Trouble in U.S. Ranks and Not All Powerful Nations Bow to Israel (tags)
"Sixteen American soldiers killed themselves in October, an unusually high monthly toll that has senior military officers worried about the impact of sending tens of thousands of new troops into Afghanistan. WSJ's Yochi Dreazen reports. .The Army's top generals worry that surging tens of thousands more troops into Afghanistan could increase the strain felt by many military personnel after years of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The October suicide figures mean that at least 134 active-duty soldiers have taken their own lives so far this year, putting the Army on pace to break last year's record of 140 active-duty suicides. The number of Army suicides has risen 37% since 2006, and last year, the suicide rate surpassed that of the U.S. population for the first time. The health of ground combat forces is emerging as an element of the Obama administration's review of its Afghanistan strategy. Conditions there have deteriorated in recent months amid lingering political instability and a worsening Taliban-led insurgency. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top American commander in Kabul, wants more than 40,000 new troops, in addition to the 68,000 that will be in Afghanistan by year-end, and has warned that the U.S. faces possible "mission failure" unless it adopts a new strategy and quickly deploys significant reinforcements." and "Ever since the 22 day brutal and merciless bombardment of homes, schools, hospitals and mosques in Gaza by the Israeli criminal regime, many Israeli tourists are receiving the cold shoulder in countries they visit and some do not want them at all. It is no surprise that high level Israeli government and military officials do not dare set foot in certain countries for fear of being arrested but snubbing the regular Israeli citizen is a relative new phenomena."