"June Is Deadliest Month for Troops as Country Sees Taliban
Resurgence"

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; A01

June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the
war there began in late 2001, as resilient and emboldened insurgents
have stepped up attacks in an effort to gain control of the embattled
country.

Defense officials and Afghanistan experts said the toll of 28 U.S.
combat deaths recorded last month demonstrates a new resurgence of the
Taliban, the black-turbaned extremists who were driven from power by
U.S. forces almost seven years ago. Taliban units and other insurgent
fighters have reconstituted in the country's south and east, aided by
easy passage from mountain redoubts in neighboring Pakistan's lawless
tribal regions.

The officials and experts said the spike in troop deaths should not be
the only measure of the growing conflict in Afghanistan, but they
acknowledged that the Taliban's persistent attacks on military units
and civilians have frustrated U.S. and international efforts to help
the Afghan government secure the country.

"What it points to is that the opposition is becoming more effective,"
said Barnett R. Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University.
"It is having a presence in more areas, being better organized, better
financed and having a sustainable strategy. In all, their strategic
situation has improved."

Violence in rural areas controlled by the Taliban and in eastern
provinces along the border with Pakistan has increased in recent weeks
as insurgents have begun using more makeshift bombs, borrowing a
tactic honed by insurgents in Iraq. According to top U.S. commanders,
the number of violent incidents has risen nearly 40 percent during the
first half of 2008 compared with last year.

The grim total surpassed the 27 troop fatalities in Afghanistan in
June 2005. But that total included the 16 troops killed on a single
day in a helicopter crash.

The 28 U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs, small-arms fire and
rocket attacks and in unspecified combat operations. The total nearly
equaled the 29 announced U.S. troop deaths last month in Iraq, where
violence has abated in the wake of the buildup of U.S. forces that
began last year.

There have been 533 U.S. combat deaths to date in Operation Enduring
Freedom, which includes Afghanistan and other areas. About 32,000
American troops are stationed in Afghanistan, along with about 30,000
from other countries. The United States has 145,000 troops in Iraq,
according to the Defense Department.

British troops also experienced one of their worst months for combat
fatalities since the invasion of Afghanistan, with 13 killed in June.

Although the summer traditionally brings increased fighting in
Afghanistan, where mountainous terrain becomes more passable, Pentagon
officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, have called
the past month a particularly difficult time.

The department's first congressionally mandated report on Afghanistan
last week predicted increased violence throughout 2008. U.S. and
international forces are fighting both an entrenched Taliban and
extremist groups, including al-Qaeda, that are using Pakistani tribal
areas to recruit and train fighters before sending them across the
border.

Defense officials point to the situation in Pakistan as a central
problem. As the Pakistani government has reduced pressure on militants
in largely ungoverned tribal areas, insurgents have increased their
movement and attacks.

"That has proven to be particularly problematic lately," said Geoff
Morrell, the Pentagon's press secretary. As in Iraq, he added, "a
military solution will not suffice. There has to be better governance,
less corruption, more economic development and more vigilance paid to
counternarcotics in order to ultimately bring peace and stability to
Afghanistan."

Seth Jones, a Rand Corp. expert on Afghanistan, said some areas, such
as Helmand province, have experienced an increase in violence because
U.S. troops have moved into areas controlled by insurgents. In some
rural areas, however, insurgents have moved in and are facing little
or no government influence.

"As you track these numbers month by month, you do see peaks and
valleys in levels of violence," Jones said. "It is not surprising to
see peaks in the spring and summer. The biggest concern is the sheer
levels of violence incrementally increasing since 2002. The biggest
concern is that violence levels are higher than they ever have been."

Some experts, including those at the Pentagon, say that the war in
Afghanistan will probably become more violent before it calms, meaning
the next U.S. president could inherit an increasingly bloody conflict.

"A lot of it is psychological warfare, with the belief that what they
have to do is stay in the game," said Marvin G. Weinbaum, an
Afghanistan expert at the Middle East Institute. "They want to draw
attention to themselves as a serious force, with the expectation that
the international community is going to tire of this and is going to
back off."

He added: "They don't expect to take over the country in the short
term; they're playing for the longer term. What they have done
recently is to accelerate the strategy."

Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.

"Iraq War Limits U.S. Options, Says Chairman of Joint Chiefs"

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 3, 2008; A01

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.

Mullen and President Bush also addressed the possibility of a conflict
with Iran in separate appearances yesterday, with both saying they
favor diplomacy over the use of military force. Asked directly about
the possibility of an Israeli strike against Iran, Bush, in an
appearance in the White House Rose Garden, said: "I have made it very
clear to all parties that the first option ought to be solve this
problem diplomatically." But he refused to rule out the use of force
in the standoff over Iran's effort to develop nuclear weapons.

Bush also promised to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan by the end
of the year. He acknowledged the increasing violence there, saying
that "we're going to increase troops by 2009," but did not offer
details.

Mullen said military commanders are looking at the prospects for
sending additional troops to Afghanistan in 2009, but only if
conditions in Iraq continue to improve over the coming months, which
would allow some forces to be withdrawn and reallocated. The war in
Iraq has occupied as many as 20 military brigades during the troop
buildup over the past year, reducing violence there substantially but
convincing many officers and experts that a quick drawdown in Iraq
would jeopardize gains.

Recent bleak assessments about the Taliban and a dramatic increase in
the number of attacks in Afghanistan have left military commanders
with nowhere to turn as they seek more troops. The Army and Marine
Corps have been stretched thin by numerous deployments to both war
zones, and the administration has been unable to persuade allies to
send more troops.

"The Taliban and their supporters have, without question, grown more
effective and more aggressive in recent weeks, as the casualty figures
clearly demonstrate," Mullen said. ". . . We all need to be patient.
As we have seen in Iraq, counterinsurgency warfare takes time and it
takes a certain level of commitment."

In April, Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the
United States was not doing all it should in Afghanistan and that more
troops were needed. At a meeting in Fort Lewis, Wash., two weeks ago,
Mullen said that he needed at least three more brigades in Afghanistan
but that troop constraints were preventing such a move. "We are in a
very delicate time," he said.

Members of Congress and critics of the Iraq war have argued for years
that Iraq has diverted resources from the fight in Afghanistan.
Mullen's comments underscore the effect of keeping roughly 145,000
troops in Iraq. Unlike the critics, however, Mullen sees both wars as
vital to creating a stable region and wants to wait for sustained
progress in Iraq before trying to shift resources.

About 60,000 troops from 40 nations are in Afghanistan, 32,000 of them
from the United States.

"We need to make deeper cuts in Iraq to be able to do Afghanistan at
greater strength, but it makes me nervous to accelerate the drawdown
in Iraq," said Michael E. O'Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings
Institution. "It's dangerous to throw away what you've been able to
succeed in doing in one place in the hope that you might help a
mission where you're having relative failure elsewhere."

James Jay Carafano, a military expert at the Heritage Foundation, said
it is clear that the war in Afghanistan needs more troops. He argued
that the only sensible strategy is to hold the line there until
brigades can be moved out of Iraq.

"If you want to deal with Afghanistan, you have to deal with Iraq
first," he said. Carafano said he thinks the next president could
reduce forces in Iraq significantly by 2011, allowing a "responsible
force" to be in Afghanistan by that time.

Addressing a potential conflict with Iran, Mullen said he strongly
favors diplomacy over military action to deter Tehran from seeking
nuclear weapons. Mullen visited Israeli officials last week but
declined to provide details on his discussions with them.

"Clearly there is a very broad concern about the overall stability
level in the Middle East," Mullen said. For the military, "opening up
a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us," he added.
"That doesn't mean we don't have capacity or reserve, but that would
really be very challenging, and also the consequences of that
sometimes are very difficult to predict."

Mullen said he opposes a military strike on Iran by either the United
States or Israel.

"My strong preference here is to handle all of this diplomatically
with the other powers of governments, ours and many others, as opposed
to any kind of strike occurring," Mullen said. "This is a very
unstable part of the world, and I don't need it to be more unstable."

[Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.]

  “In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and
affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and
lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual
current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the
course, which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I
may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial
benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to
moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of
foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended
patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for
your welfare, by which they have been dictated.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
     What Would the U.S.A.'s Founding Fathers Do?

  If the representatives of the people betray their constituents,
there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that
original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive
forms of government ... The citizens must rush tumultuously to
arms, without concert, without system, without resource;
except in their courage and despair ...

  The natural strength of the people in a large community, in
proportion to the artificial strength of the government, is greater
than in a small ... the people, without exaggeration, may be said
to be entirely the masters of their own fate.
  -- Alexander Hamilton

  We in America do not have government by the majority.
We have government by the majority who participate.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good
conscience to remain silent.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of
the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe
depositories.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to
keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves
against tyranny in government.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now
let us show them we can fight like men also.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going
to do.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the
Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will
delineate and define you.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on
does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which
they draw their gains.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

 I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied
corporations which dare already to challenge our government to
a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

  I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our
liberties than standing armies.
  -- Thomas Jefferson

yeah, just gotta love the way the Bush administration shows its
support for the troops.  first of all extending the army tour of duty
from 12 to 15 months, and now flip flopping regarding The 24th Marine
Expeditionary Unit.

*beginning of excerpt from the article, for fair use and educational
purposes

Military leaders as recently as Wednesday stressed the need for
additional troops in Afghanistan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, has repeatedly praised the work of the 24th MEU
in fighting Taliban militants in Helmand Province.

*end       of excerpt from the article, for fair use and educational
purposes

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A cry for wolf or a tortured baby?  Shit man, who cares.  I, and many of us,
welcome the end.

This is Today's Post from Kurt Brown -- Saint Ram Bone, of Mobile
Audit Club

http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/democracyordeath/

Daily Foreword July 5, 2008:  It appears the federal government or the crime
syndicates associated with the federal government has taken my case very
personal for my pointing out the crime syndicates murdering and stealing in
the federal banking regulatory system.  I believe they have put someone
following me and last night, he tried to provoke a fight with me.

The man is about 6' tall, weighs around 240 pounds, caucasian, and about 35
to 42 years old.   He likes to wear a wig.  The first time, it was a pony
tail, sort of like the aging hippies would wear.  The second time a regular
man's haircut, both times they looked like wigs.   The question becomes when
dealing with the federal crime syndicates and those who control them, is he
a man as we humane humans are?  Or perhaps we should ask, is his boss or
controller a man as we humane humans are?

The first time I saw him was outside a Lowe's Department store on or around
July 2 or 3, 2008, then outside of a Home Depot on July 3 or 4, 20008, and
on both occasions in Pensacola Florida, that warmongers and war profiteers
stronghold city by the more war criminal of those who are part of the regime
in power.

Last night, I was watching the 4th of July fireworks in Mobile Alabama over
the Bay while parked under the overpass approaching that wretched city of
Mobile.   The man pulled up in a pickup truck with a Dixie flag on the back
tailgate post.  He had on a mullet wig, trying to be a cliché I guess.  I
had one beer during the fireworks and carried the empty container to a
garbage can when we were leaving.  I put the container in the can and when I
was walking away, I threw the top and missed the can.  I can not see in the
dark well due to being blinded by poisons when in forced probation and exile
after forced injections and a forced jail sentence for gun ownership, legal
ownership, after the attack on my life detailed on Mobile Audit Club's
Assassination Attempt Details page.    Therefore I could not retrieve the
cap, because I could not see it in the dark.

The man said something when I was walking away about me being the biggest
fag in Mobile.  I did not say anything because I recognized him when he
pulled up.  He was the man from Pensacola.  When I was driving away with my
friend, the man said, "Here is your beer cap you piece of shit", and then
acted as if throwing something at my vehicle.   Some other people were
nearby and said, "Leave him alone.  Trying to pick a fight always aren't you
Redneck".  What the brother did not recognize was that it was a cop or
associate of federal assassins trying to provoke me, Kurt Brown, alias Saint
Ram Bone, American Holocaust Victim and former FDIC bank examiner, turned
informant, and the man wanted a fight, to either maim me or kill me.

The federal government has factions that do not give me or anyone relief.  I
moved back to Los Angeles in April of 2001, and I was injected and tortured
after parking on VA property.  I was addicted to a drug given to me by the
VA, which I have quit taking long ago.  I was to get a refill and had my
Uhaul.  They will use any thing to capture you and torture you if you cross
the enemy negative capitalists war criminal regime in power.

So, I pray to God and ask our people, "Please God give us relief, either in
peace or in death".  "We can not fight them by ourselves and war engenders
war, so we look beyond with our mind's eye and amass your army, as the time
has come for them or us to pay the death toll."

Like a beautiful bracelet, mankind was worn on God's wrist, and now, it is
being turned into barbed wire by the lesser factions.  Guess who's wrist?
Guess who's ring is in the nose?  Or is that, Guess whose ring is in the
knows?

The regime has us beset with murders and suicides to look like murders.

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&q=dead+murdered+suicide+ba...

IT's their time under bat, next up, the third point.

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&q=third+point+metaphysical...

Never trust the regime in power. You can rest assured also, if a woman is
put into jail while pregnant, something will be wrong with that child once
it is born, in most cases? Why? Is it the woman, or what happens to her and
the child while in the jail? In Mobile Alabama, Sheriff Jack Tillman stole
food funds from the babies mouths and practically starved some inmates while
he was stealing all that he could. The regime approved of it, as he is
retired now with a 6 thousand dollar a month pension and he took my gun
permit when I had no gun on 4-3-2001 and I was going to report his thievery
in Mobile at the most enemy government to me and my people, the closed
dictatorship of federal and local war criminals. I hope we go to war with
the assistance of God's hand and vengeance and that we have humane humans
side in victory. Negative capitalists deserve death and dismemberment of
their ill gotten fortunes. Herald the rise of the Humane Socialist and
Positive Capitalist collective across the globe. We humane humans deserve
better or death, not a lunch of barbed vine.

If anyone is familiar with George Orwell's book titled Animal Farm, you
realize that the warmonger sect of lower infantile mentality will always
have us slip back to a lesser degree of existenc. I have known Jewish and
Muslim women and loved them both equally. Why do they fight? Why do we
fight? I fight for survival and peace of mind. I may have to leave, but
abandonment of one's love ones is a heinous and silent crime or atrocity or
misgiving that leads to malfeasance. So, as usual, I turn to art in music
with women as part. Here is Tau, Animal Farm, played in Tel Aviv by two
momen (music video.)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3373275734571312957&q=music+...

Tau is 400, perhaps the year of ones true death. In 1608, on the Isle of
Wight, the white man befriended the Indian. What became of him, them? Do
they walk among us, to be among the dead this year.

This concludes Today's Post from Kurt Brown -- Saint Ram Bone, of Mobile
Audit Club

http://www.angelfire.com/zine2/democracyordeath/"Sacco's Missing Pene"