Thursday, August 11, 2011

US DEATH TOLL MOUNTS: BOMB KILLS FIVE U.S. TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN

ATLAS SHRUGS
Pamela Geller
August 11, 2011

Today another five heroes were killed in the war against jihad. The rate of US death under Obama's 'leadership' is unprecedented. Obama's war, "the good war," is a killing field for our soldiers, and has been since he took control. Last week CNS reported that "analysis of U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan" shows that "64% of those deaths have happened while President Obama has been in Office. At least 1,019 of 1,588 U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan have occurred since President Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009."
I have been writing about it since July 2009, here and here.
And that was before last Friday's attack resulting in the single largest loss of life in one day since the war began in 2001. Or this.
Bomb kills five U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan by Michelle Nichols

KABUL (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed five American troops in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the U.S. military said, less than a week after American forces suffered their worst single loss of the Afghan war when Taliban insurgents shot down a helicopter.

The U.S. military and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) did not give details regarding Thursday's incident. A Pentagon spokesman in Washington said the victims were Americans.

At least 50 foreign troops have been killed so far in August.

Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001, with record civilian casualties and high levels of foreign troop deaths during the first half of 2011.

A Chinook troop-carrying helicopter crashed five days ago in central Afghanistan after being hit by what U.S. officials believe was a rocket-propelled grenade, killing 30 U.S. troops, seven Afghan forces and one Afghan civilian interpreter.

ISAF said on Wednesday that it had killed the Taliban militants responsible for shooting down the helicopter.

The Pentagon on Thursday released the names of the U.S. forces killed, confirming that 17 of them were Navy SEALs and an additional five were special operations forces attached to the SEALs. There were also three special operations forces from the Air Force on the helicopter.

Overnight, Taliban insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in southern Helmand province, killing five Afghan policemen, Helmand police chief Abdul Hakim Angar said. No further details of the incident were available.

One foreign soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, ISAF said, giving no further details.

The spike in casualties -- almost 390 foreign troops have been killed so far this year, compared with a record 711 in 2010