Escape the Okie Zone
this a personal creative non-fiction journal about a traveler and his evolving life. He saw the waning warmth of humans through his puppy's eyes and now he see the world through his child's eyes. He thought much of our country's warmth went dormant when Bush held our country hostage! Some of my hostile readers suffering from overinflated egos might actually think that I might be writing about them on this blog! Get a life please ;)Thursday, February 04, 2010
another reason to for my son to be Aussie!
They were the first known U.S. military fatalities in Pakistan's lawless tribal regions near the Afghan border and a major victory for militants who have been hit hard by a surge of U.S. missile strikes and a major Pakistani army offensive.
The blast also killed three schoolgirls and a Pakistani soldier who was traveling with the Americans. Two more U.S. soldiers were wounded, along with more than 100 other people, mostly students at the school, officials said.
Wired's Noah Shachtman suggests that these attacks underline the fact that, whether or not the U.S. government says so, we are fighting a full-blown war in Pakistan, and should start treating it as such:
It's another sign that America's once-small, once-secret war in Pakistan is growing bigger, more conventional, and busting out into the open. The U.S. Air Force now conducts flights over Pakistani soil. U.S. security contractors operate in the country. U.S. strikes are growing larger, more frequent, and more deadly; the latest attack reportedly involved 17 missiles and killed as many as 29 people. Billions of dollars in U.S. aid goes to Islamabad. And now, U.S. forces are dying in Pakistan.
Which begs the question: When are we going to start treating this conflict in Pakistan as a real war -- with real oversight and real disclosure about what the hell our people are really doing there? Maybe at one point, this conflict could've been swept under the rug as some classified CIA op. But that was billions of dollars and hundreds of Pakistani and American lives ago.
The attack took place in Lower Dir, which like much of the northwest is home to pockets of militants. The Pakistani army launched a major operation in Lower Dir and the nearby Swat Valley last year that succeeded in pushing the insurgents out, but isolated attacks have continued.
The Americans were traveling with Pakistani security officers in a five-car convoy that was hit by a bomb close to the Koto Girls High School.
"It was a very huge explosion that shattered my windows, filled my house with smoke and dust and also some human flesh fell in my yard," said Akber Khan, who lives some 50 yards (45 meters) from the blast site.
It is such a shame that a large portion of the taxes that I still owe the IRS go to these s wars whether secret or not... I never approved our country getting involved in these wars for oil!!
Do we not understand the monstrosity that we have created with the military industrial complex,our Frankenstein??
Here in Oz, the taxes are high but at least people including myself get something back for all the money we pay! Aussies at least have free health care and the government has incentives to help the common man!
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