Politics and religion.

[Edwina's Secretary]

As I recall the worst month in Iraq was sadly, 99 casualties. How does this compare?

[Grace]

I may be mistaken but wasn't this month the worst for casualties in Afghanistan?

Now you are correct. From NPR -

August Deadliest Month In Afghanistan For U.S. Troops

By Frank James

A U.S. soldier was killed in a bomb blast in Afghanistan Friday, making it the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the eight years of the war.

The soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in struck a roadside bomb, according to the military.

All told, 45 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan in August as the U.S. has surged its military forces into the country with the aim of driving back the Taliban and insurgents.

Roadside bombs have caused many of the casualties since improvised explosive devices are so easy to conceal in the Afghanistan's unpaved roads. Meanwhile, the Taliban learned from observing the Iraq War how effectively deadly IEDs are.

The increasing death toll comes at the same time as support in the U.S. for the war appears to be declining among a war-weary public; the growing casualties are no doubt causing some of that loss of public backing.

Complicating President Barack Obama's challenge is the U.S. military's request for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan which would likely increase the casualties there, further eroding public support.

[blue]

This whole white text thing and photo-spying is pathetic. Grow up, man.

Why? This is the internetz.

Howinthehe!! did we get off the (once polite) debating on the theme of this thread? I'm just disgusted.

I find that tends to happen when a group of members single out 1 or 2 others to publicly mock, ridicule, and insult.

Agreed. This thread was taking on a somewhat sinister tone. Downright creepy.

Creepy, thats putting it mildly.

I sometimes think we have no business fighting all over the globe. America needs to look to it's own business. We have plenty of problems that we need to be working on.

Do you think we should be helping to improve the living conditions of third world countries? Should we be helping to improve womens rights in countries where women are oppressed? When American civilian volunteers are killed for trying to improve conditions in other countries should we just shrug our shoulders?