Good Morning.
Today is our 1,945th day in Iraq.
We'll start as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from the warron terra, courtesy of
antiwar.com:American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4119
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 3980
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3658
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3260
Since Election (1/31/05): 2682
Other Coalition Troops: 314
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 555
We find this morning's
cost of war passing through $ 536, 860, 250, 000.00
This morning, we'll take a look at the forgotten conflict in Afghanistan. Even here at Ask A vet, we often overlook this second front in the "warron terra" in favor of the epic boondoggle that is Iraq. However, there's been some news recently. We'll start with Candidate Obama, who would send
10,000 troops to Afghanistan, which may actually be a good idea.
The Democratic Party's presidential nominee, writing in The New York Times yesterday, said that while US troops had performed "heroically" in Iraq, Afghanistan was the real frontline in the battle against al-Qa'eda.
The comments came a day after nine US soldiers were killed in a gun battle when al-Qa'eda-Taliban forces attacked a base in eastern Afghanistan, the deadliest attack they have suffered in three years.
Mr Obama added that the conditions that led him to oppose the war in Iraq and last year's "surge" of US forces had not altered.
"The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we've spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted," he wrote.
The article will be followed by a major foreign policy speech today in which the candidate will lay out his vision for his presidency.
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