Congress: Talk About the Human Cost of War

Afghan man listens to US soldier at checkpoint in southern Afghanistan.
In the next few weeks, Congress is expected to be asked to approve $33 billion more for war and occupation in Afghanistan. When Congress debates more money for war, it's an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the human cost of continuing war and occupation.

AP reports that the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan has doubled in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year, while injuries have more than tripled. The New York Times reports that General McChrystal has acknowledged that despite his directives, shootings of Afghan civilians at U.S. military checkpoints and by U.S. military convoys have not decreased. And when the House debated a resolution calling for a timetable for U.S. military withdrawal, Rep. Bob Filner, chair of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, pointed out that hundreds of thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have gone to the VA for service-related injuries. Veterans for Common Sense places the number at 508,152 in a recent fact sheet based on VA documents obtained under the FOIA. Continue Here