The Toll - 9/7/08

Vice president Dick Cheney was in Italy this weekend continuing his efforts to annoy the Kremlin by supporting NATO membership for the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, it was not a particularly healthy week for journalists in Russia.  One reporter was shot to death and another's skull was fractured in the North Caucasus region, and a high-profile, online journalist in the Ingushetia region was fatally shot while in police custody.

Russia continues to occupy territory in Georgia that Western powers say is contrary to the cease-fire agreement.  Last week it was reported that the Soviets claimed to have recovered an American passport in North Ossetia during the brief war.  The holder of that passport, Michael Lee White, has now surfaced in China, several days after his mother claimed online that he was "missing."  Saying that he was an English teacher, White confirmed that he lost the passport on a flight from Moscow to New York in 2005.

It was also a tough week for females in Islam. In Pakistan, it was revealed that five women, three of whom were teens, were shot, thrown in a ditch and buried alive. Their crime? They tried to choose their own husbands. And to top it off, a leading politician in their province, defended the atrocity as a "centuries old tradition."

Then, in Iran, female activists barely survived a legislative attempt to reduce the rights of married women.  Legislation which would have, among other things, allowed husbands to take additional wives without the consent of the first spouses, was put on hold.  However, the temporary victory was marred by the fact that four of the women who opposed it were given prison sentences.

Pakistan chose a new president this past week in an election in which only national and state lawmakers voted.  The winner, as expected, was Asif Ali Zardari, widower of the late Benazir Bhutto.  The marriage between the two had been the result of an arranged union, and they had lived apart during the last years of her life.  A polo-playing scion of a wealthy landowning clan, Zardari brings to the office an uneasy relationship with Washington and a questionable ability to deal effectively with a crumbling economy and a growing Islamic insurgency.

In Iraq, major manipulator Ahmed Chalabi survived a fourth assassination attempt which claimed the lives of six of his bodyguards. It might be recalled that one of Chalabi's associates, dubbed "curveball" by the intelligence community, had generated false reports concerning WMD's that were used by the Bush administration during the buildup to the war, despite warnings from German intelligence that the information was unreliable. Few Americans are aware that this process was aided by Black, Kelly, Scruggs & Healey, also known as BKSH & Associates, an active, Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm.

Chalabi subsequently boasted about the impact that their falsifications had in an interview with the British Sunday Telegraph, and this supposedly caused a falling out with the Bush administration. Nevertheless, he has held several political positions. His current job is unclear but he still maintains an office in the green Zone.  According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, he has been particularly close to the neoconservative establishment in Washington.  Also, a new book by Aram Roston claims that Chalabi and John McCain have had a mutually supportive relationship.

Army General David H. Petraeus, who will hand over command of U.S. forces in Iraq to Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno on September 16, is now recommending that the president postpone the troop cuts in that country until next year, reflecting concerns that widespread violence could return.

Meanwhile, the Department of Defense, this past week, released the obituaries of four military personnel killed in Iraq, ranging in age from 22 to 26.

According to the web site www.icasualties.org, U.S. deaths in Iraq now stand at 4,155, including three whose families are being notified today.

The DOD also released the obituaries of two military personnel killed in Afghanistan, ages 35 and 36..

Total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan were 514 as of September 5, according to the Pentagon.

The Canadian military announced that three Canadian soldiers were also killed this past week in Afghanistan and that five were injured.

Canada has about 2,500 soldiers based in the southern city of Kandahar, where there has been considerable violence recently.  So far, 96 Canadian troops have died in Afghanistan since their initial deployment in late 2002.