Clipmarks | BobbyDelray's Irad death stats etc collection

Pitiful More Forced to Stay in Army

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:24:04 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates' order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show.

STOP-LOSS NUMBERS INCREASE

Gates directed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service secretaries to minimize mandatory tour extensions, known as "stop loss," in January 2007

Since then, the number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army rose 43% to 12,235 in March

the military has sent more troops to Iraq and extended tours to 15 months to support an escalation in U.S. forces ordered by President Bush

Soldiers affected by stop loss now serve, on average, an extra 6.6 months

"Secretary Gates understands the hardship stop loss poses to our troops and their families, but he also understands the need to maintain cohesive units on the battlefield throughout deployment," Morrell said. "Troops who have trained together and fought together should remain together."

Tags: iraq, army, tour of duty

Ex-Rumsfeld deputy describes Iraq as 'major debacle'

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:37:08 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

The Iraq war has turned into a "major debacle," a former Pentagon official writes in a report published by the National Defense University in Washington.

"Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle," Joseph Collins writes at the beginning of his 60-page article.

Collins, a retired Army colonel, served as a senior DoD official under Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld.

Among the conclusions he reaches in Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath:

To date, the war in Iraq is a classic case of failure to adopt and adapt prudent courses of action that balance ends, ways, and means

Globally, U.S. standing among friends and allies has fallen. Our status as a moral leader has been damaged by the war

At the same time, operations in Iraq have had a negative impact on all other efforts in the war on terror

The central finding of this study is that U.S. efforts in Iraq were hobbled by a set of faulty assumptions

Tags: iraq, war, rumsfeld, joseph collins

Record number of soldiers committed suicide last year

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:58:51 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

A record number of active-duty soldiers killed themselves last year, according to The Washington Post.

The paper cites an internal Army study that shows 121 soldiers committed suicide in 2007. That's a 20% increase over the prior year

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed severe stress on the Army, caused in part by repeated and lengthened deployments," the paper reports. "Historically, suicide rates tend to decrease when soldiers are in conflicts overseas, but that trend has reversed in recent years. From a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2001 -- the lowest rate on record -- the Army reached an all-time high of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006

The number of attempted suicides among soldiers is six times higher than it was

The Associated Press is quoting preliminary figures that show more than a quarter of the suicides took place in Iraq

Click here for the warning signs that suggest someone is considering suicide

Tags: iraq, suicide, army, death, soldiers killed themselves

Iraq USA Turkey Kurdish = WW 3 Excuse

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:55:23 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray
clipper's remarks: This is going to get out of hand and drag us into greater peril.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

ISTANBUL, Oct. 22 — Turkey’s military confirmed today that eight of its soldiers were still missing after an ambush by Kurdish militants a day earlier that left at least 12 Turkish soldiers dead and touched off a major escalation in Turkey-Iraq tensions.

Kurdish militants claimed they had captured the missing soldiers, intensifying fears that Turkey would retaliate immediately by sending troops across the border into Iraq. Turkey said it hoped that the soldiers were simply out of communication range, but it continued today to bolster its forces on the border, including both land and air units.

Tags: eight, soldiers, mia, after, clashes, with, kurdish, separatists, turkey

95% of Troops in Iraq Americans

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:12:26 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

CNN's top story summarizes an essay about Burma by Laura Bush. MSNBC uses its front page to report on the "crumbling coalition" in Iraq, pointing readers to a report that says American forces will soon account for 95% of the troops on the front lines. Fox News sends a message to Fred Thompson, the former senator who participated in his first GOP presidential debate: "Welcome To the Show."

Tags: iraq, war, bush, troops

List of countries that still belong to U.S.-led coalition in Iraq

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:36:06 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray
clipper's remarks: Have to give props to El Salvador they have 300 soldiers doing peace keepking and humanitarian work.

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

ALBANIA:

ARMENIA:

AUSTRALIA:

AZERBAIJAN:

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA:

BRITAIN:

BULGARIA:

CZECH REPUBLIC:

EL SALVADOR:

ESTONIA:

GEORGIA:

KAZAKHSTAN:

MACEDONIA:

MOLDOVA:

MONGOLIA:

NETHERLANDS:

POLAND:

ROMANIA:

SLOVENIA:

SOUTH KOREA:

Tags: list, countries, belong, u.s.-led, coalition, in, iraq

Iraq Death Toll Rivals Rwanda Genocide, Cambodian Killing Fields

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:21:09 GMT

clipped by: Rasmus

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

According to a new study, 1.2 million Iraqis have met violent deaths since the 2003 invasion, the highest estimate of war-related fatalities yet. The study was done by the British polling firm ORB, which conducted face-to-face interviews with a sample of over 1,700 Iraqi adults in 15 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Two provinces -- al-Anbar and Karbala -- were too dangerous to canvas, and officials in a third, Irbil, didn't give the researchers a permit to do their work. The study's margin of error was plus-minus 2.4 percent.

The poll's findings are in line with the rolling estimate maintained on the Just Foreign Policy website, based on the Johns Hopkins' data, that stands at just over 1 million Iraqis killed as of this writing.

These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq rivals the great crimes of the last century

800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994

(1.7 million) who died in Cambodia's infamous "Killing Fields" during the Khmer Rouge era

Tags: iraq, usa, war, war on iraq

Petraeus: "I don't know" if war is making us safer

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:59:05 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Commanding General does not know if war helps US security.

Clip Source: blog.beliefnet.com

But the most stunning exchange of the day came on a question from Republican John Warner, one of the Senate's elder statesmen on military matters. The Chicago Tribune reported:

Warner concluded with a question: "Are you able to say at this time, if we continue what you have laid before the Congress here as a strategy, do you feel that that is making America safer?"

Petraeus said the strategy was the best course for achieving U.S. objectives in Iraq.

"Does that make America safer?" pushed Warner.

Said Petraeus, "Sir, I don't know, actually. I have not sat down and sorted it out in my own mind."

Petraeus' response to one of the most fundamental questions for the American people about the war in Iraq—does this war make us safer—was "I don't know." Every day, young Americans are being asked to risk and give their lives for a policy that the commanding general can't say is making America safer. Extraordinary.

Tags: petraeus, john warner, iraq, terrorism, war on terror