Death Toll

The Toll - 8/24/08 - Chaotic Conditions In a Nuclear Nation
August 24, 2008 04:36 PM EDT (Updated: August 24, 2008 04:40 PM EDT)
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The world was reminded, this week, of the need to end nuclear proliferation and to initiate disarmament agreements - but will it listen?

The departure of Pervez Musharraf from the presidency of Pakistan has failed to end that nation's serious problems. Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, appears to be on track to be the next president, but he is considered to be a divisive figure beset by charges of large-scale corruption in his past activities while his late wife was serving as prime minister..

The nuclear-armed nation sustained a terrorist bombing at its principle munitions plant on Thursday, killing at least 78 workers and injuring over 100. This followed the refusal by the new, somewhat chaotic, civilian leadership to accept a U.S. military training mission, a move which, along with other developments, has increased the frustrations within the Pentagon. The United States has invested well over $12 billion in Pakistan since the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

A debate is currently ongoing in the Bush administration over whether the U.S. should act on its own to root out the extremists operating freely in Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions, according to this weekend's press reports.

And all of this is occurring as Pakistan's economy continues to unravel. Its stock market fell over 2% on Friday in the face of a 24% jump in July's consumer price index and the announcement that private investment flowing into the nation from foreign sources fell 54% in the fiscal year recently concluded.

In other news, the L.A. Times reported on Friday that officials in America and Iraq were close to developing a draft agreement which would call for U.S. troops to withdraw by the end of 2011, "if security conditions permit."

On Saturday, however, the plan's future sustained a blow when powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr denounced it for not setting a firm pullout date.

In Georgia, the Russian withdrawal was falling short of what had been agreed to, according to U.S. and French officials. Today's L.A. Times reported that villages are still being looted and burned and natives continue to be killed by what has been described to be roving bands of Russian militiamen. The areas involved in these acts of violence fall within the so-called security zone outside of the Russian-backed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

As for Afghanistan, which has become the focal point of recent violence, the sensitive issue of civilian casualties has once more surfaced. The L.A. Times reported today that the U.S. has initiated an investigation into President Hamid Karzai's angry charge that 76 civilians, including many women and children, were killed by a U.S. air strike on Friday in a remote area near the nation's western border.

Meanwhile, this week, the Department of Defense released the obituaries of two military personnel killed in Iraq, ages 20 and 40.

According to the web site www.icasualties.org, U.S. deaths in Iraq now stand at 4,146.

The Department of Defense also released, last week, the obituaries of eight military personnel killed in Afghanistan, ranging in age from 19 to 36.

Total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan were 509 as of August 16, according to the Pentagon.

Six (50%) of the fallen heroes, this week, were killed when their convoys were attacked by roadside bombs. None were riding in the blast-resistant vehicles known as M-RAPS.

An L.A. Times on-line report today said that an "emboldened" Iraqi government has launched an aggressive campaign to disband the U.S.-funded force of Sunni Arab fighters that has been credited with playing a key role in overcoming Al Qaeda's influence and in reducing violence. The Maliki administration has been arresting prominent members of the so-called "Sons of Iraq" and sending others into hiding or exile "as the group's former patrons in the American military reluctantly stand by."

A Western advisor to the Iraqi government was quoted as saying that "the U.S. military couldn't stop the Iraqi security forces now even if it wanted to -- they are larger in size and have their own chain of command."

As a result, the Sunnis involved are feeling increasingly vulnerable, subject to attacks by both Al Qaeda and the Iraqi army.

One of the leaders of the Sons of Iraq was quoted as saying: "In the event that the U.S. military and government don't live up to their promises, it could turn back to a violent form of resistance. Every action breeds a reaction."