| By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor When No. 2,000 fell last weekend in Afghanistan, journalists were keeping count. But is the nation keeping up? Sunday marks the 11-year anniversary of the first American missile strikes against terrorist and Taliban targets inside Afghanistan. The U.S. military death toll has ticked ever slowly upward from the war's launch in October 2001 as a globally watched counterattack to 9/11 through the height of the Iraq War when service members in Afghanistan darkly dubbed their own battleground "Forgot-istan." Last Saturday, Sgt. 1st Class Riley G. Stephens, 39, was shot and killed by an Afghan National Army soldier at a highway checkpoint in Wardak Province. The Airborne Special Forces member had three children and a wife. Residents in his tiny hometown, Tolar, Texas, gathered Wednesday night on the local high school football field, burning candles in his honor. According to The Associated Press, Stephens was the 2,000th U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan, the type of historic landmark that gets the media's notice. But if the simple cold arithmetic of his passing didn't get your attention, you've got company. Although 68,000 U.S. troops remain in that war zone, the majority of Americans have mentally moved along, military experts say, to the point where such tragic notches rarely rate a mention at the supper table and barely raise more than a momentary blip in the Twitter-sphere. "I don't think it ranked very high" in the nation's consciousness, said Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow with the 21st Century Defense Initiative and director of research for the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. "Thoughtful people – even if they have made up their minds about the war – they just want to commemorate it the same way we commemorate Veterans Day or Memorial Day. It merits a little bit of response in that regard. But beyond that, it elicits almost no new policy debate whatsoever." "A 2,000th fatality does not affect people's (personal) calculus on mission feasibility or the desirability of one policy option over another. It's just going to be a sad milestone," O'Hanlon said. Watch the Top Videos on NBCNews.com Perhaps that's partly because America's lengthiest war has not generated the fatal pace of past military conflicts. While 181 U.S. service members have been killed, on average, per year in Afghanistan, the annual death rates for American troops in three previous wars were higher to exceedingly higher – Iraq: 498 per year, Vietnam: 4,850 per year, and Korea: 12,300 per year. The U.S. military plans to finish a withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. "Of course, 2,000 fatalities these days really means 20,000 wounded because we're keeping so many wounded people alive," said O'Hanlon, who describes himself as "a supporter of the mission" in Afghanistan. "So, I think the numbers are pretty high in many ways." "The fact that the country has sort of tolerated them, even though we're still unhappy about still being in this war, is a testament to the fact that they are not huge," he added. "Most people are not losing sons and daughters and brothers and sisters in this war. And that may explain why we're still all sort of more or less against it and yet tolerating it. We have a presidential campaign in which there's no real pressure to get out and yet everybody wants to get out." Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter Beyond that, giving special commemoration to the 2,000th service member to die in Afghanistan seems somewhat disrespectful to the 1,999th U.S. troop to die there -- someone whose life story and profound sacrifice may get far less acclaim. Meanwhile, the first casualties of the conflict get shoved deeper into the nation's collective memory, said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive officer and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit group with more than 200,000 members. "The larger concern we have is with that general disconnect," Rieckhoff said. "Obviously somebody was just killed in action there and that person should be remembered and celebrated. But we've also got to remember there are widows who have been dealing with this since 2001. They still need support and their families need care and their kids need to figure out how they're going to school. The price those families pay impacts generations." "Most Americans aren't constantly thinking about Afghanistan. It's not always in the papers. It's at the end of very few news broadcasts. Maybe there is some fatigue in the general population," Rieckhoff said. "But I also think there's some paralysis: They don't know what to do about it. So, what we simply try to tell them is just make sure you remember the families." More content from NBCNews.com:
 |
10/05/2012
2,000 gone in Afghanistan: Is nation taking note?
LAPD chief: We'll reject some deportation requests
| By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News Days after California's governor vetoed a bill that would have let local authorities ignore federal requests to hold undocumented immigrants for possible deportation, the Los Angeles police chief has decided he won't comply with the requests in low-level cases. Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday that he had to craft a program that would serve his community. "It strikes me as somebody who runs a police department that is 45 percent Hispanic and polices a city that is at least that, that we need to build trust in these communities and we need to build cooperation or we won't be prepared," the Los Angeles Times quoted Beck as saying. Out of 105,000 annual arrests, the Los Angeles police get about 3,400 requests, known as detainers or holds, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The Los Angeles Daily News reported. The holds are part of the Secure Communities program, in which the FBI shares fingerprints of those arrested with federal immigration authorities, who determine if the persons are legally in the U.S. or if they can be deported due to a criminal conviction. Calif. governor vetoes bill that allowed towns to release undocumented immigrants Immigration advocates say the holds cast a wide dragnet that has ensnared even those who had committed minor crimes or no offenses at all. But ICE has said the program was instrumental in helping enforce immigration laws and in getting violent offenders off the streets.  Nick Ut / AP file Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck: "Community trust is extremely important. It's my intent that we gain that trust back." "The LAPD is proposing to no longer grant an ICE detainer request without first reviewing the seriousness of the offense for which the person is being held as well as their prior arrest history and gang involvement," according to an LAPD statement. The department was developing a list of criminal offenses, such as public nuisance and low-grade misdemeanors, that in its view don't meet the program's intended purpose. Under the LAPD's new proposal, those arrested for low-grade misdemeanors won't be held for ICE unless the person had a prior felony arrest or was a documented gang member. The person also won't be held without additional information from ICE. The police will still honor detention requests on felony and high-grade misdemeanor arrests. About 400 ICE requests annually could be ignored under the new policy, Beck said, adding that City Attorney Carmen Trutanich had informed him that police could legally refuse to honor ICE detainer requests, according to local media reports. Beck said he believes in some cases, the detentions have unnecessarily split up families, Reuters reported. "Community trust is extremely important," he said. "It's my intent that we gain that trust back." 'No papers, no fear': Undocumented immigrants declare themselves on bus tour Late Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the Trust Act, controversial legislation similar to what Beck has opted to do. Beck said his new rules, which he hopes to implement by Jan. 1, were in the works before the governor's veto, the Daily News reported. In his veto message, Brown said he could not sign the bill because under it, "local officers would be prohibited from complying with an immigration detainer unless the person arrested was charged with, or has been previously convicted of, a serious or violent felony. "Unfortunately, the list of offenses codified in the bill is fatally flawed because it omits many serious crimes," he said, adding that he would work with lawmakers to improve the legislation. Several counties and cities have enacted ordinances that limit police cooperation with federal immigration authorities, The New York Times has reported. Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter ICE says it prioritizes the deportation of those who present the most significant threats to public safety, and that it has deported more than 147,400 convicted criminal undocumented immigrants, including more than 54,200 individuals convicted of violent offenses such as murder, rape and the sexual abuse of children, under the program. "Over the past three and half years, ICE has been dedicated to implementing smart, effective reforms to the immigration system that allow it to focus its resources on criminals, recent border crossers and repeat immigration law violators," ICE Deputy Press Secretary Gillian Christensen said Friday in a statement to NBC News. "The federal government alone sets these priorities and places detainers on individuals arrested on criminal charges to ensure that dangerous criminal aliens and other priority individuals are not released from prisons and jails into our communities." More content from NBCNews.com:
|
Spilled soda blamed for loose jet seats
Teen's 911 call: 'I hate the feeling of killing someone'
| View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com. By Frank Heinz, NBCDFW.com A Parker County, Texas, teen has been arrested on suspicion of double murder after he called 911 and said he shot and killed his mother and sister. According to police, 17-year-old Jake Evans called 911 at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday and said he'd used a .22 revolver to shoot and kill both his 48-year-old mother, Jamie Evans, and his 15-year-old sister, Mallory. "It just kind of happened," Evans told the 911 operator in an eerily calm voice. "I've been kind of, uh, planning on killing for a while now." When asked if he meant the two of them or just anybody, Evans responded: "Pretty much anybody." Also at NBCDFW.com: Dallas man indicted, linked to Anonymous hackers A short time later, Parker County sheriff's deputies arrived at the Evans' family home in Annetta, a town of about 1,700 west of Fort Worth, and took him into custody without incident. "I guess this is really selfish to say but, to me, I felt like they were just suffocating me in a way. I don't know," Evans said during the 911 call.  Parker County Sheriff's Office "Obviously, I am pretty, I guess, evil," he said. Evans is charged with capital murder. A judge denied him bond. "Just to let you know, I hate the feeling of killing someone, you know," Evans said in the 911 call. "I'm going to be messed up." The teen's father was out of town on business when the killings took place, police said. NBC 5 has been told that the father raced home from Washington, D.C. Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter Leslie Richardson, a family friend, described Evans as quiet and gentle. "Everybody knew him as just being the quiet kid ... but he was really sweet and gentle," she said. NBC 5 has learned that Evans' mother was a teacher and assistant principal in the Aledo Independent School District for 15 years before leaving in 2004. "I mean, she was kind of like a second mom," Richardson said. "They were just a really good family and, I mean, my whole family was close to them, so I wish I could just say that I love them." Friends described Mallory Evans as pretty and sweet. Watch the Top Videos on NBCNews.com She and her brother previously had been students in the Aledo ISD but were home-schooled. The family has two other daughters who were not home at the time of the killings. One of the daughters was scheduled to come home from college this weekend for a visit. Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said authorities believe Evans acted alone and that there is no evidence implicating any additional suspects. The double homicide is being investigated by the Texas Rangers and Parker County Sheriff's Criminal Investigation Division. Aledo ISD released this statement Thursday afternoon:
NBC 5's Ray Villeda and Ellen Goldberg contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com:
|
Dissident Cuban blogger arrested
14 inches! Rare Oct. snowstorm hits Minn., N.D.
| In North Dakota and Montana, the first snow of the season has arrived, but on the East Coast the temperatures will reach up into the 80s. NBC's Brian Williams reports. By Miguel Llanos, NBC News A rare early October snowstorm dumped snow across parts of Minnesota and North Dakota, including 14 inches in one Minnesota county, snapping tree lines and cutting power to residents who worked to dig out and clean up on Friday. Some areas saw record amounts for this early in the season, the National Weather Service said in an advisory. Grand Forks, N.D., was among them -- getting 3.5 inches by Thursday afternoon. The previous Oct. 4 record for the city was 2 inches in 1950. "For early October, this is definitely a big storm," Jeff Makowski, a weather service meteorologist based in Grand Forks, told Reuters. Near-blizzard conditions were blamed for a head-on collision that killed a woman, the Grand Forks Herald reported. Minnesota's Roseau County saw the most snow by Thursday afternoon -- 14 inches. The county is in the state's northwest corner, near the border with Canada. Six inches of snow were reported in Karlstad, Minn., where residents had been forced from the city temporarily this week by a wildfire that burned several homes and other structures.  David Samson / The Forum via AP Snow falls Thursday in Fargo, N.D., which saw an inch by the afternoon. Northern Minnesota and North Dakota have seen several years where snow fell in the second half of September, the weather service reported. The region had seen unusually warm temperatures earlier in the week -- including Monday's high of 80 degrees in Grand Forks. Reuters contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com:
|
