DISAPPOINTED! But not surprised...

The announcement by Obama that is expected this Tuesday, which will mean the deployment of 25,000 or more additional troops to Afghanistan, is big-time disappointing to me, but I am not surprised.

I'm mostly sad.

Sad that our government hasn't admitted that you can't win a "war on terror" by terrorizing a part of the world.

Sad that soldiers coming home with PTSD and other ailments and injuries are given some meds and then sent back into war.

Sad for the mothers and fathers who will never see their son or daughter again - American parents, British parents, Afghan parents, Iraqi parents - people who loved their children.

Sad that it will take $1 million per soldier per year to pay for this escalation while people here and abroad are hurting financially.


From MidEast Dispatches: Where Will They Get the Troops? : Preparing Undeployables for the Afghan Front

In a grim November 3rd Wall Street Journal piece (buried inside the paper), Yochi Dreazen reported record suicide rates for a stressed-out U.S. Army. Sixteen soldiers killed themselves in October alone, 134 so far this year, essentially ensuring that last year's "record" of 140 suicides will be broken. This represents a startling 37% jump in suicides since 2006 and, for the first time, puts the suicide rate in the Army above that of the general U.S. population.

After eight years of two major counterinsurgency wars (and various minor encounters in what used to be called the Global War on Terror), with many soldiers experiencing multiple tours of duty, with approximately 120,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq and almost 70,000 in Afghanistan, with the Afghan War clearly in an escalatory phase, commanders in the field calling for 40,000-80,000 more American troops, and base construction on the rise, the military's internal problems are clearly escalating as well.

As Dahr Jamail, author of The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Sarah Lazare report, under these circumstances, the Army is digging deep for deployable troops; in fact, it's dipping into a pool of soldiers who have already been damaged or even broken by their experiences in our war zones -- and that's just to meet present deployment needs. Perhaps it's not surprising then that Dreazen included this striking passage in his report: "At a White House meeting Friday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff urged President Barack Obama to send fresh troops to Afghanistan only if they have spent at least a year in the U.S. since their last overseas tour, according to people familiar with the matter. If Mr. Obama agreed to that condition, many potential Afghanistan reinforcements wouldn't be available until next summer at the earliest."

This coming Wednesday, people all over the country will be standing in vigil to protest Obama's troop escalation. If you live in the Denver area, join us:

Announcing a vigil to be held the day AFTER President Obama announces the troop escalation in Afghanistan

In order to show our disdain for the troop escalation in Afghanistan,
we will gather from 4:30 - 6 pm on the sidewalk in front (west side) of the Capitol building.

Come join us with signs showing YOU still care and do NOT support the troop escalation.

Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee.