Free Republic

"President Barack Obama passed a tragic milestonetoday as the military announced the death of the 1,000th solider to die since he took over as Commander in Chief. Army Sgt. First Class James E. Thode, 45, of Kirtland, N.M., became the 1,000th soldier to die since Obama took office. He is survived by a wife and two children. SFC Thode died Dec. 2 at Sabari District, Khowst Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1457th Engineer Battalion, 204th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Salt Lake City, Utah..." Complete coverage at...

The death of a sailor from Florida marks a sad milestone for the President of the United States. Since Barack H. Obama became the Commander in Chief, 900 soldiers have lost their lives. The 900th to die was Edwin Gonzalez, 22, of North Miami Beach, Florida. The Department of Defense says Gonzales was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom as a Hospital Corpsman. He died Oct. 8 from wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Forces, Atlantic, Camp Lejeune, N.C. You can see the list...

The death of a soldier from Nassau, New York tipped a tragic scale in American History. More soldiers have now died in the Afghan war under President Obama than died under President Bush. As the total Obama military death count (all locations) nears 800, the death tolls in the Afghan war are on the rise. ...Army Staff Sgt. Derek J. Farley, 24, of Nassau, N.Y., died Aug. 17 at Bala Boluk, Farah, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated as he attempted to disarm it. His death was the 576th in Afghanistan under the first two years...

Guess what, war is hell Toronto Sun Wednesday, September 06, 2006 By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN For all those who wondered what the mindless, idiotic repetition of the phony idea that we are a "peacekeeping" nation would do to Canadians over the long term, now we know. Today, we can't stomach 32 military deaths fighting for a just cause before crying "uncle." Shame on us. Shame on us for betraying our soldiers, who continue to do the tough job we asked them to do for us in Afghanistan. Where would we be today if our parents and grandparents had displayed the...

Since Front Line Views....No. 1 was posted at FR on 3/12/06, my son in Afghanistan who also served 8 months in Gulf War I in Saudi Arabia and Iraq has emailed additional observations. Subjects include: real casualty rates (KIA) vs. press reports, "appearance" of soldiers vs. actual military skills/performance, soldiers as civil servants vs. being warriors, and official prohibition against unapproved body armor. Remember, he is in Afgh. so some observations may not fit Iraq, but others do. Some of what he says is harsh, he never was one for pussyfooting. Paragraphs in quotes are HIS words. The rest is...

Shortly, the 2,000th death of an American serviceman or woman will occur in Iraq. That will generate an orgy of coverage in the American press on how “deadly” the war is. Sidebars will suggest that citizens are becoming “increasingly doubtful” about the conduct of the war. This Newsbusters article denounces that coverage as dishonest, in advance. I wrote on 24 April, 2004, that the War on Terror is the LEAST bloody war in the history of the United States, measured by deaths per month. This is true going back to the Revolutionary War, even though the nation’s population then was...