The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Now it's 'Obama's War': President sees same number of U.S. troops -
575 - die in Afghanistan as during Bush years
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303963/Obamas-War-Same-number-US-troops-die-Afghanistan-Bush-years.html
By David Gardner
Last updated at 1:55 AM on 19th August 2010
Grim milestone: The same number of American soldiers have died in
Afghanistan during Barack Obama's presidency as during George Bush's
entire time in office
Afghanistan was dubbed 'Obama's War' last night after it was revealed
that as many American soldiers have died in the conflict during his
presidency as during George Bush's entire time in office.
According to the latest death tally, 575 U.S. troops have lost their
lives in Afghanistan in the 20 months since Barack Obama took office
in January last year.
That is the same number of fatalities the U.S. military suffered under
Mr Bush, who launched the Afghan invasion nine years ago in the
aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
With his White House honeymoon well and truly over, Mr Obama is no
longer able to blame his country's travails on the previous
administration.
The latest grim milestone is likely to put him back on the defensive
over the Afghan war at a time when he is trying to put a positive spin
on his strategy to raise the stakes in an effort to beat back the
Taliban.
The revelation comes a day after the deaths of soldiers from Britain,
the U.S. and Australia pushed the total number of foreign casualties
in Afghanistan past 2,000.
The latest figures show that a total of 331 British military personnel
have died in the conflict.
The comparison of the human toll during the two presidencies is based
on statistics from icasualties.org, which tracks U.S. soldiers' deaths
using Pentagon reports.
It was highlighted yesterday by Robert Naiman, a columnist for the
Huffington Post news website and policy director for the Just Foreign
Policy Washington think-tank.
'When the next U.S. soldier is reported dead, the majority of U.S.
deaths in Afghanistan will have occurred under President Obama,' he
said.
'The majority of Americans – including the overwhelming majority of
Democrats, and at least 60 per cent of House Democrats – are deeply
sceptical of the administration's
Afghanistan policy not because they are knee-jerk pacifists –
obviously they are not – but because the human and financial cost of
the war is rising, we have nothing to show for the increased cost, and
the administration has not articulated a clear plan to reach the
endgame.'
As key mid-term November elections loom, Mr Obama's popularity has plummeted.
One of the biggest criticisms is the failure to achieve a breakthrough
in Afghanistan.
The President has promised a strategy review in December. But British
and U.S. commanders have already warned that the battle will only get
tougher as they push ahead with plans to take control of Taliban
strongholds.
June was the bloodiest month of the entire war with 102 foreign troops
killed, largely as a result of operations in southern Helmand and
Kandahar provinces. Another 88 soldiers were killed in July.
But in the last few days, the U.S. defence secretary Robert Gates and
General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in the region, said the
strategy for Afghanistan was on course.
Mr Gates added that the U.S. will definitely begin reducing the number
of its troops in Afghanistan on schedule next July.
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
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just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
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or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
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your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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