The Un-Bush

As the article states, “Compare the two presidents.”

Compare the two presidents. One unleashed a war in Afghanistan he then left to languish, and sparked an unjustified war in Iraq, that became a catastrophe of mass death and chaos. He both maximally antagonized the Arab and Muslim world and didn't even score a major victory against the enemy. In many ways, Bush gave al Qaeda an opening in Iraq where it never had one before, and allowed its key leadership to escape at Tora Bora. The torture program, meanwhile, fouled up our intelligence while destroying our moral standing in the world.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/09/the-un-bush.html

70 Americans injured

70 Americans injured
http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?catid=20104430&feed_id=0&videofeed=36

U.S. trucking funds reach Taliban, military-led investigation concludes - The Washington Post

U.S. trucking funds reach Taliban, military-led investigation concludes - The Washington Post: "The unreleased investigation provides seemingly definitive evidence that corruption puts U.S. transportation money into enemy hands, a finding consistent with previous inquiries carried out by Congress, other federal agencies and the military. Yet U.S. and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow and ineffective, and all eight of the trucking firms involved in the work remain on U.S. payroll. In March, the Pentagon extended the contract for six months."

Families of 22 Navy SEALs killed come forward - CBS News

Families of 22 Navy SEALs killed come forward - CBS News: "In Afghanistan on Sunday, U.S. recovery teams removed the wreckage of the Chinook helicopter shot down by the Taliban in Wardak province, as well as the remains of the 30 Americans who were killed.
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the families of the group of men lost - which included 22 elite Navy SEALs - are beginning to come forward in their grief."

Ambush survivor up for Medal of Honor - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Ambush survivor up for Medal of Honor - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times: "Meyer was recommended for his actions on Sept. 8, 2009, near the village of Ganjgal in Kunar province. He charged into a kill zone on foot and alone to find three missing Marines and a Navy corpsman who had been pinned down under enemy fire for hours by about 150 well-armed insurgents. Already wounded by shrapnel before braving enemy fire, he found them dead and stripped of their gear and weapons, and carried them out of the kill zone with the help of Afghan soldiers, according to military documents obtained by Marine Corps Times."

Afghanistan war vet given highest honor

Afghanistan war vet given highest honor  | ajc.com</a>: "'This is the stuff of which heroes are made,' the president declared, before reaching out and shaking Petry's gray, robotic hand, which helped the soldier to remain active in the military and even redeploy to Afghanistan despite his serious injury."

The Mayors Have Had Enough of These Useless, Costly Wars « SpeakEasy

The Mayors Have Had Enough of These Useless, Costly Wars « SpeakEasy: "The Afghanistan War costs American taxpayers more than $2 billion a week at a time when communities are falling apart, and our mayors are fed up. On Monday, the United States Conference of Mayors is expected to pass a resolution calling for a speedy end of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars so we can use those funds here at home. The mayors are exactly right."

And there you go!

WAR CRIMINAL - Jeremy Morlock

Jeremy Morlock - The New York Times: "Specialist Jeremy M. Morlock and four other American soldiers from the Army's 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are accused in the killings of three innocent Afghan civilians in 2010.

Specialist Morlock faces a court-martial and a possible death sentence. He pleaded guilty in March, 2011 to three charges of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit murder, assault and other charges."

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: U.S. Spending on Iraq and Afghanistan by Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute, & Second

Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: U.S. Spending on Iraq and Afghanistan by Month, Week, Day, Hour, Minute, & Second

Federal Eye - Medal of Honor recipient Sal Giunta leaving Army

Federal Eye - Medal of Honor recipient Sal Giunta leaving Army

Giunta, 26, plans to move with his wife to Fort Collins, Colo. and will use the G.I. Bill to continue his education, according to Army spokesman George Wright. He is currently stationed in Vicenza, Italy as a member of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

U.S. Haggled to Find Takers for Detainees From Guantánamo

I kind of agree with the micro chip?

Last year, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed an unorthodox way to return Guantánamo Bay prisoners to a chaotic country like Yemen without fear that they would disappear and join a terrorist group.

The king told a top White House aide, John O. Brennan, that the United States should implant an electronic chip in each detainee to track his movements, as is sometimes done with horses and falcons.

“Horses don’t have good lawyers,” Mr. Brennan replied.

Medal of Honor Winner 'Humble, Heroic' – video 22.00 minutes

Gunmen Attack More NATO Supply Trucks in Pakistan - NYTimes.com

Gunmen Attack More NATO Supply Trucks in Pakistan - NYTimes.com

Dozens of tanker trucks carrying fuel to Afghanistan for NATO troops were torched near Quetta in western Pakistan on Wednesday, the third major attack on supplies since Pakistan closed a border crossing to Afghanistan a week ago and the first at the only checkpoint that remained open.

U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels - NYTimes.com

U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels - NYTimes.com

The 150 Marines of Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, will be the first to take renewable technology into a battle zone, where the new equipment will replace diesel and kerosene-based fuels that would ordinarily generate power to run their encampment.

For Female Marines, Tea Comes With Bullets - NYTimes.com

They expected tea, not firefights.

But the three female Marines and their patrol were shot at late on a recent day, when a burst of Kalashnikov rifle fire came from a nearby compound. The group hit the ground, crawled into a ditch and aimed its guns across the fields of cotton and corn.

In their sights they could see the source of the blast: an Afghan man who had shot aimlessly from behind a mud wall, shielded by a half-dozen children. The women held their fire with the rest of the patrol so as not to hit a child, waited for the all-clear, then headed back to the base, survivors of yet another encounter with the enemy.
For Female Marines, Tea Comes With Bullets - NYTimes.com

Coming home a different person - MULTIMEDIA

Survivors'
stories

Meet three soldiers and two Marines with
traumatic brain injury, hear their stories and see how their recoveries are progressing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/traumatic-brain-injury/#/home/

'IT CHANGES WHO WE ARE'

'IT CHANGES WHO WE ARE': "The doctor begins with an apology because the questions are rudimentary, almost insultingly so. But Robert Warren, fresh off the battlefield in Afghanistan and a surgeon's table, doesn't seem to mind.

Yes, he knows how old he is: 20. He knows his Army rank: specialist. He knows that it's Thursday, that it's June, that the year is 1020. Quickly, he corrects the small stumble: 'It's 2010.' He knows that his wife is Brittanie, that she's due with their first child any day now, and that they 'got married two to three weeks before I went to that country.'

Stumble No. 2: 'That country.'

David Williamson doesn't let it slide. "Which country?"

Stryker Soldiers Murder Charges: Hearing Begins Over Alleged Plot To Murder Afghans - video

Medal of Honor for living soldier: first time since Vietnam - CSMonitor.com

I'll post more when the President awards SGT Giunta


Medal of Honor for living soldier: first time since Vietnam - CSMonitor.com

The first living soldier to receive a Medal of Honor for the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan got a phone call from the president Thursday thanking him for his service and his “extraordinary bravery” in battle, according to the White House.

Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta from Hiawatha, Iowa, was assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment as a rifle team leader on October 25, 2007 when he rescued a fellow soldier who had been wounded and taken prisoner by insurgents during an ambush on US troops.

It was in the deeply violent Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan that his squad was split into two groups and Giunta first “exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a comrade back to cover,” according to a White House release.

Later, in the midst of fighting and while he was trying to link up with the rest of his unit, Giunta saw two insurgents carrying off a fellow soldier who had been grievously injured in the fighting.

Giunta threw a hand grenade and rushed toward the insurgents, killing one and injuring the other before rescuing the US soldier and tending to his wounds. The soldier later died of his injuries.

Born in 1985, Giunta enlisted in the Army in November, 2003. He had also been deployed to Afghanistan one year previously, from March, 2005 to March 2006, before heading back to the country for 15 months from May 2007 to July 2008.

He will become the eighth service member to receive the Medal of Honor for US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, “for acts of gallantry at the risk of his life that went above and beyond the call of duty.” All of the previous medals for both wars have been awarded posthumously.

The nation’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor – also known as the Congressional Medal of Honor – has been awarded posthumously to six troops fighting in the wars in Afghanistan in Iraq so far, with another to be conferred Oct. 6. Vietnam War troops earned the honor 246 times, and 464 were awarded for service in World War II.