17 Sep
United States Wars, News and Casualties
In the Vietnam era, stories like this and television reporting on the war contributed to the end of the Vietnam War in a time frame of much less than 17 years.
As deployment of the last 17 years only came to a sub set of young people, and TV and news rarely covered the searing violence of war, eschewing such content for minor content (Kardashians, Tweets, outrageous behavior), the daily violence and futility went “off stage”.
One is invited to read the daily post, “United States Wars, News and Casualties” and then watch the daily news on the U.S. TV Media.
The absence of U.S. War News is atrocious.
We need this daily report of our wars in our face………..Daily.
The McGlynn
Damn The War Criminals,Bush,Cheney,Rice,Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Powell and Blair from England.
How many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago? Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again.
The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in our country as a “blunder,” or even a “colossal mistake.” It was a crime.
Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of a mostly amnesiac citizenry.
We condemned children to death, some after many days of writhing in pain on bloodstained mats, without pain relievers. Some died quickly, wasted by missing arms and legs, crushed heads. As the fluids ran out of their bodies, they appeared like withered, spoiled fruits. They could have lived, certainly should have lived – and laughed and danced, and run and played- but instead they were brutally murdered. Yes, murdered!
The war ended for those children, but it has never ended for survivors who carry memories of them. Likewise, the effects of the U.S. bombings continue, immeasurably and indefensibly.
The McGlynn
War News
Photo Afghanistan
DUBAI (Reuters) – A air strike by the Saudi-led coalition against a radio station in Yemen’s Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah killed four people on Sunday, residents and medical sources said.
The attack took place as U.N. officials engaged in shuttle diplomacy to arrange a resumption of peace talks in the four-year-old.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis has intensified its air campaign and resumed an offensive to capture Hodeidah after U.N.-sponsored peace talks collapsed earlier this month when the Houthi delegation failed to show up.
The renewed attacks on the Red Sea port city, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, could put further pressure on U.N. special envoy Martin Griffiths, who has said he will press ahead with diplomacy.
Four employees of the Almaraweah radio station were killed when coalition warplanes bombed its building, residents and medical sources told Reuters. The Houthis’ al-Massirah TV had said earlier that four employees were killed, three of them guards.
The coalition did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The coalition of Sunni Muslim states, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and armed by the West, has said taking control of Hodeidah would force the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement to the negotiating table by cutting off its main supply line.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban on Monday attacked Afghan police and military bases, killing at least 10 members of the security forces, Afghan officials said.
In northwestern Badghis province, five officers were killed, including Abdul Hakim, the police commander of a reserve unit, in an attack that took place near the provincial capital of Qala-i-Now.
Jamshid Shahabi, spokesman for the Badghis governor, said around 22 Taliban fighters were killed and 16 others were wounded during the gunbattle there.
And in northern Baghlan province, the Taliban launched attacks against a joined army and police base, killing three army and two police officers, said Gen. Ekramuddin Serih, the provincial police chief.
Serih said that four other members of the security forces were wounded in the attack, which took place in the Baghlani Markazi district.
“The base is under the control of the Afghan security forces now and reinforcements have also been sent to the district,” he said. The police chief added that at least 20 Taliban were killed and wounded in the fighting.
The insurgents issued no statements on these attacks and no group immediately claimed responsibility but both Shahabi and Serih blamed the Taliban, who have a strong presence in both provinces and often attack on Afghan security forces.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Latest on developments in Afghanistan (all times local):
An Afghan official says Taliban attacks in western Farah province since the previous night have killed at least 17 members of the country’s security forces.
Fared Bakhtawer, head of the provincial council in Farah, said on Monday that the attacks took place in different parts of the province, including checkpoints around the provincial capital. He says a group of Taliban fighters targeted checkpoints in the district of Push Rod, where 10 policemen died. Another attack struck in Bala Buluk district where seven were killed and at least three others were abducted by the insurgents. Separately, also in Bala Buluk, six policemen surrendered to the Taliban after an intense battle.
He added that there were also attacks elsewhere in Farah but couldn’t provide any casualty figures, pending more detailed reports.
GHAZNI, Afghanistan/KABUL — Afghanistan’s poorly armed and underpaid police are usually on the frontlines against Taliban militants and they lost 90 men defending the strategic city of Ghazni last month, underlining chronic weaknesses that are likely to face further tests.
The four days of intense fighting in Ghazni have highlighted problems, including resentment of the regular military, that are increasing as the insurgents step up pressure to disrupt parliamentary elections next month.
Dozens of policemen have been killed since the Ghazni fighting as the Taliban have attacked northern cities and districts including Sar-e Pul, Baghlan and Samangan. In Kunduz province, 15 police personnel were killed in one incident last week.
“We fight for our country but we don’t get the benefits and respect given to a soldier,” said Ghazni policeman Mohammad Zaman, reflecting the long-standing resentment that has hampered coordination among security forces.
“We suffered a lot of casualties and many policemen were killed but the government has paid no attention to us. We haven’t even been paid yet,” he said.
Though generally less well paid and equipped than their army colleagues, Afghan police forces have been on the front line of the insurgency for years, sitting in exposed checkpoints where they bear the brunt of the fighting and suffer heavy casualties.
Organized combat in Iraq’s second city ended more than a year ago, but the city remains crippled by deadly munitions that still lie hidden beneath huge mounds of rubble.
The heavily destroyed Old City district of Mosul, where ISIS militants were cornered, is still littered with unexploded ordnance.CreditCreditIvor Prickett for The New York Times
MOSUL, Iraq — As the calamitous civil war next door in Syria grinds on toward a final battle in Idlib, with an unthinkably tragic end in sight, it’s worth taking a look farther east, at this shattered Iraqi city. Today, Mosul stands as a measure of how difficult “recovery” can be in this part of the world, even after the gunfire stops.
Here, more than a year after the formal end of fighting that drove out the Islamic State’s fighters, the path to recovery runs literally through a three-dimensional minefield with the dangers of war still present everywhere.
Explosive hazards implanted by the Islamic State, too dangerous and numerous to deactivate, still strew destruction, allowing the terrorist group to continue fighting in absentia and on the cheap. Their strategy has been, in a word, shrewd: Retreat from Mosul only after making life unlivable by making infrastructure all but impossible to fix.
So this remains a city of debris, nearly seven million tons worth, much of it concealing improvised explosive devices — I.E.D.s — and conventional ammunition that failed to detonate. Yes, an international team of experts is working to defuse both types of ordnance. But real security is still distant, given the slow pace at which we can clear the hazards with minimal funding and too few experts. So, the terror planted here by terrorists continues to stifle the economy and society in Iraq’s second city.
I.E.D.s are everywhere — lethal needles placed in haystacks of uncleared rubble, some triggered by infrared sensors, some by tripwires.
Teams like ours from the United Nations Mine Action Service (Unmas) find the needles, but the going is slow: They can never be sure how many still lie there as they assess the risk, probe, and render safe the armaments that they find.
The work takes a practiced eye and a delicate touch. Tools range from hook-and-line kits used to disarm I.E.D.s to armored heavy equipment that can help dispose of 500-pound bombs buried under several feet of debris. Both tasks take time, lots of it. At the present pace, clearing just Mosul is expected to take teams like ours at least 10 more years…………..Hanging in the balance is the future of Iraq, already a middle-income country and primed for recovery. Each of the 1.9 million displaced persons still waiting to return safely home to resume a normal life in a normal community bolsters Iraq’s own chances for a turnaround. But not before their homes are free of hazards, the roads are safe to travel, the power works, and basic services are restored.
After open combat in Idlib ends, the recovery needed to achieve true pacification among bitter enemies and terrorist renegades will begin. As in Mosul, we expect I.E.D.s and unexploded munitions to complicate and challenge a recovery that is long, difficult and contested by enemies of reconciliation operating as they do here — hide in plain sight and, when they choose, fight from shadows.
Without a restoration of normalcy, the terrorists can still “win from home” if we let them.
Syrian children on a bus leaving Shebaa, in Lebanon, to return to their home country in July. As of the end of 2017, 68.5 million people worldwide had been forced from their homes.CreditCreditAli Dia/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In 1951 a young boy and his family fled their burning village during a brutal war that brought immeasurable death and destruction to their country. He witnessed pronounced human suffering that would continue to haunt him in the days and years to come.
This child uprooted by conflict was me — the same boy who would grow up to be elected as the eighth secretary general of the United Nations in 2006.
As secretary general, I met so many children around the world, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, who reminded me of my own wrenching experience of displacement. Seeing myself in each of them, I have remained determined to elevate the plight of refugees to the top of the global agenda today.
As of the end of 2017, a record 68.5 million people around the world had been forced from their homes, including 25.4 million refugees, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Only 102,800, less than 1 percent of the total number of displaced, were admitted for resettlement in 2017. Furthermore, data from the Missing Migrants Project shows that nearly 2,000 refugees and migrants died during the first six months of 2018 as they made perilous journeys across borders and high seas.
Faced with images of unthinkable suffering from the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, or with evidence of gross human rights violations in Myanmar and elsewhere, too many leaders have lacked the necessary courage to respond with generosity and support. Some leaders have gone so far as to actively encourage prejudice against refugees and migrants simply to win votes.
Countries in the developing world — Turkey, Pakistan, Uganda, Lebanon, Iran, Bangladesh and Sudan — are host to among the largest numbers of refugees, while the prosperous nations of the global north have failed (with the exception of Germany) to share the burden fairly. This needs to change.
By Khaama Press on 17 Sep 2018 1:50pm .
The Taliban militants launched deadly attacks on a number of security posts in western Farah province of Afghanistan, leaving several security personnel dead.
Provincial governor’s spokesman Mohammad Nasir Mehri confirmed the incident and said the militants launched attacks on security posts in Bala Bolik and Posht Rod districts.
Mehri further added that the attacks were launched late on Sunday night and as a result at least fifteen security personnel have lost their lives.
He said at least five security forces were martyred after the Taliban militants attacked their security posts in Posht Rod district.
According to Mehri, the Taliban militants also attacked the security posts on Farah-Farah Rod highway, leaving at least ten security personnel dead.
At least five Taliban militants were also killed during the clashes with the security forces, the provincial governor’s spokesman added.
In the meantime, a member of the provincial council says at least 17 security personnel have lost their lives during the clashes.
The anti-government armed militant groups including Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.
War Casualties By Name – Search by Name:
Recent Casualties:
Color Denotes Today’s Confirmation
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.
Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard, 42, from Thornton, West Virginia, died Sept. 3, 2018, of wounds sustained from small arms fire in Logar Province, Afghanistan. The incident is under investigation.
Bolyard was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, Fort Benning, Georgia.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Taylor J. Galvin, 34, from Spokane, Washington, died Aug. 20, 2018, in Baghdad, Iraq, as a result of injuries sustained when his helicopter crashed in Sinjar, Ninevah Province, Iraq. The incident is under investigation.
Galvin was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Care for Veterans:
PTSD: National Center for PTSDPTSD Care for Veterans, Military, and FamiliesSee Help for Veterans with PTSD to learn how to enroll for VA health care and get an assessment.
All VA Medical Centers provide PTSD care, as well as many VA clinics.Some VA’s have programs specializing in PTSD treatment. Use the VA PTSD Program Locator to find a PTSD program.
If you are a war Veteran, find a Vet Center to help with the transition from military to civilian life.
Like this:
Like Loading...
This entry was posted
on Monday, September 17th, 2018 at 6:42 am and is filed under United States Wars.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
