According to retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and now director of the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University, acts of violence in Afghanistan rose from 900 in 2004 to 8,950 last year. Over the same span, roadside bomb attacks increased from 325 to 1,469; suicide bombings rose from 3 to 130.
A total of 107 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2007 — the most ever, according to icasualties.org.
Whenever someone says the Bush Republicans are better on national security and defense -- it's your patriotic duty to laugh in their faces. I mean, really laugh. Hands on knees, tears streaming down, stomach clenched. Keep laughing until they walk away in shame. Then stop. Because their blind faith in their Republican overlords is where the comedy ends in all this.