Tag: civilians

Mar 05 2011

Old News from Afghanistan

Tetanus
“Children die from tetanus…”

Kandahar, Afghanistan, October 13, 2010…

The Red Cross reported a “drastic increase” in the number of amputations from war injuries, reflecting the nature of the violence.

Reto Stocker, the Red Cross chief in Kabul, said the casualties being seen at Mirwais hospital were only “the tip of the iceberg.”

This was near the beginning of Obama’s “surge” around Kandahar, and because of intense fighting almost everywhere in the district, many people with treatable injuries and illnesses couldn’t get to clinics or hospitals.

“The result is that children die from tetanus, measles and tuberculosis – easily prevented with vaccines – while women die in childbirth and otherwise strong men succumb to simple infections.”

Mar 25 2010

Let’s take a look at those civilian deaths

It’s GreenChange Blog Action Day and the theme is “war and peace.”  Part of the reason I oppose the war in Afghanistan – and almost every war, for that matter – is the inherent risk to civilians.  Whatever goal we’re fighting for there (getting bin Laden?  getting the Taliban?  getting al Qaeda?  protecting women?  I’m not really sure), it’s not worth the huge civilian death toll.  

Not only is it completely disgusting and tragic that these people are dying, but it only works to create more enemies.  Having a family member or friend killed or having your house blown to smithereens could definitely create an insurgent out of you.

So I’m just going to examine some recent news about civilian deaths, if for no other reason than to get around that terrible media bias of focusing almost exclusively on American deaths.

Aug 02 2008

Afghanistan – A Different Type of Surge

The NGO network in Afghanistan (Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief – ACBAR) reports that the number of civilian casualties caused by all sides has “surged” and that insecurity has spread to previously stable areas.

The number of insurgent attacks for each of the months of May (463), June (569) and July is greater than the number of such attacks in any other months since the end of major hostilities following the international intervention in 2001…

July was reportedly the worst month for Afghan civilians in the past six years, with 260 civilian casualties recorded…

Now, due primarily to a stepped up air operations, Afghanistan, “the good war” is turning bad.

May 01 2008

Misery Accomplished

May 1, 2003, is another day of infamy for the Bush administration and America. In the kind of staged bravado dictators relish, George W. Bush donned a flight suit, pretended to fly, and then used an aircraft carrier as the backdrop for a speech to declare the mission in Iraq accomplished. Every cable news channel carried the event live as if history were somehow being made. It is time to look back at five years of accomplishments in Iraq.

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Apr 28 2008

Combat Vets as Students

The News & Observer has a good report on the returning OIF and OEF Veterans as some transition to Students in Colleges and Universities around the country, reporting on some of the problems they face in that transition from combat soldier to student.


This could have been expanded, as many already have found out as others before you went through the same, to the transition from In-Theater Soldiers to Civilian life not just as Students

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As tens of thousands of veterans of the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq try to collect on their promised college benefits, McKinnon and others are finding that their combat experience complicates the transition from soldier to student.

Dec 12 2007

Your Thoughts on Veterans and Troops Needed

TominMaine and others are working on a new project but they’d like to include everyone’s thoughts in this process.  Below is a list of  questions, answering them will help them a great deal and provide a better foundation for their efforts.

A main goal is to bring the Netroots together with the Military and Veterans Groups.  Right now there is a divide that could be overcome with a simple project or two like this one.  So, below the fold are the questions: