Obama's War - an introduction

A short paragraph from the Associated Press today announced that the first members of President Obama’s military surge have arrived in Afghanistan. To mark this regretful occasion (and bearing in mind that this is actually the 2nd “surge” in that country ordered by this president), The Left Shue introduces “Obama’s War” as a regular feature. To run as a sort of companion to the Iraq War Resolution News (IWR News), “Obama’s War” will provide the names and numbers of American service members who have been killed or wounded while serving in Afghanistan.

As a means of providing a baseline for the Afghanistan numbers I present the following:

Total number of US Casualties to date: 935

Year of first casualty: 2001 – Number of casualties: 12

Highest number of casualties prior to Obama inauguration: 155 (2008)

Casualties 2009 YTD: 305

Total US wounded: 4434*

Wounded 2009: 1803*
*Totals for US wounded reported through October, 2009

Most recent US casualty:
Tech. Sgt. Anthony C. Campbell Jr., 35, of Florence, KY died Dec. 15 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Just as in Iraq, tracking civilian deaths does not seem to be much of a priority for our government. Nevertheless, according to figures released by the UN, in 2008 there were approximately 2118 Afghan civilian deaths with 1160 attributed to the Taliban and Al Qaida and 828 caused by coalition forces. So far in 2009 that total number is listed as 2014.

With the election of Barack Obama I was hoping that I might soon be able to put the “IWR News” into the “archives only” category. Therefore it is with great sadness that I find myself compelled to add this new feature and hope that it serves as a reminder that sometimes change isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue