Afghanistan & Opium: US Marine Killed During Operation ‘Strike of the Sword’
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 5, 2009
World War II poster honoring US Marines during WWII
God bless our troops on the battlefield on this Independence Day weekend. Please keep them in your prayers, and remember, their selfless, courageous efforts keep us all free. Even those Americans who don’t support our troops…
From FOX News:
One Marine Killed as U.S. Military Launches Major Afghan Offensive
July 2, 2009About four thousand U.S. Marines including one thousand Marine shooters and more than six hundred Afghan forces launched a major offensive into Taliban-controlled villages in southern Afghanistan on Thursday.
The offensive marks the first major operation under President Barack Obama’s strategy to stabilize the country.
[...]
The operation came as U.S. military announced that one of its soldiers was missing and believed captured by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday. The missing soldier was not involved in the Helmand operation.
Officials described the offensive — dubbed Khanjar or “Strike of the Sword” — as the largest and fastest-moving of the war’s new phase and the biggest Marine offensive since the one in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. It involves four Marine companies — about 1,000 troops — who fanned out as part of a larger effort supported by a total of about 4,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, plus 650 Afghan forces. British forces last week led similar, but smaller, missions to clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar province.
[...]
The offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday local time (4:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday) in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold and the world’s largest opium poppy-producing area. The goal is to clear insurgents from the hotly contested region before the nation’s Aug. 20 presidential election.
More related reading:
Infidels Are Cool: Latest in Afghanistan: Operation “Strike of the Sword”
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: Freedom is NOT Free and I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. – The Warrior Legacy foundation
Michelle Malkin: Strike of the Sword and #thankyouaaron: An update and Thank you, Aaron: A U.S. soldier’s sacrifice on Independence Day and Analysts to Obama: There are no Taliban “moderates,” you nitwit and Obama administration seeks to deny habeas-corpus for Afghan detainees and Taliban assassinate Christian relief worker, world yawns and Honoring the heroes of Operational Detachment Alpha 3336, 3rd Special Forces Group
Pundit & Pundette: Brian Bradshaw: ‘A Soldier’s Worthy Life, Overlooked’
Twitter: Thank you, Aaron
Mail Online: Hundreds of British troops seize Helmand canals in U.S.-led ‘Strike of the Sword’
Matt Sanchez, FOX News: In a Class By Themselves
PRI’s The World: Taliban insurgency
EagleRockTalks: Afghanistan War – Strike of the Sword
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