WASHINGTON POST: TOP MILITARY OFFICER SAYS U.S. DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH TROOPS TO SEND TO AFGHANISTAN.

The war in Afghanistan is now the "hot spot" in the Middle East, but because the U.S. has 160,000 troops in Iraq the top military commander says there are not enough troops to send to Afghanistan.

President Bush wants 30,000 troops sent to Afghanistan, but nobody knows where they are going to get them.

A Shortage Of Troops in AfghanistanIraq War Limits U.S. Options, Says Chairman of Joint Chiefs

By Josh WhiteWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, July 3, 2008; A01

http://tinyurl.com/5e3mk2

The nation's top military officer said yesterday that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to tamp down an increasingly violent insurgency, but that the Pentagon does not have sufficient forces to send because they are committed to the war in Iraq.

Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said insurgent Taliban and extremist forces in Afghanistan have become "a very complex problem," one that is tied to the extensive drug trade, a faltering economy and the porous border with Pakistan. Violence in Afghanistan has increased markedly over recent weeks, with June the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began in 2001.

"I don't have troops I can reach for, brigades I can reach, to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq," Mullen told reporters at the Pentagon. "Afghanistan has been and remains an economy-of-force campaign, which by definition means we need more forces there."
Mullen has raised similar concerns over the past several months, but his comments yesterday were more pointed and came amid rising concern at the Pentagon over the situation in Afghanistan, where insurgents have regrouped in the south and east.

VIOLENCE AND U.S. CASUALTIES YOU WON'T HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT BUT ON THIS BLOG

As CBS' Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan recently said on the Jon Stewart "Daily Show," her editors have told her "once you have seen one soldier in uniform you have seen them all."

The mainstream media in the United States has completely turned their back on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because as Logan said; "once you have seen one soldier in uniform you have seen them all."

The mainstream media in the United States doesn't give a lick about the 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know this. Just look at any newspaper or watch any news show on FOX NEWS, CNN or MSNBC and the last thing you are ever going to see is a report about our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The most disgusting organization in the entire world is the mainstream media in the United States. They are bigger traitors to the U.S. military than anything Al Qaeda could EVER do.

The following acts of violence took place on Thursday in Iraq and Afghanistan. YOU WON'T HEAR A SINGLE THING ABOUT THEM ON FOX NEWS, CNN OR MSNBC. They are too busy covering BS stories like what Gen. Clark said about Sen. McCain or the latest teenage missing person.

COMMENTS BY BILL CORCORAN EDITOR OF CORKSPHERE

Thursday, July 3, 2008

War News for Thursdays, July 03, 2008

Casualty Reports:Jamie Cooper,19,who served with 2 Rifles, was testing radio equipment outside Basra's Shat al Arab Hotel in 2006 when two mortar bombs exploded. The first blasted his hands and right arm and the second ripped opened his buttocks, severing the nerves to his leg as shrapnel went through his pelvis and into his stomach.

July 2 airpower summary:

Reported Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: Unknown gunmen on Thursday blew up the house of an MP from the Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC) in western Baghdad, a media source from the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) under Abdulaziz al-Hakim said. "The explosion did not hurt anyone, as the house was empty," he added.Militants planted a bomb in the abandoned home of Shi'ite parliamentarian Shatha al-Moussawi, in western Baghdad, that wounded 4 people including one woman in a neighbouring house, police said. Moussawi had not been living there.

#2: Tuesday Three unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police today; one in Nidhal Street, one in Nahdha area and one in Amil.

#3: U.S. forces killed two militants and captured 10 other suspected militants in various operations targeting al Qaeda in central and north-western areas of Baghdad on Wednesday and Thursday, a U.S. military statement said.

#4: A roadside bomb targeted a U.S military convoy near Biscolata factory, Ameriyah, west Baghdad at 4 a.m. Thursday. No casualties were reported.

Hilla:#1: A home-made bomb killed four people when it exploded in a cafe just east of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Suwayra:#1: Iraqi police found the bodies of two civilians dumped in the Tigris River near Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) south east of Baghdad, police said

.Kut:#1: Iraqi police arrested two wanted militants in a raid in eastern Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

Jillam:#1: U.S. troops found 14 unidentified bodies buried randomly near a city in Salahud in province on Thursday, a provincial police source said. The troops discovered the bodies scattered in the open area of Jillam, some 20 km east of the city Samarra, and handed them over to the city police, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The victims were all men who have been killed recently with bullets holes in different parts of their bodies, the source said.

Tikrit:#1: A roadside bomb wounded five guards when it struck the convoy of Tikrit police chief Hamid al-Namis, in central Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source who declined to be named, said

.Mosul:#1: Gunmen shot dead a civilian inside a computer games arcade in northern Mosul, police said

#2: Gunmen killed an off-duty policeman in eastern Mosul, police said.

#3: Two militants were killed in a gunfight with police, one of whom also died, in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The policemen were guarding a local bank.

Afghanistan:#1: Taliban insurgents ambushed a convoy of Afghan soldiers but 25 of the attackers were killed in a subsequent clash in the northwestern province of Badghis on Wednesday, an official said, adding there were no casualties among the soldiers.

#2: A roadside bomb struck a NATO force convoy, destroying a vehicle, but caused no casualties near Spin Boldak town on the border with Pakistan on Thursday, an official said.

McCAIN LAGS IN MILITARY DONORS

McCain Lags in Military Donors
Posted: 01 Jul 2008 04:06 PM CDT

The Charlotte Examiner has a great article contrasting the views of different military personnel and veterans as to who they support for President. The article hits both sides fairly well. What really comes through to me is that the Republicans cannot take the military vote for granted as they have in years past.

The most interesting fact, however is this: John McCain is losing the money race by more than $100,000 among donors who cite "military" as their occupation. The decimal places speak volumes as to the opinion of veterans on John McCain's lockstep policy agreement with the failed strategies of the current administration that has failed the military, its veterans, and the American people.

ARMY SHUTS DOWN BLOGGER FROM IRAQ

According to VetVoice, the Army has shut down a blogger who was writing about his experiences as a member of the military in Iraq.

Army Shuts Down Popular Milblogger in Iraq
Posted: 02 Jul 2008 12:31 PM CDT
http://www.vetvoice.com/

Wired.com's Danger Room is reporting that the Army has ordered an infantry officer in Iraq to cease blogging and to remove all previous content from his popular blog:

An outspoken soldier who wrote one of the most brutally honest blogs ever to come out of Iraq has been forced to shut down his site, after criticizing his superior officers one time too often.
In Iraq since December, 2007, the pseudonymous "LT [Lieutenant] G," described firefights and combat patrols and tribal meetings and the banality of life on base with equal measures of sarcasm, aggression, introspection, and attention to detail. Within months, his site, Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal, became one of the military's blogosphere's best-loved voices from the war.

There are arguments to be made on both sides of this deal, and even LT G has accepted some responsibility for the situation going sour. He wrote this a few days ago, before being told to pull his site completely:

Due to a rash posting on my part, and decisions made above my pay-grade, I have been ordered to stop posting on Kaboom, effective immediately. Though I committed no OPSEC violations, due to a series of extenuating circumstances -- the least of which was me being on leave -- my "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage" post on May 28 did not go through the normal vetting channels. It's totally on me, as it was too much unfiltered truth. I'm a soldier first, and orders are orders.

So it is.

If you think, please think of us.

If you pray, please pray for us.

The second half of our deployment will be just as challenging and dangerous as the first half.
Thank you for caring. Agree or disagree with the war, if you're reading this, you are engaged and aware. As long as that is still occurring in a free society, there is something worth the fighting for.

I sincerely hope that the Army is only enforcing the regulations out of a sense of fairness to other soldiers who blog.

If they're not--and this just a reaction to criticism coming from within the ranks--then this will stand as just another bumbling example of the poor leadership that has gripped the highest levels of the Army in recent years.

Either way, we'll miss LT G's writing.

CNN REPORTS: MORE VETERANS THAN EVER END UP HOMELESS: GOVERNMENT ESTIMATES PUT HOMELESS VETS AT 200,000

(CNN) -- "I can't find the right words to describe when you are homeless," says Iraq war veteran Joseph Jacobo. "You see the end of your life right there. What am I going to do, what am I going to eat?"

By Mike MountCNN
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/02/homeless.veterans/index.html#cnnSTCText

War trauma sends many veterans to the streets where they beg for survival.

Jacobo is one of an increasing number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who come home to life on the street. The Department of Veterans Affairs is fighting to find them homes.
Veterans make up almost a quarter of the homeless population in the United States.

The government says there are as many as 200,000 homeless veterans; the majority served in the Vietnam War. Some served in Korea or even World War II. About 2,000 served in Iraq or Afghanistan.


The VA and several nongovernmental organizations have created programs that address the special needs of today's veterans returning from war. In addition to treating physical and mental injuries, there are career centers and counseling programs. But the VA still expects the homeless rate among the nation's newest veterans to rise because of the violent nature of combat seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Officials say many more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer post-traumatic stress disorder than veterans of previous wars. The government says PTSD is one of the leading causes of homelessness among veterans.

"They come back, and they are having night trauma, they are having difficulty sleeping. They are feeling alienated," says Peter Dougherty, the director of homeless programs for the VA.
The VA says 70 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan saw some form of combat, either through firefights, rocket attacks or the most common strikes on troops -- roadside bomb attacks on their vehicles.

That is three times the rate of combat experienced by Vietnam veterans, according to the VA.