News Features

Numbing carnage - side

By | March 15, 2006

Length of major US military actions since World War I

3073 days | Vietnam | August 1964 (Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) to January 1973

1345 days | World War II | December 8, 1941 (Congress approves entry into war), to August 14, 1945 (last US air raid in Japan; Truman announces Japan’s unconditional surrender)

1126 days | Korea | June 27, 1950 (Truman’s order to US troops to come to the aid of South Korea, without a declaration by Congress), to July 27, 1953 (armistice)

1095 days and counting | “Operation Iraqi Freedom” | March 19, 2003, to ????

585 days | World War I | April 6, 1917 (Congress votes to declare war), to November 11, 1918

42 days | “Operation Desert Storm” | January 17, 1991 (air campaign began), to February 27, 1991 (cease-fire declared)

52 days | Grenada | October 25, 1983 (troops arrive), to mid December 1983

15 days | Panama | December 20, 1989 (invasion began), to January 3, 1990 (surrender)

Body of War
Tomas Young volunteered for the US Army right after 9/11, hoping to be sent to Afghanistan and chase down Osama bin Laden.
Examining the state of Iraq's democracy
Why don't people laugh out loud, or at least guffaw, when they hear about US troops overseas assisting elections? Too many US states and municipalities have dysfunctional voting systems for us to be proudly tutoring anyone else.
What happened to Bush’s responsibility for the war?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know how the American effort in Iraq was badly botched from the start.
Bacevich’s war
Eight days after 9/11, NPR broadcast a commentary by Andrew J. Bacevich, a Vietnam War veteran, former Army colonel, and professor of international relations at BU.
Yes sir!
David Zeiger’s Sir! No Sir! is yet another absorbing documentary that George W. won’t see, or want you to see, because, as the prez often cautions, “It sends the wrong message to our troops.”
Playing war
“I don’t think there’s a soul who likes that place,” Dan Cook tells me about 29 Palms when I walk over to his Dorchester apartment. Slideshow: “An-My Le: Small Wars” at the Rhode Island School of Design
Why are some lives more important than others?
Friendly-fire deaths represent just one percent of US military casualties in Iraq, according to figures provided by our government.
Reality bites
The war in Iraq has been on the back burner of the American political scene for some time.
Iraq War critics plan to greet Bush in Newport
Now that President Bush is finally scheduled to make a visit, members of the local peace movement hope to remind him of ongoing opposition to the war in Iraq.
Trapped in Iraq
Watching the Senate Armed Services and the Foreign Relations Committees question Iraq proconsul General David Petraeus about the status of the war was a disturbing experience.
Bush's secret army
The 9/11 attacks provided a catalyst: an unprecedented justification to forge ahead with a radical agenda molded by a small cadre of neoconservative operatives.
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Topics: News Features , War and Conflict, U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces Activities, More

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