U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, July 27, 2010, at least 4,413 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,897 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identification:

Army 1st Lt. Michael L. Runyan, 24, Newark, Ohio, died July 21, 2010 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his convoy vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. He was assigned to the 52nd Infantry, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Thursday, July 22, 2010, at least 1,113 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Latest identifications:

Army Sgt. Jesse R. Tilton, 23, Decatur, Ill., died July 16, 2010 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained July 13 when insurgents attacked his unit in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, with rifle-, rocket-propelled grenade, and small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army 1st Lt. Robert N. Bennedsen, 25, Vashon, Wash., died July 18, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Eastman, 28, Moose Pass, Alaska, died July 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Sgt. Anibal Santiago, 37, Belvidere, Ill., died July 18, 2010 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained July 17 in a non-combat related incident in Khowst, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.

Marine Cpl. Joe L. Wrightsman, 23, Jonesboro, La., died July 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Marine Cpl. Paul J. Miller, 22, Traverse City, Mich., died July 19, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Army Staff Sgt. Brian F. Piercy, 27, Clovis, Calif., died July 19, 2010 in Arghandab River Valley, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Marine Cpl. Julio Vargas, 23, Sylmar, Calif., died July 20, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Marine Lt. Col. Mario D. Carazo, 41, of Springfield, Ohio, died July 22, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Marine Maj. James M. Weis, 37, of Toms River, N.J., died July 22, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, 30, Wheatridge, Colo., died July 23, 2010 from wounds sustained in Logar province, Afghanistan, while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. He was assigned to Assault Craft Unit One (ACU-1), San Diego, Calif.

Army Pfc. James J. Oquin, 20, El Paso, Texas, died July 23, 2010 , in Orgun-E, Afghanistan, from drowning when he was swept away by the current when a levee broke near his military vehicle in Paktika, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Spc. Joseph A. Bauer, 27, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Army Pfc. Andrew L. Hand, 25, of Enterprise, Ala., died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. [Update: Pfc. Hand was posthumously promoted to Specialist.]

Army Sgt. Daniel Lim, 23, of Cypress, Calif., died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Army Staff Sgt. Conrad A. Mora, 24, of San Diego, Calif., died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Marine Lance Cpl. Frederik E. Vazquez, 20, Melrose Park, Ill., died July 24, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, IIMarine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

7/27/10: The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor and the identity of another sailor listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN). The announcement resulted from a July 23, 2010 incident in Logar province, Afghanistan, while the sailors were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, 30, of Wheatridge, Colo., died from wounds sustained from the July 23 incident. Coalition Forces recovered his body July 25 after an extensive search. He was assigned to Assault Craft Unit One (ACU-1), San Diego. Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, of Renton, Wash., is listed as DUSTWUN from the July 23 incident. Search and recovery efforts are ongoing, and the incident is under investigation.

7/27/10 update: Marine Lance Cpl. Abram L. Howard, 21, Williamsport, Pa., died July 27, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Headquarters and Service Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of North Versailles, Pa.

——

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

Honor the Fallen

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 27, 2009

Can a Democrat Beat Bachmann?

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I analyzed the outlook for the 2010 U.S. House of Representatives election in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, surveying the political environment in which the contest will take place.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 27, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 13

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on the 13th day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Sunday, July 27, 2008, I posted a public service announcement to help raise funds for memorials in honor of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

View Is Bleaker Than Official Portrayal of War in Afghanistan

NOV. 20, 2007 / HELMAND PROVINCE — Taliban militants drove through Musa Qala, a southern Afghan town, in a Ford pickup truck, that very kind of vehicle the United States had provided the Afghan Army and police force. (Photo credit: Reuters via The New York Times)

By C. J. Chivers, Carlotta Gall, Andrew W. Lehren, Mark Mazzetti, Jane Perlez, and Eric Schmitt
 
July 26, 2010

A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal.

The secret documents, released on the Internet by an organization called WikiLeaks [link added], are a daily diary of an American-led force often starved for resources and attention as it struggled against an insurgency that grew larger, better coordinated and more deadly each year.

The New York Times, the British newspaper The Guardian and the German magazine Der Spiegel were given access to the voluminous records several weeks ago on the condition that they not report on the material before Sunday.

The documents — some 92,000 reports spanning parts of two administrations from January 2004 through December 2009 — illustrate in mosaic detail why, after the United States has spent almost $300 billion on the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001.

As the new American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, tries to reverse the lagging war effort, the documents sketch a war hamstrung by an Afghan government, police force and army of questionable loyalty and competence, and by a Pakistani military that appears at best uncooperative and at worst to work from the shadows as an unspoken ally of the very insurgent forces the American-led coalition is trying to defeat.

The material comes to light as Congress and the public grow increasingly skeptical of the deepening involvement in Afghanistan and its chances for success as next year’s deadline to begin withdrawing troops looms.

The archive is a vivid reminder that the Afghan conflict until recently was a second-class war, with money, troops and attention lavished on Iraq while soldiers and Marines lamented that the Afghans they were training were not being paid.

The reports — usually spare summaries but sometimes detailed narratives — shed light on some elements of the war that have been largely hidden from the public eye:

• The Taliban have used portable heat-seeking missiles against allied aircraft, a fact that has not been publicly disclosed by the military. This type of weapon helped the Afghan mujahedeen defeat the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

• Secret commando units like Task Force 373 — a classified group of Army and Navy special operatives — work from a “capture/kill list” of about 70 top insurgent commanders. These missions, which have been stepped up under the Obama administration, claim notable successes, but have sometimes gone wrong, killing civilians and stoking Afghan resentment.

• The military employs more and more drone aircraft to survey the battlefield and strike targets in Afghanistan, although their performance is less impressive than officially portrayed. Some crash or collide, forcing American troops to undertake risky retrieval missions before the Taliban can claim the drone’s weaponry.

• The Central Intelligence Agency has expanded paramilitary operations inside Afghanistan. The units launch ambushes, order airstrikes and conduct night raids. From 2001 to 2008, the C.I.A. paid the budget of Afghanistan’s spy agency and ran it as a virtual subsidiary.

Over all, the documents do not contradict official accounts of the war. But in some cases the documents show that the American military made misleading public statements — attributing the downing of a helicopter to conventional weapons instead of heat-seeking missiles or giving Afghans credit for missions carried out by Special Operations commandos.

White House officials vigorously denied that the Obama administration had presented a misleading portrait of the war in Afghanistan. …

The archive is clearly an incomplete record of the war. It is missing many references to seminal events and does not include more highly classified information. The documents also do not cover events in 2010, when the influx of more troops into Afghanistan began and a new counterinsurgency strategy took hold.

They suggest that the military’s internal assessments of the prospects for winning over the Afghan public, especially in the early days, were often optimistic, even naïve.

There are fleeting — even taunting — reminders of how the war began in the occasional references to the elusive Osama bin Laden. In some reports he is said to be attending meetings in Quetta, Pakistan. His money man is said to be flying from Iran to North Korea to buy weapons. Mr. bin Laden has supposedly ordered a suicide attack against the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. These reports all seem secondhand at best.

The reports portray a resilient, canny insurgency that has bled American forces through a war of small cuts. The insurgents set the war’s pace, usually fighting on ground of their own choosing and then slipping away.

Sabotage and trickery have been weapons every bit as potent as small arms, mortars or suicide bombers. So has Taliban intimidation of Afghan officials and civilians — applied with pinpoint pressure through threats, charm, violence, money, religious fervor and populist appeals. …

Read the full report

Video

Secret details on Afghanistan war revealed (MSNBC “Morning Joe,” July 26, 2010) – More than 90,000 classified field reports from the war in Afghanistan contain shocking details about Pakistan, predator drones, and more. (19:54)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 26, 2009

North Korea Ready to Deal?

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that North Korea expressed an interest in holding direct talks with the United States and provided an abridged summary of my psychological profile of Kim Jong-Il, developed for the U.S. government.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 26, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 12

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on the 12th day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I traveled to Minneapolis to tape an interview with Ken Avidor for The UpTake, focusing on my background, my reasons for running, and my core issues of national security, law enforcement/public safety, and border security/illegal migration.

In discussing national security, I remarked on lost opportunities after 9/11, specifically the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, which turned a country that had been militarily contained and led by a dictator hostile to Iran and to Islamic fundamentalism — both Shi’ite extremism and al-Qaida’s brand of radical Islam — into a foreign policy nightmare that has consumed our domestic political agenda and squandered our finite resources for more than five years.

I added, on my campaign blog, that whatever happens in Iraq, the incoming administration in Washington would face a situation in Iraq more fraught with danger in 2009 than did the Bush administration when it took office in January 2001.

I lamented that for the foreseeable future the American people would see hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars pumped into the rebuilding and restabilization of Iraq.

I also noted that al-Qaida — which had no significant presence in Iraq prior to the March 2003 U.S. invasion — would continue to pose a threat in post-Saddam Iraq, though not as lethal as it was before the “Sunni Awakening,” the 2007 troop buildup, and the successful counterinsurgency strategy instituted by Gen. David Petraeus.

Finally, I expressed concern that the anti-American Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr would bide his time until the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, with the intent of turning Iraq into a Shi’ite fundamentalist theocracy along Iranian lines after the U.S. leaves Iraq.

Taliban kills 1 U.S. Sailor, 1 Held 

Insurgents offer to exchange body of one serviceman for militant prisoners

July 25, 2010

KABUL — The Taliban have offered to exchange the body of a U.S. Navy member they said was killed in an ambush two days ago in exchange for insurgent prisoners, an Afghan official said Sunday.

U.S. and NATO officials confirmed that two American Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sports utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area.

In a telephone interview Sunday with The Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the pair drove into an area under insurgent control, prompting a brief gunfight in which one American was killed and the other was captured. He said both were taken to a “safe area” and “are in the hands of the Taliban.”

Mujahid made no mention of any offer to exchange the pair for Taliban prisoners. A local Afghan officials said the Taliban sent a message through intermediaries offering to hand over the body in exchange for jailed insurgents. …

Posters of missing soldiers

Hundreds of posters of the two missing sailors have been hung at checkpoints throughout Logar province where NATO troops are stopping vehicles, searching people, peering inside windows and searching trunks.

The posters, with photographs of the missing sailors, state: “This American troop is missing. He was last seen in a white Land Cruiser vehicle. If you have any information about this solider, kindly contact the Logar Joint Coordination Center,” run by coalition and Afghan forces. A phone number is listed along with information about a $20,000 reward being offered for information leading to their location.

The photographs show one clean-shaven sailor wearing a soft cap and another with short-cropped hair, wearing a blue civilian shirt and a white undershirt. …

The two sailors left their compound in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in a vehicle Friday afternoon, but never returned, NATO said in a statement.

A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the event, confirmed the two were Navy personnel, but would not identify their unit to avoid jeopardizing search operations. The official said it was unclear what the two were doing or what would lead them to leave their compound. The official would not say whether the two were on official business. …

Video

One U.S. service member dead, another captured (MSNBC, July 25, 2010) — The Taliban says they were holding prisoner one of two U.S. soldiers who strayed into territory controlled by the insurgents, and that the other had been killed.  NBC’s Jim Maceda reports from Afghanistan. (02:03)

Bowe Bergdahl still missing

The only U.S. service member known to be in Taliban captivity is Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who disappeared June 30, 2009, in neighboring Paktika province, an area heavily infiltrated by the Haqqani network, which has deep links to al-Qaida. He has since appeared on videos posted on Taliban websites confirming his captivity. …

——

Related reports on this site

On July 19, 2009, the Department of Defense announced the identity of a soldier listed as Missing-Captured on July 3, 2009 while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, was declared Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN) on July 1 and his status was changed to “Missing-Captured on July 3, 2009. Pfc. Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Bowe Bergdahl POW Taliban Tape (April 8, 2010)

The Pope’s Christmas Message 2009 (Dec. 25, 2009; scroll down)

Taliban Holding U.S. Bodies (Nov. 6, 2009)

War Comes Home to Minnesota (July 21, 2009; scroll down)

Captured U.S. Soldier Identified (July 19, 2009)

3 Dead in Attack on Base in Iraq (July 17, 2009; scroll down)

——

Related report

4 U.S. troops die in bomb blast in south Afghanistan (Associated Press, July 24, 2010) – Four American service members were killed Saturday in a bombing in southern Afghanistan. The latest deaths bring to 69 the number of international service members killed in Afghanistan this month, including 52 Americans. … Full story

——

7/27/10 Update

NATO Recovers Remains of Missing Sailor in Afghanistan

Body of U.S. sailor returning to U.S. (MSNBC, July 27, 2010) — The body of 30-year-old Justin McNeilly will arrive at Dover Air Force Base tonight. The sailor went missing in Afghanistan last week. (00:30)

July 27, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — One of two U.S. sailors missing in Afghanistan since last week — a 30-year-old father of two — has been confirmed dead and his body recovered, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday.

The search continues for the other missing sailor, said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The two Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sport utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. The Taliban have said they killed one of the two men in a firefight, captured the other and are holding him in a “safe place” where he will not be found.

In a statement, the NATO-led command said the body was recovered Sunday after an extensive search and that the coalition “holds the captors accountable for the safety and proper treatment of our missing service member.” …

The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces, according to senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The school was headquartered in Kabul and had classrooms outside the capital, but they were never assigned anywhere near where the body of the sailor was recovered, the officials said.

Jim Kerr, a Colorado legislator from the Denver suburb of Littleton, said the sailor killed was his wife’s nephew, Justin McNeley. McNeley was from Colorado but moved to Kingman, Arizona, in 2004, three years after he joined the U.S. Navy. His mother lives in Kingman and his father is a fire official in Encinitas, California. …

The Pentagon identified the other sailor missing from the Logar incident as Jarod Newlove, 25, of Renton, Wash. Search and recovery efforts are ongoing, officials said, and the incident is under investigation. …

——

7/29/10 Update

Second U.S. Sailor’s Body Recovered in Afghanistan

The body of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year-old from the Seattle area, was found in Afghanistan on Wednesday, July 29, 2010. (Photo credit: Anonymous / AP)

By Amir Shah and Deb Riechmann

July 29, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — The discovery of the body of a second U.S. sailor who vanished in Afghanistan last week only deepened the mystery of the men’s disappearance nearly 60 miles from their base in a dangerous area controlled by the Taliban.

An investigation is under way, but with both sailors dead, U.S. authorities remained at a loss Thursday to explain what two junior enlisted men in noncombat jobs were doing driving alone in Logar province, where much of the countryside is not under government control. …

Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley — father of two boys aged 5 and 9 — from Kingman, Arizona, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, from the Seattle area, disappeared in the province July 23. McNeley’s body was recovered there Sunday and Newlove’s body was pulled from a river Wednesday evening, Afghan officials said. …

Officials at the NATO-led coalition headquarters in Kabul have not offered an explanation as to why the two service members were driving a heavily armored vehicle so far from their base at Camp Julien, a training facility on the western edge of the city. …

Mohammad Rahim Amin, local government chief in Baraki Barak, said villagers in the district called to report the body of a foreigner, clad in a uniform, in the river. He said coalition forces recovered it about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. He speculated the body could have floated downstream because the river was swollen by rain Tuesday night.

Amin said in recent days, security tightened around the Taliban, who were under pressure from Afghan forces, intelligence officials and coalition troops converging on the area in a massive search for the missing service member.

“It makes sense that the Taliban had nowhere to go, so they killed him,” Amin said, referring to Newlove.

Newlove joined the Navy in March 2004, completed his duty and joined the reserve in December 2008. He was called back to duty and was in Afghanistan by December 2009. He was trained as a culinary specialist but it was unclear whether he was working at that job in Kabul.

McNeley joined the Navy in 2001 and deployed to Afghanistan last year. He was classified as a hull technician. The job entails skilled metal work to maintain ships.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 25, 2009

As deaths rise, so do doubts on Afghan war – Friends of slain serviceman Jimmy Backhouse react as hearses carrying the bodies of eight British soldiers killed during a 24-hour period in Afghanistan pass mourners on July 14, 2009 in Wootton Bassett, England. (Photo credit: Simon Dawson / AP file)

Taliban Counteroffensive

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Taliban fighters armed with suicide vests and automatic weapons, for the second time in a week, attacked a provincial capital in eastern Afghanistan, triggering hours-long gunbattles that left seven militants dead.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 25, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 11

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on the 11th day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I reported back on the response received from Mr. Mario A. Hernández of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in reply to my inquiry whether the August 9, 2008, “Know Your Rights” forum in Cold Spring, Minn., was intended specifically for legal immigrants and whether public funds would be used to benefit undocumented aliens.

North Korea Warns of ‘Sacred War’ 

Country responds to ‘reckless’ military exercises by South, U.S.

July 23, 2010

SEOUL — North Korea said on Saturday it would begin a “sacred war” against the United States and South Korea at “any time necessary,” based on its nuclear deterrent, in response to “reckless” military exercises by the allies.

The North’s powerful National Defense Commission again denied in a statement that the country was behind the sinking of a South Korean warship and said it could be forced to retaliate against the two countries, which begin large-scale military drills on Sunday. …

The statement was part of a verbal onslaught by the North after a South Korea-led team of investigators concluded in May that a North Korean submarine had torpedoed a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors. …

The United States has rejected a call by the North to resume six-party nuclear talks and announced new sanctions on Wednesday to freeze the North’s assets and cut off the flow of cash to the destitute state’s leaders. …

——

7/25/10 Update

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Ups Pressure on North Korea

The Nimitz-class U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington. (Photo credit: U.S. Navy / Reuters)

By Eric Talmadge

July 25, 2010

ABOARD USS GEORGE WASHINGTON — A nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier led an armada of warships in exercises off the Korean peninsula on Sunday that North Korea has vowed to physically block and says could escalate into nuclear war.

U.S. military officials said the maneuvers, conducted with South Korean ships and Japanese observers, were intended to send a strong signal to the North that aggression in the region will not be tolerated.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been particularly high since the sinking in March of a South Korean naval vessel. Forty-six Korean sailors were killed in the sinking, which Seoul has called Pyongyang’s worst military attack on it since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The military drills, code-named “Invincible Spirit,” are to run through Wednesday with about 8,000 U.S. and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft. The Nimitz-class USS George Washington was deployed from Japan. …

The North routinely threatens attacks whenever South Korea and the U.S. hold joint military drills, which Pyongyang sees as a rehearsal for an invasion. The U.S. keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea and another 50,000 in Japan, but says it has no intention of invading the North. …

Capt. Ross Myers, the commander of the carrier’s air wing, said the exercises were not intended to raise tensions, but acknowledged they are meant to get North Korea’s attention. … He said that North Korea’s threats to retaliate were being taken seriously.

Potent symbol

The George Washington, one of the biggest ships in the U.S. Navy, is a potent symbol of American military power, with about 5,000 sailors and aviators and the capacity to carry up to 70 planes. …

Though the impoverished North has a large conventional military and the capability to build nuclear weapons, it is not believed to have the technology needed to use nuclear devices as warheads. …

——

Related reports on this site

A South Korean patrol boat fires during a drill off the western coast town of Taean, South Korea, Thursday, May 27, 2010. (Photo credit: Kim Jae-hwan / AP)

North Korea Fraud Charge (May 28, 2010)

North Korean Saber-Rattling (May 20, 2010)

Iran, North Korea Threat Level Rises (Dec. 13, 2009)

North Korea Ready to Deal? (July 26, 2009)

Independence Day (July 4, 2009)

North Korea Nuclear Threat (June 16, 2009)

Kim Jong Il Threat Assessment (May 31, 2009)

Tense Stand-off with North Korea (May 28, 2009)

North Korea Warns of Possible Military Action (May 27, 2009)

North Korea Launches Rocket (April 5, 2009)

U.S. Warns N. Korea on Missiles (Feb. 17, 2009)

Korea Headache Looms for Obama (Jan. 28, 2009)

Obama Faces Daunting Challenges (Nov. 6, 2008)

——

Featured report: Kim Jong-Il Threat Assessment

The Personality Profile
of North Korea’s
Kim Jong-Il

Aubrey Immelman
Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics
December 2003

Slide presentation

The Life of Kim Jong Il
A pictorial look at the North Korean leader through the years

Abstract

A remote psychological assessment of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was conducted mining open-source data in the public domain. Information concerning Kim was collected from media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM-IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Kim’s primary personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/self-serving (narcissistic) and Outgoing/gregarious (histrionic), with a secondary Dauntless/dissenting (antisocial) pattern. In addition, the personality profile contained subsidiary but relatively unremarkable Dominant/asserting (sadistic), Contentious/resolute (passive-aggressive), and Erratic/unstable (borderline) features.

The amalgam of Ambitious (narcissistic) and Outgoing (histrionic) patterns in Kim’s profile suggests the presence of a syndrome that Theodore Millon has labeled the “amorous narcissist” (relabeled hedonistic narcissist in the context of political leadership studies). These personalities have an indifferent conscience and aloofness to the truth, are facile in the ways of social seduction, feign an air of dignity and confidence, and are skilled in the art of deception.

Characteristically, these personalities fabricate stories to enhance their worth and leave behind a trail of broken promises and outrageous acts, including swindling, sexual indiscretions, pathological lying, and fraud. However, the hedonistic narcissist’s disregard for truth and talents for exploitation and deception are rarely hostile or malicious in intent; fundamentally, they are not malevolent. Having never learned to restrain their fantasies, and unconcerned with matters of social integrity, hedonistic narcissists maintain their beguiling ways through deception, fraud, lying, and by charming others through craft and wit. Instead of applying their talents toward the goals of tangible achievements and genuine relationships, they selfishly devote their energies to the construction of intricate lies, cleverly exploiting others and slyly extracting from them what they believe is their due.

In summary, Kim Jong-Il may be characterized as fraudulent, self-indulgent, and conflict averse — preferring guile, craft, and cunning rather than force or confrontation in extracting or extorting from others what he considers his due; he is not a “malignant narcissist.”

The major political implications of the study are the following: First, although North Korea’s military capability undeniably poses a legitimate threat to regional stability, any claim by Kim Jong-Il with regard to his military capabilities are not to be taken at face value, but should be called into question and verified; second, Kim is relatively conflict averse and unlikely to employ military force without provocation; and third, Kim is relatively open to influence by carefully crafted diplomatic and economic means subjectively perceived as bolstering his self-serving ambitions.

May 2009 update

My 2003 threat assessment should be read in the context of August 2008 reports that Kim Jong-Il had suffered a stroke.

Although I did not find Kim to be paranoid or delusional in my 2003 assessment, it is possible for stroke patients to undergo personality changes, including an increase in suspiciousness, or to develop psychiatric syndromes such as post-stroke depression or post-stroke dementia, which may impair the patient’s mental state and cognitive functioning.

Should that be the case with Kim Jong-Il, it may exacerbate a prior siege mentality, resulting in increasingly self-defeating, erratic behaviors patterns.

Despite remaining convinced that Kim is fundamentally risk-averse, I do have a heightened concern that a possible recent-onset organic brain syndrome could impair his insight, judgment, and decision-making capacity.

In the event Kim’s medical condition should color his pre-existing, premorbid personality with paranoid ideation or delusional thinking, he is likely to become increasingly mistrustful and vigilant; irritable and thin-skinned (hypersensitive to perceived slights and easily enraged by narcissistic injury); defiant, hostile, belligerent, and vengeful (determined to “balance the books” with respect to what he perceives as past wrongs); dichotomous ( “us versus them” social perception); insular (impervious to corrective action in response to sound advice and new information); self-righteous (arrogant and acting with a sense of entitlement); and self-justifying (viewing his own transgressions either as defensive necessity or as “payback” for the malevolence or wrongs of others).

Finally, no threat assessment would be complete without verifying who is currently “calling the shots” in North Korea, so to speak. Considering Kim’s recent medical history, it could be risky to respond to North Korean provocation under the assumption that Kim Jong-Il is fully in charge.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 23, 2009

President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki make joint statements during a press availability, Wednesday, July 22, 2009, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (Photo credit: Ron Edmonds / AP)

Obama Meets Maliki in U.S.

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that that President Barack Obama, in a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the White House, said the United States would stick to its status-of-forces agreement with Iraq and remove all its troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 23, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day Nine

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on the ninth day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I issued my position statement on national security.

Patrick Immelman, 2, of Sartell runs through a field of crosses during a Memorial Day ceremony at the St. Cloud VA Medical Center, May 26, 2008. (Photo credit: Paul Middlestaedt, St. Cloud Times)

Car Bomb Kills 15 in Village North of Baghdad

U.S. soldier killed in separate bombing

Iraqi security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Baqouba, a one-time insurgent stronghold about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, July 20, 2010. A car bomb exploded near a restaurant and coffee shop on Monday, killing and injuring several people. (Photo credit: Adam Hadei / AP)

BAGHDAD — A car bomb outside a Shiite mosque in a village north of Baghdad killed 15 people Wednesday, the third deadly attack in the region in as many days, while a U.S. soldier was killed in a separate bombing in the same province, Iraqi officials and the U.S. military said.

The blast in a shopping area in the village of Abu Sayda also left 21 wounded, Ghalib al-Karkhi, a police spokesman in Diyala province said. Diyala was once an insurgent stronghold, and the three consecutive days of violence there underscores the fragile nature of Iraq’s security as insurgents persist in trying re-ignite sectarian bloodshed. …

The U.S. soldier, who was not identified pending notification of next of kin, was killed by an roadside bomb that struck the American’s vehicle while traveling through Diyala, the U.S. military said in a statement. …

The car bombing was the third attack in and around Baqouba, a former insurgent stronghold about 35 miles north of Baghdad, since Monday.

On Tuesday, a car bomb near a roadside restaurant just north of Baghdad killed one person and wounded seven Iranian pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala. A day earlier, a car bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baqouba, killing six people.

The repeated bombings come as Iraq is in its fifth month without a government. Many Iraqis worry that insurgents are trying to use the period of political instability to bring about more violence.

——

AFGHANISTAN UPDATE

2 Americans Killed in Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan

Remembering a fallen comrade in Afghanistan – Photoblog: U.S. Army soldiers fire their rifles during a memorial service for Pfc. Brandon King, killed in action in the volatile Arghandab Valley. See and hear the soldiers’ stories, exclusively on msnbc.com.

KABUL, Afghanistan — A helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing two U.S. service members, NATO forces said. The Taliban claimed it shot down the craft, but NATO said it was still investigating.

Hostile fire has not been ruled out in the crash in Helmand province, said Lt. Commander Katie Kendrick, a spokeswoman for the military coalition.

Though helicopters more regularly go down because of mechanical issues in Afghanistan, some have been brought down by insurgent fire. In June, the Taliban shot down a helicopter in Helmand, killing four U.S. service members. …

The crash comes as violence is rising amid a surge of American troops into the south to try to squeeze the Taliban out of their strongholds in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar province. At least 50 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this month, putting July on track to be one of the deadliest months of the war for the United States.

Sixty U.S. service members were killed in June — a record monthly death toll for the nearly nine-year war. …

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 22, 2009

Iraqi City Declares Emergency

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Iraq’s western city of Ramadi, Anbar province, declared a state of emergency and imposed a vehicle ban after several bomb attacks; bombs also exploded across Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding dozens.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 22, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day Eight

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on the eighth day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I reported being inundated with questionnaires from special interest groups. I also addressed the seemingly dim prospects for the Republican Party in the 2008 election and commented that the GOP generally faced a bleak outlook for the foreseeable future (see also “Future of the Republican Party”).

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, July 20, 2010, at least 4,412 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,888 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identification:

None

7/23/10 update: Army 1st Lt. Michael L. Runyan, 24, Newark, Ohio, died July 21, 2010 in Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his convoy vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. He was assigned to the 52nd Infantry, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, July 16, 2010, at least 1,099 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Latest identifications:

Army Sgt. Shaun M. Mittler, 32, Austin, Texas, died July 10, 2010 in Konar, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit using rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. [Update: Sgt. Mittler was posthumously promoted to Staff Sergeant.]

Army 1st Lt. Christopher S. Goeke, 23, Apple Valley, Minn., died July 13, 2010 in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with rifle-, rocket-propelled grenade-, and small-arms fire. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Christopher J. Moon, 20, Tucson, Ariz., died July 13, 2010 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device on July 6 in Arghandab, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher T. Stout, 34, Worthville, Ky., died July 13, 2010 in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with rifle-, rocket-propelled grenade-, and small-arms fire. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. Sheldon L. Tate, 27, Hinesville, Ga., died July 13, 2010 in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with rifle-, rocket-propelled grenade-, and small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Sgt. Zachary M. Fisher, 24, Ballwin, Mo., died July 14, 2010 in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat Airborne), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Matthew J. Johnson, 21, Maplewood, Minn., died July 14, 2010 in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat Airborne), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Pvt. Brandon M. King, 23, Tallahassee, Fla., died July 14, 2010 at Combat Outpost Nolen, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Spc. Jesse D. Reed, 26, Orefield, Penn., died July 14, 2010 in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat Airborne), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Chase Stanley, 21, Napa, Calif., died July 14, 2010 in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat Airborne), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Sgt. 1st Class John H. Jarrell, 32, Brunson, S.C., died July 15, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Sgt. Leston M. Winters, 30, Sour Lake, Texas, died July 15, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Marine Staff Sgt. Justus S. Bartelt, 27, Polo, Ill., died July 16, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Marine Cpl. Dave M. Santos, 21, Rota, Marianas Islands of the Pacific, died July 16, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. [Note: According to David Santos, father of Cpl. Santos, a military representative tasked to officially notify the family of his son’s death said Cpl. Santos allegedly was stabbed by a fellow Marine.]

Army Sgt. Matthew W. Weikert, 29, Jacksonville, Ill., died July 17, 2010 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Army Sgt. Justin B. Allen, 23, Coal Grove, Ohio, died July 18, 2010 in Zhari, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was shot by insurgents while conducting combat operations. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

7/21/10 update: Army Sgt. Jesse R. Tilton, 23, Decatur, Ill., died July 16, 2010 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained July 13 when insurgents attacked his unit in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, with rifle-, rocket-propelled grenade, and small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

7/21/10 update: Army 1st Lt. Robert N. Bennedsen, 25, Vashon, Wash., died July 18, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

7/21/10 update: Marine Gunnery Sgt. Christopher L. Eastman, 28, Moose Pass, Alaska, died July 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

7/21/10 update: Army Sgt. Anibal Santiago, 37, Belvidere, Ill., died July 18, 2010 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained July 17 in a non-combat related incident in Khowst, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.

7/22/10 update: Marine Cpl. Paul J. Miller, 22, Traverse City, Mich., died July 19, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

7/22/10 update: Army Staff Sgt. Brian F. Piercy, 27, Clovis, Calif., died July 19, 2010 in Arghandab River Valley, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

7/22/10 update: Marine Cpl. Julio Vargas, 23, Sylmar, Calif., died July 20, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

7/22/10 update: Marine Cpl. Joe L. Wrightsman, 23, Jonesboro, La., died July 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

7/26/10 update: Marine Lance Cpl. Frederik E. Vazquez, 20, Melrose Park, Ill., died July 24, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, IIMarine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

7/27/10 update: Marine Lt. Col. Mario D. Carazo, 41, of Springfield, Ohio, died July 22, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

7/27/10 update: Marine Maj. James M. Weis, 37, of Toms River, N.J., died July 22, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

7/27/10 update: Army Spc. Joseph A. Bauer, 27, of Cincinnati, Ohio, died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

7/27/10 update: Army Pfc. Andrew L. Hand, 25, of Enterprise, Ala., died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. 

7/27/10 update: Army Sgt. Daniel Lim, 23, of Cypress, Calif., died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

7/27/10 update: Army Staff Sgt. Conrad A. Mora, 24, of San Diego, Calif., died July 24, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his military vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Army Pfc. James J. Oquin, 20, El Paso, Texas, died July 23, 2010 , in Orgun-E, Afghanistan, from drowning when he was swept away by the current when a levee broke near his military vehicle in Paktika, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Fort Campbell, Ky.

7/27/10 update: The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor and the identity of another sailor listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN). The announcement resulted from a July 23, 2010 incident in Logar province, Afghanistan, while the sailors were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, 30, of Wheatridge, Colo., died from wounds sustained from the July 23 incident. Coalition Forces recovered his body July 25 after an extensive search. He was assigned to Assault Craft Unit One (ACU-1), San Diego. Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, of Renton, Wash., is listed as DUSTWUN from the July 23 incident.  Search and recovery efforts are ongoing, and the incident is under investigation.

——

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

Honor the Fallen

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 20, 2009

Photo collage by
The Minnesota Independent

Michele Bachmann Unmasked

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s outlandish behavior, uninformed, misleading, and unsubstantiated comments, and inability to craft viable public policy may have reached critical mass, crossing the tipping point beyond which Minnesota media can no longer tune out the insanity.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 20, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day Six

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on Sunday, July 20, 2008, the sixth day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I took a rest from campaigning.

Suicide Blast in Baghdad Kills at Least 48

Anti-al-Qaida Sunni group attacked as they collected their paychecks

A man kisses the body of a government-backed Sunni militia member laid on the ground of a hospital yard in the town of Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad, on Sunday, after the deadly blast. (Photo credit: Reuters)

July 18, 2010

BAGHDAD — Twin suicide bombings killed 48 people on Sunday, including dozens from a government-backed, anti-al-Qaida militia lining up to collect their paychecks near a military base southwest of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

The bombings were the deadliest in a series of attacks across Iraq Sunday that were aimed at the Sons of Iraq, Sunni groups also known as Awakening Councils that work with government forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq. …

The first attack Sunday morning — the worst against Iraq’s security forces in months — killed at least 45 people and wounded more than 40. It occurred at a checkpoint near a military base where the Awakening Council members had lined up to collect their paychecks in the mostly Sunni district of Radwaniya southwest of Baghdad. …

A military official at the base said the explosion was the work of one suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest. …

In the second attack, a suspected militant stormed a local Awakening Council headquarters in the far western town Qaim, near the Syrian border, and opened fire on those inside.

Two members of Awakening Councils were also wounded in two minor attacks south of Baghdad on Sunday. …

More than four months after March’s inconclusive parliamentary election, Iraq has still no government as politicians continue to bicker over who will lead. The impasse has raised fears that militants will exploit the political vacuum to re-ignite sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. …

All U.S. combat units are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of next month and the last American soldier by the end of next year.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 18, 2009

Iraqi police stand guard over two men alleged to have links to an attack on a U.S. military base that killed three American soldiers in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, July 18, 2009. (Photo credit: The Associated Press / Nabil Jurani)

Iraq Imposes New Limits on U.S.

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Iraq’s top commanders told their U.S. counterparts to “stop all joint patrols” in Baghdad, raising fresh concerns about the safety of U.S. troops in Iraq.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 18, 2008

In a sign of the times, the National Debt Clock, shown here on Oct. 9, 2008 in New York, has run out of digits. The “1.” has been moved left to the space once occupied solely by the digital dollar sign. A non-digital, improvised dollar sign has been pasted next to the “1.” Below the amount of the national debt on the clock is another row of figures: “YOUR Family share. As of Oct. 11, 2008, the $86,019 fit properly into the respective LCD squares. (Photo credit: Bebeto Matthews / AP file)

On the Campaign Trail: Day Four

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on the fourth day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I explained my guiding principle of “traditional conservatism.” 

What is a Traditional Conservative?

Commenting on my 2008 primary campaign slogan, “Restoring Traditional Conservative Values,” Eric Zaetsch of the blog Developers are Crabgrass challenged me to define what I mean by the concept and how I feel incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann has strayed from those values:

Clearly Immelman must speak for himself in this, but in this post I will mention “The Speech” and Reagan and Goldwater, as a start to where I would hope the GOP debate in the Sixth District might focus — what are traditional conservative values and how in coming days Bachmann and Immelman may, for voters, define their differing and overlapping views on that question. That is how we must expect them to define themselves in comparison to each other.

To start that debate, I present three excerpts from W. J. Wilczek’s exposition on “Traditional Conservative vs. Neoconservative.”

A traditional conservative is for limited government: “That government is best that governs least.” Under the neoconservatives, there has been the greatest increase in the size of the federal government … in the history of the nation. …

A traditional conservative is for a balanced budget. Under the neoconservatives, we have gone from surpluses to the largest deficits in our history. …

A traditional conservative is against engaging in foreign entanglements [except] in defense of the nation from attack by our enemies. …

To conclude, my notion of traditional conservative values fundamentally involves small government, fiscal restraint, and a strong military focused primarily on national defense, not nation-building or preemptive war.

Clinton on Key Afghan Mission as U.S. War Fears Grow

U.S. lawmakers increasingly questioning course of war

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a joint press availability with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, not shown, at the State Department in Washington. (Photo credit: Haraz N. Ghanbari / AP)

By Matthew Lee

July 17, 2010

WASHINGTON — As concerns grow about the war in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is heading to South Asia on a mission aimed at refining the goals of the nearly 9-year-old conflict.

U.S. lawmakers are increasingly questioning the course of the war. The number of soldiers from the U.S. and other countries in the international coalition in Afghanistan is on the rise. Corruption is a deep problem in Afghanistan, and members of Congress wonder about the utility of massive aid to both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Clinton will attend an international conference in Kabul on Tuesday where the Afghan government is expected to outline plans to improve security, reintegrate militants into society and crack down on corruption. She also plans to stop in Pakistan to push greater cooperation between Islamabad and Kabul. …

Last month was the deadliest of the war for international forces: 103 coalition troops were killed, despite the infusion of tens of thousands of new U.S. troops. So far in July, 54 international troops have died, 39 of them American. An American service member was killed by a blast in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, and an American died in a blast in the south on Friday. …

Full story

——

Related report on this site

24 Minus 8 in Afghanistan (July 14, 2010)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 17, 2009

3 Dead in Attack on Base in Iraq

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that three Minnesota National Guardsmen had been killed in an attack on a U.S. base in Basra, Iraq.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — July 17, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day Three

Two-year retrospective: Two years ago today, on the third day of my 2008 campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I was interviewed by Tim Pugmire of Minnesota Public Radio, who reported that political analyst Steve Frank of St. Cloud State University described Immelman as “a serious candidate.”

Excerpt:

Immelman says Bachmann showed a weakness on national security issues last year when she claimed knowledge of a secret plan to partition Iraq. …

“I did not oppose initially the invasion of Iraq because I had no reason not to trust the president and the secretary of state, Colin Powell, at the time,” he said. “And it’s only in 2004 that the truth began to come out about the cherry-picked intelligence and so on that I turned against the U.S. involvement in Iraq.” …

24 Hours in Afghanistan: 8 U.S. Troops Killed

Taliban militants ratcheting up suicide attacks and bombings

Video

Deadly day for U.S. troops in Kandahar (NBC Nightly News, July 14, 2010) — General Petraeus’ warning that things would probably get worse for U.S troops in Afghanistan this summer before they got better has proven true. NBC’s Jim Maceda reports. (02:05)

The Associated Press and Reuters via MSNBC.com
July 14, 2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Eight American troops were killed in a series of attacks in southern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday as Taliban militants pushed back against an effort to secure the volatile region.

A suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into the gate of the headquarters of the elite Afghan National Civil Order Police late Tuesday in Kandahar, a NATO statement said. Minutes later, insurgents opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Three U.S. troops, an Afghan policeman and five civilians died in the attack, but NATO said the insurgents failed to enter the compound. …

Loyalty sought

NATO and Afghan troops are fanning out elsewhere in Kandahar province to pressure insurgents in rural areas. The strategy is to improve security with more and better-trained police and troops so that capable governance can take root and development projects can move forward and win the loyalty of ordinary Afghans.

The Taliban have responded by ratcheting up suicide attacks and bombings, making last month the deadliest of the nearly 9-year-old war for international forces. …

Bloody July

On Wednesday, four more American troops were killed by a roadside bomb in the south, while one more U.S. service member died the same day of wounds from a gunbattle.

So far in July, 45 international troops have died in Afghanistan, 33 of them Americans. June saw more than 100 troops killed — the bloodiest month of the nine-year-old war.

Wednesday’s deaths bring to 12 the number of foreign troops killed in the past 24 hours.

Another ISAF member died on Wednesday in a separate insurgent attack, NATO said.

In the most shocking incident, three members of the British Gurkha regiment were killed when an Afghan National Army soldier they were serving alongside turned on them with a machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade before escaping. …

The rapid creation of a national army and police force since the Taliban’s ousting and following decades of war has seen tens of thousands of Afghans join the security services, and there are fears insurgents may also have signed up.

In other attacks around the country, nine Afghan civilians died in the south when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the volatile district of Marjah in Helmand province, the Ministry of Interior said. Another homemade bomb killed two security guards traveling on a road in eastern Paktika province. …

—— 

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 14, 2009 

Iraq-Afghanistan Casualties 

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I provided my weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. I also reported that July 2009 was shaping up to be the deadliest month of the Afghanistan war for U.S.-led international forces, with the number killed by mid-month already matching the highest full-month toll of the nearly eight-year conflict.

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at least 4,412 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,883 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identification:

Army National Guard Sgt. Jordan E. Tuttle, 22,  West Monroe, La., died July 2, 2010 at Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident. He was a member of the 156th Army Band in Bossier City, La., and was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery Regiment, 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Louisiana National Guard, New Orleans, La.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, July 9, 2010, at least 1,079 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Latest identifications:

Army Pfc. Jacob A. Dennis, 22, Powder Springs, Ga., died July 3, 2010 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained June 30 in a weapons system accident at Forward Operating Base Lane, Afghanistan (Zabul province). He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Army Sgt. Andrew J. Creighton, 23, Laurel, Del., died July 4, 2010 in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained July 1 while conducting combat operations in Oruzgan province. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Army Spc. Clayton D. McGarrah, 20, Harrison, Ark., died July 4, 2010 at Arghandab, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. Christopher F. Cabacoy, 30, Virginia Beach, Va., died July 5, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

Army Spc. Keenan A. Cooper, 19, Wahpeton, N.D., died July 5, 2010 in Yakuta, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Louis R. Fastuca, 24, West Chester, Pa., died July 5, 2010 at Abdulhamid Kalay, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Italy.

Army Spc. Jerod H. Osborne, 20, Royse City, Texas, died July 5, 2010 in Yakuta, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Pfc. Edwin C. Wood, 18, Omaha, Neb., died July 5, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y. [Update: Pfc. Wood was posthumously promoted to Specialist.]

Army Staff Sgt. Marc A. Arizmendez, 30, Anaheim, Calif., died July 6, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, Hohenfels, Germany.

Army Spc. Roger Lee, 26, Monterey, Calif., died July 6, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, Hohenfels, Germany.

Army Pfc. Michael S. Pridham, 19, Louisville, Ky., died July 6, 2010 at Qalat, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, Hohenfels, Germany.

Army Pfc. Anthony W. Simmons, 25, Tallahassee, Fla., died July 8, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel G. Raney, 21, Pleasant View, Tenn., died July 9, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Army Staff Sgt. Jesse W. Ainsworth, 24, Dayton, Texas, died July 10, 2010 near Walakan, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

Army National Guard Spc. Robert W. Crow, 42, Kansas City, Mo., died July 10, 2010 in Paktika, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 203rd Engineer Battalion, Missouri National Guard, Joplin, Mo. [Update: Spc. Crow was posthumously promoted to Sergeant.]

Army Spc. Joseph W. Dimock II, 21, Wildwood, Ill, died July 10, 2010 in Salerno, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident when an explosion occurred in an ammunition holding facility during an inventory. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.

Army Sgt. Donald R. Edgerton, 33, Murphy, N.C., died July 10, 2010 near Char Dara, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

Army Spc. Carlos J. Negron, 40, Fort Meyers, Fla., died July 10, 2010 at Asadabad, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered at Konar, Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his unit with rifle and small-arms fire. He was assigned to 426th Forward Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Roads, 20, Burney, Calif., died July 10, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Antonik, 29, Crystal Lake, Ill., died July 11, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Army Pfc. Nathaniel D. Garvin, 20, Radcliff, Ky., died July 12, 2010 at Forward Operating Base Frontenac, Afghanistan (Kandahar, Afghanistan), of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 96th Aviation Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky. [Update: Pfc. Garvin was posthumously promoted to Specialist.]

——

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

Honor the Fallen

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — July 13, 2009

Video

CIA under scrutiny for plans to kill bin Laden (NBC Nightly News, July 13, 2009) — New details emerged on Monday about a CIA plan to try to capture and kill al-Qaida members that was withheld from Congress at the direction of former Vice President Dick Cheney. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports. (02:44)

Concern About Secret CIA Program

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that congressional Democrats were demanding an investigation over disclosures that a secret CIA program to capture or kill al-Qaida leaders was concealed from Congress for eight years, perhaps at the behest of former Vice President Dick Cheney.