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Author: TriSec    Date: 07/30/2013 10:19:34

Good Morning.

Today is our 4,314th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,251
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,099

We find this morning's Cost of War passing through:

$ 1, 460, 063, 100, 000 .00



Once again, we have to start today in Iraq. There has been little traction in the American media; I've been following this via the BBC and some military news sites that I frequent. It seems that what little progress that was made after we left has been sliding back into chaos. July has easily been the worst month for violence in quite some time, and it shows no signs of abating.


CAR bombs mainly targeting Shia-majority areas of Iraq killed at least 48 people yesterday, security and medical officials said, taking the July death toll to more than 780.

More than 3000 people have been killed in violence since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

Yesterday, 11 car bombs hit nine areas of Baghdad, seven of them Shia-majority, while another exploded in Mahmudiyah to the south of the capital.

Five more hit three towns south of Baghdad. The attacks wounded at least 226 people.

The violence came a day after attacks killed 14 people, among them nine Kurdish police who died in a suicide bombing in the northern town of Tuz Khurmatu.

Militants have carried out two highly co-ordinated operations in recent days, highlighting both their growing reach and the rapidly declining security situation.

Late on Wednesday, 150 militants attacked the northern town of Sulaiman Bek, drawing security forces away from the main highway in the area. About 40 militants then broke off, set up a checkpoint on the highway and executed 14 Shia truck drivers.

The highway killings were reminiscent of the darkest days of Sunni-Shia sectarian bloodshed in Iraq in 2006-2007, when thousands of people were killed because of their religious affiliation or forced to abandon their homes under threat of death.

Lingering tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites have been inflamed by persistent violence in Iraq and the civil war in neighbouring Syria, and there are growing fears the country is slipping back towards all-out sectarian conflict.

Iraq's Sunnis accuse the Shia-led government of marginalising and targeting their community, including through unwarranted arrests and terrorism charges.

In addition to security issues, the government is also failing to provide adequate services such as electricity and clean water while corruption is widespread.


Short of us going back in, it seems that Iraq may be headed for a long-overdue civil war. Our presence may have tempered that for a while, but the Sunni/Shia rift is just too vast to bridge without guns.

Of course, Afghanistan is no stranger to such violence...and while the primary players may go under different names, of course it's all in the name of Allah that this is being perpetrated. This is something that mystifies me about religion in general. You and I can read the same text, but come away with completely different interpretations. Westboro Baptist and the Christian Bible being just one example. Of course, the Taleban is fighting over the Q'uran, but I suppose that's a discussion for another day.


Scores were reported dead across Afghanistan Monday amid a pair of bombing attacks in southern Afghanistan and two military operations in the eastern part of the country. As many as 14, most of them civilians, died in separate bombing attacks in Zabul and Kandahar provinces, local officials said. A further 12 were injured in the southern Afghanistan attacks.

In the first incident, a police official, two guards and six pedestrians were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Zabul province, deputy provincial governor Mohammad Jan Rasolyar said. Twelve civilians, mostly children, were wounded in that explosion, which struck in a residential area Sunday evening, he said. But the presidential office put the death toll higher, at 11.

"According to Zabul provincial governor office, 11 of our compatriots were martyred and 12 others injured," President Hamid Karzai's office said in a statement. In adjacent Kandahar province, a mother was killed along with her two daughters when a roadside bomb placed by Taliban insurgents went off Monday, the governor's spokesman said. "The incident took place this morning in Spin Boldak district, in which a woman, with her two ... daughters (aged 14 and 15), were killed," Javed Faisal told dpa.

Karzai's office condemned the attacks, saying culprits of attacks during the holy month of Ramadan will be responsible before God. Meanwhile, 83 Taliban fighters were killed and 18 arrested in two ongoing operations launched by the Afghan national security forces, part of an ongoing Afghan national army and national police operation in Logar and Nangarhar provinces. "These operations are being carried out by the Afghan forces without any assistance from the international troops," Zahir Azimi, spokesman of Defence Ministry was quoted by the statement. He also said three army soldiers were also killed in the operation.



And because this is ostensibly a veteran's column, we'll take a look at two soon-to-be veteran's stories today. This actually horrified me, but other than that base emotion, I haven't got much more to say.


UNITY, Maine —There's no need for a Maine soldier who's deploying to Afghanistan to send letters home to his mother. That's because she's deploying at the same time -- and in the same unit.

Spc. Andrew Parker and his mother, Spc. Holly Parker, expect to deploy soon with the Maine National Guard. Andrew Parker told WABI-TV that it's "comforting" and Holly Parker called it a "source of pride."

The two from Unity are among nearly 200 soldiers from the 133rd Engineering Battalion deploying in August.

Sgt. 1st Class Randal Parker, father and husband, said he's used to being the one leaving for deployment. He said he's happy they'll have each other while on duty in a foreign land.


It's curious, though. I thought close relatives were banned from serving together, especially in the same unit, after the USS Juneau went down in WWII (The Sullivans), but upon closer examination, it seems to be only a US Navy policy and does not include ground forces.

Good luck to them both.
 

94 comments (Latest Comment: 07/31/2013 00:08:14 by Raine)
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