The 12-Year War: 73% of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan on Obama's Watch

[Ryan Ruck]

The 12-Year War: 73% of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan on Obama's Watch

September 11, 2013

Twelve years ago today, nineteen al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four U.S. commercial airliners and flew them into the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

In the war that Congress authorized against al Qaeda only three days after that attack, the vast majority of the U.S. casualties have occurred in the last four and a half years during the presidency of Barack Obama.

In fact, according to the CNSNews.com database of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, 73 percent of all U.S. Afghan War casualties have occurred since Jan. 20, 2009 when Obama was inaugurated.

The 91 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan so far in 2013 are more than those that occurred in the first two full calendar years of the war (2002 and 2003) combined, when 30 and 31 U.S. troops were killed there.

On Sept. 14, 2001, Congress approved a resolution authorizing the president “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons.”

By October 2001, U.S. forces were engaged in Afghanistan, seeking to remove al Qaeda from the sanctuary it had used there to launch the Sept. 11, 2001 attack.

Since then, most of the leaders and participants in the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been killed or captured. But the United States not only remains at war in Afghanistan, it continues to suffer significant casualties there.

In total, 2,144 U.S. military personnel have given their lives fighting in and around Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

1,575 of the U.S. military personnel who have sacrificed their lives in this cause were killed during the presidency of Barack Obama.

That means 73 percent of the casualties in the Afghan War have happened on Barack Obama’s watch.

Under President George W. Bush, from 2001 to 2008, 569 U.S. military personnel were killed in and around Afghanistan fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.

So far this year, during the twelfth year of the Afghan War, 91 U.S. military personnel have given their lives in Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense reported 17 casualties in May and 18 in June--the two deadliest months for U.S. troops in Afghanistan so far this year. Typically, the summer months from June to September are the deadliest for U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.

Among the 91 U.S. casualties reported so far this year, all but 9 have been combat-related.

During the now 12-year-long Afghan War, the four deadliest years for U.S. troops were also the four years of Obama’s first term.

Total U.S. Combat Deaths in Afghanistan

2001: 5
2002: 30
2003: 31
2004: 49
2005: 94
2006: 87
2007: 111
2008: 151
2009: 303
2010: 497
2011: 494
2012: 294
2013: 91 (From Jan. 1, 2013 to Sept. 10, 2013)

Obama also has presided over the top five deadliest months of the war, which include: August 2011, when there were 71 deaths; July 2010, when there were 65 deaths; June 2010, when there were 60 deaths; October 2009, when there were 58 deaths; and August 2010, when there were 55 deaths.

On Feb. 17, 2009, less than a month after taking office, President Obama announced the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, fulfilling his campaign promise to shift U.S. military forces to Afghanistan.

During a speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy (USMA), at West Point, on Dec. 1, 2009, President Obama announced an additional increase of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan. The president stated that “it is in our vital interest” to send the additional troops.

The CNSNews.com database of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan is based on official Department of Defense casualty announcements, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) information and media accounts.

With the exception of four U.S. military personnel who died in ships supporting missions in Afghanistan and 12 who died in Pakistan, the database does not include U.S. military personnel supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in other areas of the world.

(Operation Enduring Freedom’s main battlefield is in Afghanistan but it includes smaller military operations in the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, Caribbean, and Trans Sahara, as well as support operations from aircraft carriers and other U.S. vessels.)

[vector7]

Companion Thread: US Casualty Rate In Afghanistan Under Obama Increases 500%, Yet No Antiwar Protests. Why?

This falls right in line with what Biden stated during the Vice Presidential debate. Biden outlined Obama's military strategy in Afghanistan was to embed greater numbers of Afghan forces who have been infiltrated by Islamic Terrorists with our troops and why our soldiers casualty rate has gone up exponentially under Obama's watch!!!



The Administration's ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, al qaeda, causing Egypt, Benghazi...while they calling the Fort Hood massacre work place violence?

These people need to be removed from office and tried for treason!

[Ryan Ruck]

Thanks for the link vector. I thought we had a thread on the increase in casualties but couldn't find it.

[vector7]

This new thread is fine.

The Administration's policy of embedding Islamic Terrorists with our troops is directly responsible for the maimed and mortality rate going up in Afghanistan.

Yet very few understand what they have done to our fighting men and women in service.

Is it good to have more Muslims in US military?

By Jijo Jacob
on June 18 2011 5:01 AM


A soldier wounded in Afghanistan applauds as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to troops at Fort Campbell in Kentucky May 6, 2011. Obama addressed several military units that have recently returned from duty in Afghanistan. REUTERS

A Lance Corporal Marine Corps reservist was taken into custody on Friday after it was established that he was the person dubiously spotted near the Pentagon and had parked his car in the bushes nearby.

Yonathan Melaku, 22, was arrested as police believed he posed a potential threat to the US military headquarters.

Though it was reported earlier that a bag recovered from his car contained ammonium nitrate, ammunition and al Qaeda literature, the police have confirmed it was not true.

It was also revealed that Melaku had been in nearby Arlington National Cemetery overnight. Melaku is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Ethiopia.

According to the police it's an 'unfolding case.' However, the incident has turned the spotlight on the role of Muslims in the US military.

The 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that followed it, presented the US military with a unique problem surrounding military personnel belonging to the Muslim faith.

The military decided to recruit more Muslims, hoping it will contribute to more cultural diversity and lessen prejudices against serving Muslim Americans.

However, the specter of Muslim soldiers being won over by terror ideologies remained a live threat.

And soon the situation became more complex, with the US entering into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Muslim soldiers in the US military were severely torn between the sense of national duty and the fear of killing innocent fellow Muslims.

And then, the Fort Hood shooting exasperated the tensions. The fear of Muslim military personnel crossing over to enemy ranks gained slow momentum, increasing the latent tensions.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood shooting, is a case in point. The military could not establish if the mass killing was an act of terrorism while some politicians demanded a probe into the various angles of the crime.

The New York Times had reported that a look into Major Hasan’s life in the military gave insights into the struggles and frustrations felt by other Muslims in the services. He was disillusioned with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which he perceived to be part of a war on Islam, according to interviews with friends and relatives, the report said.

It was revealed later that Maj. Hasan shouted 'Allahu Akbar!' (God is greatest) before opening fire on soldiers at Fort Hood.

Another shocking incident took place in 2003 when Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar killed two soldiers and wounded 14 when he threw a grenade into a tent. Sgt. Akbar, a convert to Islam, was sentenced to death. It emerged that he believed the U.S. military was killing innocent Muslim civilians.

The US military leadership is obviously caught in a tough bargain. As the NYT puts it, the service of Muslim-Americans is more necessary and more complicated than ever before.



Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees Among U.S. War Wounded

First Posted: 05/30/11 09:43 AM ET Updated: 07/30/11 06:12 AM ET

Follow
Afghanistan War , U.S. Casualties , U.S. Troops , Walter Reed , Amputees , Ieds , Marines , War Wounded , World News



American soldiers and Marines walking combat patrols in Afghanistan have suffered a surge of gruesome injuries, losing one or both legs and often their genitals to crude homemade bombs Taliban insurgents bury in dirt roads and pathways.

In some cases, American military surgeons tell The Huffington Post, these traumatic amputations occur so close to soldiers' hips that it is difficult to fit prosthetic legs, severely limiting the patients' future mobility and rehabilitation. In addition, the loss of sexual function for formerly healthy young men in their early 20s causes severe anxiety and depression and can wreck new marriages.

The latest wave of severe injuries comes after Gen. David Petraeus ordered U.S. troops in Afghanistan last year to get out of their protective armored vehicles and start walking. "Patrol on foot whenever possible and engage the population," he directed in guidance to his troops last August.

The order was hailed as an essential counterinsurgency tactic used to get closer to the people, pick up intelligence more effectively and demonstrate American resolve to protect local villagers from Taliban insurgents.

But the enemy -- as Petraeus himself is fond of saying -- gets a vote, and the insurgents have attacked the dismounted patrols with a vengeance, planting lethal bombs inches beneath the dusty soil where a footstep can detonate them in blinding flashes.

Insurgents often make the bombs using a plastic bucket packed with explosive ammonium nitrite fertilizer and a simple "trigger" made with two sticks of wood or a discarded plastic bottle that completes a circuit and detonates when crushed. The crude components make the bombs more difficult to detect than those once made with metal parts.

Improvised explosive device (IED) attacks against dismounted troops have skyrocketed, from five in April 2009 to 210 in April 2010 to 376 this past April, according to data gathered and analyzed by the Pentagon's counter-IED agency, the Joint IED Defeat Organization. JIEDDO counts "attacks" as IEDs detected before they explode, ones that detonate without causing casualties and ones that kill and maim.



Because dismounted troops walk with their weapons held out in front of them, an IED detonation often blows off the extended arm as well as both legs, according to Army medical staff.

That was the case with Marine Cpl. Tyler Southern of Jacksonville, Fla. He was 20 when he stepped on an IED that detonated with 10 pounds of homemade explosive in a village near Musa Qala, southern Afghanistan, in July 2010. The explosion was so big "it should have left me in pieces," he told The Huffington Post.

It almost did, tearing off both of his legs and most of his right arm and severely lacerating his left. During subsequent medical care he flat-lined twice, with medics each time managing to bring him back to life before he reached the Bethesda Naval Medical Center four days after the attack.

The number of dead and badly wounded IED survivors like Southern grew so rapidly that when Lt. Gen. MIchael Barbero took over JIEDDO in March, his operations research chief, Dr. Caryl Brzymialkiewicz, got in to see him promptly. "Boss, we got a problem," she told him.



The good news, she reported, is that American troops are adept at finding the buried IEDs. In April 2009, American and allied troops discovered only one out of every five IEDs before they detonated; the rest blew up harmlessly or killed or wounded troops. This past April, thanks to better training and improved detectors, the troops found and disarmed 79 percent of known IEDs, leaving only four percent to cause American or allied casualties, according to JIEDDO data.

Yet the sheer number of IED attacks means that even as troops find more of the bombs, casualties still skyrocket because of all of the devices left undiscovered.



IED attacks caused casualties to dismounted U.S. and allied troops to rise from 93 recorded in the first nine months of 2009 to 368 in the same period last year, according to JIEDDO data released exclusively to The Huffington Post.

Among those casualties was Marine Sgt. Johnny Jones, 24. A bomb disposal expert, he was on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan last summer when he stepped on an IED. The blast threw him into the air and he landed on his back in a deathly silence. Both his legs were gone and his right hand was nearly severed. The Marine next to him, Cpl. Daniel Greer, was alive but barely breathing, and later died.

As the attacks increased, surgeons at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility in Germany, where casualties are first brought from Afghanistan, tracked a growing number of severe wounds among patients arriving from the battlefield. Those with traumatic amputations -- in which one or more limbs has been blown off in combat -- increased from seven percent of all casualties in 2007 to almost 11 percent last year. Wounds to the genitals and urinary tract rose from 91 patients in 2007 to 142 last year.

The Defense Department does not release precise data on the effectiveness of IED blasts, because such information would be valuable to Taliban bomb-makers. But the Pentagon's public accounting of Afghanistan war casualties shows that American battle deaths from IEDs rose from 152 in 2008 to 275 in 2009 to 368 last year. Since late 2001, IEDs in Afghanistan have taken the lives of 683 Americans and severely wounded 6,670.

"We've seen a dramatic increase in the number of service members who have not only amputations above the knee but what we call hip disarticulation, meaning they have no femur at all," Dr. Paul Pasquina, chief of orthopedics and rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., told The Huffington Post.



"So not only are they losing their legs, but half of their pelvis. And we've seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of casualties returning with testicular injuries or genital loss, and that has severe life-long implications" for these wounded troops, Pasquina added. Today, the patients at Walter Reed include at least four quadriplegics.



Soldiers and Marines arriving at Walter Reed with both legs blown off usually suffer other extensive injuries. Shrapnel perforates the abdomen, dirt and filth are driven deep into wounds and soft tissue; in some cases, the explosion tears away large patches of skin in an injury called "de-gloving."

Heterotopic ossification, or bone growth in fleshy areas, can severely hamper the use of artificial limbs. Infections set in; blood clots can form. And in most cases, the patient arrives with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, which can hamper rehabilitation.

"There's just challenge after challenge, sad story after sad story," said Pasquina. "But at the same time we have had remarkable success, and pretty much 90 percent of it is attributed to the courage our service members have, their determination to recover and reintegrate back into society."

But the loss of sexual function can be "devastating," said Bo Bergeron, chief of physical therapy at Walter Reed. "It's a pretty big issue when a guy finds out he can't have any more kids -- and the spouse is sitting there," she told The Huffington Post. In common cases where a young wife has quit her job and flown with the kids a thousand miles to sit at the bedside of her now-disabled husband, "the family situation already is pretty tenuous. It's just very very difficult," she said. The divorce rate among married patients is above 50 percent.

Despite such challenges, the amputees at Walter Reed tackle their rehabilitation with aggressive cheer. Many wear T-shirts emblazoned with a fiery explosion and the phrase, "I had a blast," designed and distributed by Tyler Southern and his father. High-tech, powered prostheses help many of them regain athletic prowess. It's not uncommon to see amputees sprinting down the hallways; several who once played ice hockey have been fitted with artificial legs with skates attached.

But in Afghanistan, the problem -- and the danger -- remain unabated. Much of the money the United States has spent to counter IEDs in Afghanistan has gone to a dizzying array of high-tech devices, ranging from miniature robots to sensors mounted on aerostats and on unmanned drones. Dismounted patrols work with hand-held detectors like the Vallon, which uses ground-penetrating radar to hunt for non-metallic bombs, and with trained sniffer dogs.

But JIEDDO found that while it had saturated U.S. ground combat units with detectors and other devices, training had fallen behind.

"We have focused on pushing these equipments and enablers and detectors out to the theater -- and that's the right answer," Barbero told The Huffington Post. "But that creates a challenge of training."

In some cases, he said, the first time soldiers and Marines see the new equipment is when they show up for duty in Afghanistan.

JIEDDO is accelerating training for troops bound for Afghanistan, with focused pre-deployment exercises at the Army's National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., and the nearby Marine training base at Twentynine Palms, Calif. "There's a lot of forward momentum on this," said Brzymialkiewicz. "We know what drives early detection is visual: a well trained soldier."

But in the struggle with IEDs, she added, "there is, of course, no silver bullet."


Obama’s Pentagon Blames U.S. Troops For Afghan ‘Friendly Fire’ Murders: Orders ‘Muslim Sensitivity’ Training

By Rat on September 17, 2012 • ( 14 )

‘THE AFGHANS WHO KNOW WE’RE DOING THIS CULTURAL SENSITIVITY CRAP ARE LAUGHING THEIR ASSES OFF AT OUR STUPIDITY’



Why do more and more reports about the Regime continue to sound like something right off SNL’s Weekend Update? I guess some things just can’t be made up. Still – this one would be hysterical – if it weren’t so tragic.

In response to the continuing slaughter of American troops by their Afghan “partners” – 33 this year along – the Pentagon has responded. By blaming our troops.

Yes, America, top officials in O’s Pentagon believe culturally offensive behavior is the motivation behind the killings. So, it’s done what any weak-kneed, apologetic liberal Regime would do – stepped up Islamic sensitivity training for our troops. From the New York Post:

“If you don’t want to be shot in the back by your Afghan training partners,” the Pentagon advises, “don’t offend their religious sensibilities.”

As one might imagine, General. Sher Mohammad Karimi, the Afghan National Army’s chief of staff, echoes the Pentagon’s assessment – arguing earlier this month that both sides need to do more to “teach” foreign troops Islamic traditions and values to reduce the chance of violent reactions to “cultural slights.” Excuse us Mohammad, but we’re not used to being shot, blown up or beheaded over “cultural slights.” Perhaps you could teach Afghans about the cultural habits of the civilized world.

To avoid offending our high-strung fanatical “partners,” U.S. commanders are now putting troops through intense Muslim sensitivity training. Among other things, troops have been ordered to:

• Wear surgical gloves whenever handling a copy of the Koran. (You can’t make this stuff up.)
• Never walk in front of a praying Muslim. (You might get shot or beheaded – on the spot.)
• Never show the bottom of boots while sitting or lying across from a Muslim, which in Islam is considered an insult. (Of course, it’s perfectly acceptable for maniacal Muslims to jump up and down on burning American flags.)
• Never share photos of wives or daughters. (Even if they’re wearing burqas?)
• Never smoke or eat in front of Muslims during the month of Ramadan fasting. (As opposed to “Never set a church on fire in Africa while parishioners are inside praying.”)
• Avoid winking, cursing or nose-blowing in the presence of Muslims – all viewed as insults in Islam. (It is acceptable, however, to scream “America go to hell!” at the top of your lungs – particularly in large crazed groups.)
• Avoid exiting the shower without a towel. (You know, because these sexually-angry lunatics can’t help but stare at your junk.)
• Avoid offering and accepting things with the left hand, which in Islam is reserved for bodily hygiene and considered unclean. (Obviously, the majority of U.S. troops murdered by these clowns were left-handed.)

PJ Media’s Andrew Klavan has a few additional tips on how to avoid offending Muslims:

Military officials who have done tours in Afghanistan are outraged that the Pentagon would even suggest US troops are partly to blame for their own murders – saying their Muslim “partners” would still resent them even if they followed Islamic protocol to the letter.

“The cultural affronts excuse is a bunch of garbage,” a senior US Army intelligence official said. “The Afghans that know we’re doing all this PC cultural sensitivity crap are laughing their asses off at our stupidity.”

He continued: “They’re killing us because we’re ‘infidels occupying Islamic lands.’ It’s what the Koran and every imam over there is telling them, and no amount of cultural sensitivity is going to stop that or change the fact that we’re ‘infidels.’”

As is the case with the Regime’s laughable spin on the attack on the consulate in Libya which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and three other brave Americans, to suggest that our troops in Afghanistan are somehow partially responsible for their own deaths at the hands of their Afghan “partners” is to disrespect not only their memory, but their service to our country as well.

And Obama can’t fathom why a growing number of Americans hold him responsible for deteriorating conditions in the Muslim world.




Meanwhile...
Obama: “We Can’t Rush To Judgment About These Individuals Or Groups Of People”, Gets Name Of One Of Victims Wrong


Watch as Obama tries to argue away the roots and connection to radicalism of the terrorist brothers. They aren’t the white patriot terrorists the left would like, but he tries his best to make them domestic:

He says “we can’t rush to judgment about these individuals or groups of people”. Translation: don’t look behind the curtain at the Islamic radical connection.

He also got the third victim’s name wrong, calling her is “Lingsu Lu”, rather than Lingzi Lu. Please try to get the names of the victims right, Mr. President.

Nickarama | April 19, 2013 10:15 pm





The Left hates the America's military, when our soldiers are at their weakest in need...

Pelosi: VA Scandal is Bush’s Fault For Starting Wars That Overloaded System



“Maybe when we go into war, we should be thinking about its consequences and its ramifications. You would think that would be a given, but maybe it wasn’t. And so, we go in a war in Afghanistan, leave Afghanistan for Iraq with unfinished business in Afghanistan. Ten years later, we have all of these additional veterans. In the past five years, two million more veterans needing benefits from the VA. That’s a huge, huge increase... The veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are going to cost us 4 to 5 trillion dollars.” – Nancy Pelosi

Nancy seems particularly angry that care for the vets is going to allegedly cost the government trillions that it could be spending on vote-buying handouts:

“The veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are going to cost us 4 to 5 trillion dollars.” – Nancy Pelosi

[vector7]

bump