[Peace-discuss] This to stop terrorism?

[C. G. Estabrook]

Not entirely.

Robert Naiman wrote:
> The lead paragraph is factually incorrect. Reuters has been contacted, and I
> expect them to run a correction.
> 
>>>> KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The number of American soldiers killed
>>>> in Afghanistan has reached 1,000, an independent website said on
>>>> Tuesday, a grim reminder that eight years of fighting has failed to
>>>> defeat Taliban insurgents.
> 
> On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 4:07 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
> wrote:
>> Given that there's one US war in the Mideast - not two, three, or more - 
>> this may be a better way of reporting it.  It makes clear that there is one
>>  cause for US invasion and occupation from Palestine to Pakistan, not many.
>> 
>> 
>> The Obama administration occasionally distinguishes "theaters" in what the 
>> Pentagon calls the Long War, and that may be an appropriate way to do it. 
>> Military operations by Japan and Germany in the 1930s and 40s, spread over 
>> various theatres, could reasonably be compared with continuing US
>> operations over a longer period of time.
>> 
>> 
>> Robert Naiman wrote:
>>> This Reuters report was wrong. The 1000 number on icasualties.org is all
>>> "operation enduring freedom," including the Horn of Africa and the 
>>> Philippines. The correct number for Afghanistan right now is more like 
>>> 930.
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 3:44 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu> 
>>> wrote:
>>>> U.S. death toll in Afghanistan hits 1,000: website Michael Georgy 
>>>> KABUL, Afghanistan Tue Feb 23, 2010 2:10am EST
>>>> 
>>>> KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The number of American soldiers killed
>>>> in Afghanistan has reached 1,000, an independent website said on
>>>> Tuesday, a grim reminder that eight years of fighting has failed to
>>>> defeat Taliban insurgents.
>>>> 
>>>> Icasualties.org said 54 U.S. troops were killed this year in
>>>> Afghanistan, raising the casualties to 1,000, compared to eight in
>>>> Iraq, where the total has reached 4,378. The rise to 1,000 dead
>>>> coincides with one of the biggest offensives against the Taliban, a
>>>> NATO-led assault in the Marjah district of Helmand, Afghanistan's most
>>>> violent province.
>>>> 
>>>> The operation is an early test of U.S. President Barack Obama's troop 
>>>> surge strategy aimed as wresting control of Taliban bastions and
>>>> handing them over to Afghan authorities before the start of a gradual
>>>> U.S. troop withdrawal in 2011.
>>>> 
>>>> Afghanistan is high on Obama's foreign policy agenda and more American 
>>>> casualties or a military campaign that fails to bring stability to the 
>>>> country could harm his presidency.
>>>> 
>>>> Violence is at its highest level since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban. 
>>>> Last year was the deadliest of the war for civilians and foreign
>>>> troops.
>>>> 
>>>> Marjah is a prime example of the challenge facing U.S. troops and their
>>>>  NATO allies. They have taken over key areas, but still face pockets of
>>>> stiff resistance from the Taliban, who have littered roads with hidden
>>>> bombs.
>>>> 
>>>> The success of the operation hinges on whether they can keep Taliban 
>>>> fighters from re-capturing their stronghold and ensure Afghan forces
>>>> can secure the area on their own.
>>>> 
>>>> Ultimately Marjah can only be stable once the local government provides
>>>>  enough jobs and economic opportunities to keep the local population on
>>>>  its side, eradicating conditions that breed militancy, analysts say.
>>>> 
>>>> Obama announced in December he was adding 30,000 more U.S. troops to
>>>> the Afghan war effort. He hopes to start bringing U.S. troops home from
>>>>  Afghanistan in the middle of 2011.
>>>> 
>>>> (Editing by Bryson Hull and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
>>>> 
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>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
> 
> 
> 

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