbing story of Fallujah's birth defects
By John Simpson | BBC News

Six years after the intense fighting began in the Iraqi town of Fallujah between US forces and Sunni insurgents, there is a disturbingly large number of cases of birth defects in the town.

Fallujah is less than 40 miles (65km) from Baghdad, but it can still be dangerous to get to.

As a result, there has been no authoritative medical investigation, certainly by any Western team, into the allegations that the weapons used by the Americans are still causing serious problems. Read more.

Last Week: US Iraq Casualties Rise to 74,417
Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 13 combat casualties in the week ending March 2, 2010* as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 74,417. The total includes 35,184 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 39,233 (as of Feb 6, 2010) dead, injured and sick from "non-hostile" causes requiring medical evacuation.

The actual total is over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, Iraq Coalition Casualties names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq but are not counted by the Pentagon.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,384 as of March 2) but rarely mentioning the 31,706 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they almost always ignore the 38,327 (as of Feb 6, 2010)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,384 reported deaths include 906 (up four) who died from those same causes, including at least 18 from faulty electrical work by KBR and 202 suicides through Feb 6.***

* The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesday).
** New York Times, Jan 26, 2009
*** http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf

By Dave Lindorff

The stated goal of the US-led War in Afghanistan, according to the Obama Administration, is to defeat the Taliban and establish a stable democratic government over the entire country. Critical to that goal is establishing a professional Afghan army and police force that is not corrupt, and that has the respect of the Afghan people.

But reports out of Canada suggest that far from creating such a military and police force, the so-called International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) is turning a blind eye to the thuggish criminality of those organizations, both to avoid growing opposition in ISAF member countries, and to avoid offending those organizations in Afghanistan.

The issue in question is routine rape and sodomy of children by Afghan soldiers and police operating on Canadian-run bases in the Kandahar region.

U.S. Military Casualties Reach 1,000 in Terrorism Campaign
Milestone Reached in Operation Enduring Freedom, U.S. Deaths Expected to Rise
By Devin Dwyer, Luis Martinez and Mike Gudgell | ABC News

Of the 1,001 U.S. troops and two department civilians killed in Operation Enduring Freedom, the majority have lost their lives in the war in Afghanistan. The number of U.S. fatalities in or around Afghanistan stands at 925. The Pentagon's definition of "in or around" refers to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

The Pentagon keeps a separate tally of fallen service members and Defense department civilians who have died supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. 4,371 military service members and 13 department civilians have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Pentagon reports.

The number of U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan is nearing the 1,000 milestone as well...

The latest Pentagon figures do not include CIA, Drug Enforcement Administration or other civilians killed in the war...We lost 15 soldiers and Marines in November. We lost 44 in October. Casualties will vary as we go into the winter, but come spring, those casualties will grow."

"Every life is precious," Gates said. "Some experts say the numbers released today are simply one count of a complex method of tracking the human toll of the counterterrorism fight and that the total number of American lives lost in the campaign is actually higher...Read more.

Last Week: US Iraq Casualties Rise to 74,400
Compiled by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

US military occupation forces in Iraq under Commander-in-Chief Obama suffered 23 combat casualties in the week ending February 23, 2010* as the official total since the 2003 invasion rose to at least 74,400. The total includes 35,171 dead and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and more than 39,229 (as of Feb 6, 2010) dead, injured and sick from "non-hostile" causes requiring medical evacuation.

The actual total is over 100,000 because the Pentagon chooses not to count as "Iraq casualties" the more than 30,000 veterans whose injuries-mainly brain trauma from explosions - were diagnosed only after they had left Iraq.** In addition, Iraq Coalition Casualties names eight service members who died of wounds after they left Iraq but are not counted by the Pentagon.

US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by occasionally reporting only the total killed (4,380 as of Feb 23, 2010) but rarely mentioning the 31,693 wounded in combat. To further minimize public perception of the cost, they almost always ignore the 38,327 (as of Feb 6, 2010)*** military victims of accidents and illness serious enough to require medical air evacuation, although the 4,380 reported deaths include 902 (up one) who died from those same causes, including at least 18 from faulty electrical work by KBR and 202 suicides through Feb 6, 2010.***

* The number of wounded is updated weekly (usually Tuesday).
** New York Times, Jan 26, 2009
*** http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/oif-total.pdf

By Dave Lindorff

Geneva, Switzerland--As I write this article, I’m seated in a hotel room across from the train station in Geneva, Switzerland. There’s a slight, dull pain in my forehead from a two-inch line of stitches that are pulling together a gash that runs diagonally across my brow, thanks to a stumble on a high step on a sidewalk in the rain last night, that sent me flying airborne headfirst into a round metal lamppost.

I have been covering the Fourth Congress Against the Death Penalty sponsored by the United Nations and the international abolition movement, which brought together anti-death penalty groups from all over the world, and featured talks and workshops with a number of people, several from the US, who had spent years and even decades on death rows before being found innocent of the crimes that had put them there.