This is from our visiting reporter Nicholas Spangler of The Miami Herald:
A U.S. soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad was the 14th to die this month in Iraq, one more than died in the entire month of July, according to the website icasualties.org.
Casualties are still lower than they were in the spring, when improvised explosive devices killed dozens of soldiers every month in Baghdad.
IED attacks there continue to account for the majority of U.S. troop deaths in hostile incidents, but troops in two major operations in the north of the country are also encountering IED’s on roads and in buildings.
“We don’t see insurgents mounting a more concerted resistance,” said Major General Mark Hertling, U.S. commander for the region said this week, speaking about an operation in Diyala Province. “We – the U.S. and Iraqi Security Forces – are going to where we haven’t been before, what we term their support areas. “We are finding that those areas have their forms of early-warning devices – that is, IED’s planted on roads to let them know when forces are coming into their zones.”
At a press conference earlier in the week, Hertling described the northern provinces as “the most volatile area in Iraq right now.”
Insurgents were pushed into the region, he said, by the U.S. troop surge in Baghdad and the Awakening movement in the western province of Anbar, under which the Pentagon paid Sunni tribesmen to fight al Qaida.
As of Thursday, 4,138 American service members had been killed in Iraq.
McCain does not FLIP FLOP when voting for the American Military – He always votes against them:
John McCain claims that his military service is one of his qualifications to be commander in chief. I seriously doubt his dedication to the American military. His voting record shows his lack of concern for our bravest men and women.
John McCain missed 10 of the past 14 votes on Iraq.
John McCain in September 2007: voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments.
John McCain in July 2007: voted against a plan to drawdown troop levels in Iraq.
John McCain in March 2007 was too busy to vote on a bill that would require the start of a drawdown in troop levels within 120 days with a goal of withdrawing nearly all-combat troops within one year.
John McCain in February 2007 didn’t even bother to show up to vote against a resolution condemning it. For such a strong supporter of the escalation, McCain didn’t even bother to show up and vote for it.
John McCain in June 2006, voted against a resolution that Bush start withdrawing troops but with no timeline to do so.
John McCain in May 2006, voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.
John McCain in April 2006, was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.
John McCain in March 2006, voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.
John McCain in March 2004, once again voted for abusive tax loopholes over veterans when he voted against creating a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans' medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes. Jeez, McCain really loves those tax loopholes for corporations, since he voted for them over our veterans' needs.
John McCain in October 2003, voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq and to reduce the amount provided for reconstruction in Iraq by $322,000,000.
John McCain in April 2003, urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.
If he believes that we should stay the course for as long as possible he should be willing to support the people he puts in harms way.
That is why this republican is voting for Obama/Biden.
Posted by: Kwaayesnama | September 12, 2008 at 06:58 PM