Friday, March 30, 2012
CIA/Bush Drug Ties, Weather Wars & Sonny Bono's Murder with Author Bob F...
LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
LIFE 2012
03/20/2012
LIFE 2012
Nasruddin was cutting a branch off a tree in his garden one day. While he was sawing, a man passed by in the street and said, "Excuse me, but if continue to saw that branch like that, you will fall down with it." He said this because Nasruddin was sitting (ON THE SAME BRANCH) Nasruddin said nothing. He thought, "This is some foolish person who has no work to do but go around telling other people what to do and what not to do."
The man continued on his way.
Of course, after a few minutes, the branch fell and Nasruddin fell with it.
"My God!" he cried. "That man knows the future!" He ran after him to ask how long he was going to live. But the man had already gone.
The legend is common in three countries, I borrow it here to make a simple point, what I say is my opinion only based on my observations of life and my experiences over many years. It is not for children, it is not for entertainment, it is the stark reality of my world. When I started this page I promised you that I will tell you the truth, without any sugar coating, ( it says that in my profile that have never changed). My book of poetry is named "Face Off", in my article "A New World Order, 2003, I had mentioned this much, "I assume that a few of my readers may not understand my hypothesis, some may disagree vehemently. And a few kind ones may think that I have lost my marbles, totally! Some may call me a racist, and some may just simply call me "Karl", like another one of my friends did. Personally I like the moniker “the Alarmist". And I do hope that you stay awake thru this reading."
May be I should give people hope, then what will be the purpose of this blog, or of my "facebook" page, there are many millions spewing nonsense already, and is not a half truth also a half lie also? I am not talking to children, I hope those reading my writings are mature enough and old enough to see the reality and do not require sugar coating. The truth is a bitter medicine, but did not the "prophets" warn us of a bitter end, and a horrible future if we wasted our time and got involved in frivolous pursuits?
I do not follow a particular religion, some may say it condemns me to a hell, but I know many who profess a religion and break every commandment, yet "KNOW" they are forgiven, because of this or that reason or promise. It may be O.K. to take a chance on what will happen after we are dead, but taking silly chances on the future while we are still alive is DANGEROUS.
If you have read my writings about the coming economic collapse, about the political shenanigans of the elite, about the endless wars, about the coming population control, about the unholy alliances formed by " religious regimes" about the lies the governments tell to their people the only you will know why I am so pessimistic, why I have been warning of these days for many many years, it wall all coming and we refused to notice, we still refused to admit that we have been fooled, it is only natural.
We are living a world of smoke and mirrors, from fancy buildings to over hyped self, a sense over privilege that is neither warranted nor deserved or earned, We want to be recognized as humans, but use every excuse provided by the anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists and our own clergy for being and behaving badly.
Most of us are living in denial, mainly when our lives are good we assume that all is well, You saw this most vividly in the revolutions of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, the people with privileges thought the revolutionaries were a crazy bunch, everything was O.K. in the country. It is not a new story, did not the Germans ignore the maltreatment of the Jews, then crazies, then homosexuals, since everything was alright in their own little worlds. Similarly, after 9/11 most Americans did not care about the Patriot act, it was only going to bother some little brown people, but when the NDAA became the law of the land many more became upset, (TOO LATE).
I could be more kind and gentle but why? We are already too privileged,are we not? And I am not talking here to kids, it may be O.K. to tell a child dying of cancer that he will be all right soon, but to a thirty year old we, need to tell that he must prepare his will, make arrangements for his funeral take care of his estate, make amends and whatever else he may wish to get done. Our economy is dying, the financial system is crumbling, job situation is bleak and getting worse, it is not time to give the kids hope, it is time to make them, push them to work hard, study harder and get ready for a life of struggle, unless of course you happen to be a Paris Hilton and will leave your kids hundreds of millions.
Here is a recent article from CNN
Sent from 's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.
The fastest-growing job in America
I have a good friend in New York who turned the upstairs of her house into a bed and breakfast to help make ends meet -- a great idea on paper. My girlfriend was not a morning person. But she is now -- up and making breakfast with a smile -- because she likes the lights staying on more than she dislikes alarm clocks. She also has a consulting company and gives speeches.
In other words, she's a hustler in the new economy.
That word used to seem a little unsavory. "Hustler." Like the seedy magazine. It was as if there was something a little suspicious about someone who didn't have one source of income from a "legitimate" job. Of course, poor folks always hustled -- a 9 to 5 complemented with fixing cars on the weekend or doing hair in the kitchen. But a lot of Americans have to hustle now -- as much as 20% of us are deemed underemployed, or juggling multiple gigs to pay the bills since the recession started in 2007.
Last summer, The New York Times ran a story about the growing trend of people holding down several different jobs and led the piece with a then-26-year-old graduate of the University of Chicago, who had four jobs.
"I do everything," he said. And he wasn't kidding: drawing income from e-commerce work, translating textbooks and developing -- get this -- reality TV.
When students from a prestigious school like the University of Chicago are running from job to job, you know there's no shame in the hustle.
Not even for those of us in the so-called "elite media."
In 2009, advertising revenue declined for every form of media with the exception of the Internet. A Council of Economic Advisors study just reported the newspaper industry is shrinking faster than any other industry in the United States.
Thousands of journalism jobs are gone. Not just lost, but gone -- deemed no longer necessary. That is why journalism landed on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' top 30 list of projected declining employment, along with farmers and file clerks. This is another wrinkle of our new jobs market reality, one that is the unfortunate byproduct of technology: displaced workers, evaporated professions. The more our production becomes more efficient thanks to technology, the more we'll see the fat being cut. And by fat, I mean jobs.
Like bookstore owners, CD-store clerks and postal workers.
Oh, there will always be careers. There will always be work. But maybe not in the way we talk about it today. The jobs with benefits and pensions and retirement plans. The ones that come with a guaranteed 40 hours and the promise of covering all of our expenses from that one source.
A recent Rutgers University study found the median salary for recent college graduates is $27,000, down $3,000 from 2007. And that's before taxes and student loan payments. They're not technically underemployed, but you've got to wonder how someone living in a major urban city survives making $27,000. You know, besides moving back in with their parents or having 25 roommates?
They get a side gig going.
The job numbers are encouraging. But there is a fascinating dynamic reshaping our thinking about what we do for a living. Some of us will always go into professions, but others are learning to become professionals: nimble, multiskilled job creators for ourselves. We have to. We're a country trying to pull itself out of a job crisis while the most viable, the most exciting industry, technology, is indirectly eliminating jobs.
I often look out of my airplane window when landing at an airport and see the people manually directing traffic. I wonder how much longer those kind of jobs are going to be around. Video stores are giving way to downloads, toll booth clerks replaced by automated machines. The self-checkout option at the grocery store is faster, but it also means fewer cashiers, fewer jobs. It's almost like some weird form of economic cannibalism.
Many of the journalists who were laid off found other means of making money, like freelancing, grant writing, public relations. Maybe all three.
There is something to be said about the kind of jobs we are gaining. People once were afraid to start their own businesses because they didn't want to lose the security of a paycheck or the health insurance that typically came with a good job. Now layoffs and buyouts are forcing many of us to be reluctant entrepreneurs.
Such is the new reality. And it's doubtful the recovery and more jobs will change that because technology will continue to eat away at jobs and starting incomes won't cover all of our living expenses. One of the reasons why so many companies are registering record profits, but temp jobs have grown for the eighth straight month, is that it's cheaper to hire three people at 20 hours a week than one at 60, plus overtime and benefits. It's just capitalism doing what it's designed to do: be as profitable as possible. We simply must adjust.
And that, my friends, is the hustle.
How mush hope do you find in this article?
LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE
LIFE 2012
Nasruddin was cutting a branch off a tree in his garden one day. While he was sawing, a man passed by in the street and said, "Excuse me, but if continue to saw that branch like that, you will fall down with it." He said this because Nasruddin was sitting (ON THE SAME BRANCH) Nasruddin said nothing. He thought, "This is some foolish person who has no work to do but go around telling other people what to do and what not to do."
The man continued on his way.
Of course, after a few minutes, the branch fell and Nasruddin fell with it.
"My God!" he cried. "That man knows the future!" He ran after him to ask how long he was going to live. But the man had already gone.
The legend is common in three countries, I borrow it here to make a simple point, what I say is my opinion only based on my observations of life and my experiences over many years. It is not for children, it is not for entertainment, it is the stark reality of my world. When I started this page I promised you that I will tell you the truth, without any sugar coating, ( it says that in my profile that have never changed). My book of poetry is named "Face Off", in my article "A New World Order, 2003, I had mentioned this much, "I assume that a few of my readers may not understand my hypothesis, some may disagree vehemently. And a few kind ones may think that I have lost my marbles, totally! Some may call me a racist, and some may just simply call me "Karl", like another one of my friends did. Personally I like the moniker “the Alarmist". And I do hope that you stay awake thru this reading."
May be I should give people hope, then what will be the purpose of this blog, or of my "facebook" page, there are many millions spewing nonsense already, and is not a half truth also a half lie also? I am not talking to children, I hope those reading my writings are mature enough and old enough to see the reality and do not require sugar coating. The truth is a bitter medicine, but did not the "prophets" warn us of a bitter end, and a horrible future if we wasted our time and got involved in frivolous pursuits?
I do not follow a particular religion, some may say it condemns me to a hell, but I know many who profess a religion and break every commandment, yet "KNOW" they are forgiven, because of this or that reason or promise. It may be O.K. to take a chance on what will happen after we are dead, but taking silly chances on the future while we are still alive is DANGEROUS.
If you have read my writings about the coming economic collapse, about the political shenanigans of the elite, about the endless wars, about the coming population control, about the unholy alliances formed by " religious regimes" about the lies the governments tell to their people the only you will know why I am so pessimistic, why I have been warning of these days for many many years, it wall all coming and we refused to notice, we still refused to admit that we have been fooled, it is only natural.
We are living a world of smoke and mirrors, from fancy buildings to over hyped self, a sense over privilege that is neither warranted nor deserved or earned, We want to be recognized as humans, but use every excuse provided by the anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists and our own clergy for being and behaving badly.
Most of us are living in denial, mainly when our lives are good we assume that all is well, You saw this most vividly in the revolutions of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, the people with privileges thought the revolutionaries were a crazy bunch, everything was O.K. in the country. It is not a new story, did not the Germans ignore the maltreatment of the Jews, then crazies, then homosexuals, since everything was alright in their own little worlds. Similarly, after 9/11 most Americans did not care about the Patriot act, it was only going to bother some little brown people, but when the NDAA became the law of the land many more became upset, (TOO LATE).
I could be more kind and gentle but why? We are already too privileged,are we not? And I am not talking here to kids, it may be O.K. to tell a child dying of cancer that he will be all right soon, but to a thirty year old we, need to tell that he must prepare his will, make arrangements for his funeral take care of his estate, make amends and whatever else he may wish to get done. Our economy is dying, the financial system is crumbling, job situation is bleak and getting worse, it is not time to give the kids hope, it is time to make them, push them to work hard, study harder and get ready for a life of struggle, unless of course you happen to be a Paris Hilton and will leave your kids hundreds of millions.
Here is a recent article from CNN
Sent from 's mobile device from http://www.cnn.com.
The fastest-growing job in America
I have a good friend in New York who turned the upstairs of her house into a bed and breakfast to help make ends meet -- a great idea on paper. My girlfriend was not a morning person. But she is now -- up and making breakfast with a smile -- because she likes the lights staying on more than she dislikes alarm clocks. She also has a consulting company and gives speeches.
In other words, she's a hustler in the new economy.
That word used to seem a little unsavory. "Hustler." Like the seedy magazine. It was as if there was something a little suspicious about someone who didn't have one source of income from a "legitimate" job. Of course, poor folks always hustled -- a 9 to 5 complemented with fixing cars on the weekend or doing hair in the kitchen. But a lot of Americans have to hustle now -- as much as 20% of us are deemed underemployed, or juggling multiple gigs to pay the bills since the recession started in 2007.
Last summer, The New York Times ran a story about the growing trend of people holding down several different jobs and led the piece with a then-26-year-old graduate of the University of Chicago, who had four jobs.
"I do everything," he said. And he wasn't kidding: drawing income from e-commerce work, translating textbooks and developing -- get this -- reality TV.
When students from a prestigious school like the University of Chicago are running from job to job, you know there's no shame in the hustle.
Not even for those of us in the so-called "elite media."
In 2009, advertising revenue declined for every form of media with the exception of the Internet. A Council of Economic Advisors study just reported the newspaper industry is shrinking faster than any other industry in the United States.
Thousands of journalism jobs are gone. Not just lost, but gone -- deemed no longer necessary. That is why journalism landed on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' top 30 list of projected declining employment, along with farmers and file clerks. This is another wrinkle of our new jobs market reality, one that is the unfortunate byproduct of technology: displaced workers, evaporated professions. The more our production becomes more efficient thanks to technology, the more we'll see the fat being cut. And by fat, I mean jobs.
Like bookstore owners, CD-store clerks and postal workers.
Oh, there will always be careers. There will always be work. But maybe not in the way we talk about it today. The jobs with benefits and pensions and retirement plans. The ones that come with a guaranteed 40 hours and the promise of covering all of our expenses from that one source.
A recent Rutgers University study found the median salary for recent college graduates is $27,000, down $3,000 from 2007. And that's before taxes and student loan payments. They're not technically underemployed, but you've got to wonder how someone living in a major urban city survives making $27,000. You know, besides moving back in with their parents or having 25 roommates?
They get a side gig going.
The job numbers are encouraging. But there is a fascinating dynamic reshaping our thinking about what we do for a living. Some of us will always go into professions, but others are learning to become professionals: nimble, multiskilled job creators for ourselves. We have to. We're a country trying to pull itself out of a job crisis while the most viable, the most exciting industry, technology, is indirectly eliminating jobs.
I often look out of my airplane window when landing at an airport and see the people manually directing traffic. I wonder how much longer those kind of jobs are going to be around. Video stores are giving way to downloads, toll booth clerks replaced by automated machines. The self-checkout option at the grocery store is faster, but it also means fewer cashiers, fewer jobs. It's almost like some weird form of economic cannibalism.
Many of the journalists who were laid off found other means of making money, like freelancing, grant writing, public relations. Maybe all three.
There is something to be said about the kind of jobs we are gaining. People once were afraid to start their own businesses because they didn't want to lose the security of a paycheck or the health insurance that typically came with a good job. Now layoffs and buyouts are forcing many of us to be reluctant entrepreneurs.
Such is the new reality. And it's doubtful the recovery and more jobs will change that because technology will continue to eat away at jobs and starting incomes won't cover all of our living expenses. One of the reasons why so many companies are registering record profits, but temp jobs have grown for the eighth straight month, is that it's cheaper to hire three people at 20 hours a week than one at 60, plus overtime and benefits. It's just capitalism doing what it's designed to do: be as profitable as possible. We simply must adjust.
And that, my friends, is the hustle.
How mush hope do you find in this article?
LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Sixteen Afghan civilians killed in rogue U.S. attack
LONE ROGUE SOLDIER STORY
While U.S. officials rushed to draw a line between the rogue shooting and the ongoing efforts of a U.S. force of around 90,000, the incident is sure to further inflame Afghan anger triggered when U.S. soldiers burned copies of the Koran at a NATO base.
U.S. officials said an American staff sergeant from a unit based in Washington state was in custody after the attack on villagers in three houses. Multiple civilians were also wounded, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition said
President Barack Obama called his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai promising to establish the facts quickly and "to hold fully accountable anyone responsible."
There were conflicting reports of how many shooters were involved, with U.S. officials asserting that a lone soldier was responsible, in contrast to witnesses' accounts that several U.S. soldiers were present.
The incident was one of the worst of its kind since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said anti-U.S. reprisals were possible following the killings, just as the Koran burning incident a few weeks earlier had touched off widespread anti-Western protests in which at least 30 people died.
Neighbors and relatives of the dead said they had seen a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at about 2 a.m., enter homes and open fire.
An Afghan man who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies.
Obama said he was deeply saddened. "This incident is tragic and shocking and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan," Obama said in a statement.
"INTENTIONAL MURDERS"
Afghan President Karzai condemned the rampage as "intentional murders" and demanded an explanation from the United States. His office said the dead included nine children and three women.
Afghan officials also gave varying accounts of the number of shooters involved. Karzai's office released a statement quoting a villager as saying "American soldiers woke my family up and shot them in the face."
Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid said a U.S. soldier had burst into three homes near his base in the middle of the night, killing a total of 16 people including 11 people in the first house.
The ISAF spokesman said the U.S. soldier "walked back to the base and turned himself into U.S. forces this morning," adding there had been no military operations taking place in the area when the incident occurred.
Panjwayi district is about 35 km (22 miles) west of the provincial capital Kandahar city. The district is considered the spiritual home of the Taliban and has been a hive of insurgent activity in recent years.
"I saw that all 11 of my relatives were killed, including my children and grandchildren," said a weeping Haji Samad, who said he had left his home a day earlier.
BLOOD-SPATTERED WALLS
The walls of the house were blood-splattered.
"They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them," Samad told Reuters at the scene.
Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk.
"They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place.
"Their (the victims') bodies were riddled with bullets."
A senior U.S. defense official in Washington rejected witness accounts that several apparently drunk soldiers were involved. "Based on the preliminary information we have this account is flatly wrong," the official said. "We believe one U.S. service member acted alone, not a group of U.S. soldiers."
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Karzai to offer his condolences. "I condemn such violence and am shocked and saddened that a U.S. service member is alleged to be involved, clearly acting outside his chain of command," Panetta said in a statement. "A full investigation is already under way. A suspect is in custody and I gave President Karzai my assurances that we will bring those responsible to justice."
The Afghan Taliban said it would take revenge for the deaths, in an emailed statement to media.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said an investigation was under way and that "the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice."
ISAF Commander General John Allen promised a rapid investigation.
Civilian casualties have been a major source of friction between Karzai's Western-backed government and U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. NATO is preparing to hand over all security responsibilities to Afghans and all foreign combat troops are scheduled to leave by end-2014.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance remained firmly committed to its mission and said anyone responsible would be held accountable.
The Koran burning and the violence that followed, including a spate of deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers, underscored the challenges that the West faces as it prepares to withdraw.
Sunday's attack may harden a growing consensus in Washington that, despite a troop surge, a war bill exceeding $500 billion over 10-1/2 years and almost 2,000 U.S. lives lost, prospects are dimming for what the United States can accomplish in Afghanistan.
"These killings only serve to reinforce the mindset that the whole war is broken and that there's little we can do about it beyond trying to cut our losses and leave," said Joshua Foust, a security expert with the American Security Project.
(Reporting by Ahmad Nadem in Kandahar and Hamid Shalizi in Kabul, Additional reporting by Missy Ryan and Alister Bull in Washington; Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Andrew Roche and Jackie Frank)
LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE
Sixteen Afghan civilians killed in rogue U.S. attack
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan |
(Reuters) - Sixteen Afghan civilians, including nine children, were shot dead in what witnesses described as a nighttime massacre on Sunday near a U.S. base in southern Afghanistan, and one U.S. soldier was in custody.While U.S. officials rushed to draw a line between the rogue shooting and the ongoing efforts of a U.S. force of around 90,000, the incident is sure to further inflame Afghan anger triggered when U.S. soldiers burned copies of the Koran at a NATO base.
U.S. officials said an American staff sergeant from a unit based in Washington state was in custody after the attack on villagers in three houses. Multiple civilians were also wounded, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition said
President Barack Obama called his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai promising to establish the facts quickly and "to hold fully accountable anyone responsible."
There were conflicting reports of how many shooters were involved, with U.S. officials asserting that a lone soldier was responsible, in contrast to witnesses' accounts that several U.S. soldiers were present.
The incident was one of the worst of its kind since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said anti-U.S. reprisals were possible following the killings, just as the Koran burning incident a few weeks earlier had touched off widespread anti-Western protests in which at least 30 people died.
Neighbors and relatives of the dead said they had seen a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at about 2 a.m., enter homes and open fire.
An Afghan man who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies.
Obama said he was deeply saddened. "This incident is tragic and shocking and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan," Obama said in a statement.
"INTENTIONAL MURDERS"
Afghan President Karzai condemned the rampage as "intentional murders" and demanded an explanation from the United States. His office said the dead included nine children and three women.
Afghan officials also gave varying accounts of the number of shooters involved. Karzai's office released a statement quoting a villager as saying "American soldiers woke my family up and shot them in the face."
Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid said a U.S. soldier had burst into three homes near his base in the middle of the night, killing a total of 16 people including 11 people in the first house.
The ISAF spokesman said the U.S. soldier "walked back to the base and turned himself into U.S. forces this morning," adding there had been no military operations taking place in the area when the incident occurred.
Panjwayi district is about 35 km (22 miles) west of the provincial capital Kandahar city. The district is considered the spiritual home of the Taliban and has been a hive of insurgent activity in recent years.
"I saw that all 11 of my relatives were killed, including my children and grandchildren," said a weeping Haji Samad, who said he had left his home a day earlier.
BLOOD-SPATTERED WALLS
The walls of the house were blood-splattered.
"They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them," Samad told Reuters at the scene.
Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk.
"They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place.
"Their (the victims') bodies were riddled with bullets."
A senior U.S. defense official in Washington rejected witness accounts that several apparently drunk soldiers were involved. "Based on the preliminary information we have this account is flatly wrong," the official said. "We believe one U.S. service member acted alone, not a group of U.S. soldiers."
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Karzai to offer his condolences. "I condemn such violence and am shocked and saddened that a U.S. service member is alleged to be involved, clearly acting outside his chain of command," Panetta said in a statement. "A full investigation is already under way. A suspect is in custody and I gave President Karzai my assurances that we will bring those responsible to justice."
The Afghan Taliban said it would take revenge for the deaths, in an emailed statement to media.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said an investigation was under way and that "the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice."
ISAF Commander General John Allen promised a rapid investigation.
Civilian casualties have been a major source of friction between Karzai's Western-backed government and U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. NATO is preparing to hand over all security responsibilities to Afghans and all foreign combat troops are scheduled to leave by end-2014.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance remained firmly committed to its mission and said anyone responsible would be held accountable.
The Koran burning and the violence that followed, including a spate of deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers, underscored the challenges that the West faces as it prepares to withdraw.
Sunday's attack may harden a growing consensus in Washington that, despite a troop surge, a war bill exceeding $500 billion over 10-1/2 years and almost 2,000 U.S. lives lost, prospects are dimming for what the United States can accomplish in Afghanistan.
"These killings only serve to reinforce the mindset that the whole war is broken and that there's little we can do about it beyond trying to cut our losses and leave," said Joshua Foust, a security expert with the American Security Project.
(Reporting by Ahmad Nadem in Kandahar and Hamid Shalizi in Kabul, Additional reporting by Missy Ryan and Alister Bull in Washington; Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Andrew Roche and Jackie Frank)
LIFE IS A GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, IF YOU DON'T CONNECT ALL THE DOTS OR DON'T CONNECT THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER YOU NEVER GET THE PICTURE
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