More lost to suicides tied to military than 13 years of war

Oct 7, 2001:
President Bush announces military action in Afghanistan
History.com
On this day in 2001, less than a month after al-Qaida terrorists flew commercial jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, President George W. Bush announces that American troops are on the offensive in Afghanistan.

The goal of Operation Enduring Freedom, as the mission was dubbed, was to stamp out Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime, which had aided and abetted al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden, a Saudi national who lived in the Afghan hills and urged his followers to kill Americans.

In a televised address that evening, Bush informed the American public that "carefully targeted actions" were being carried out to crush the military capability of al-Qaida and the Taliban, with help from British, Canadian, Australian, German and French troops. An additional 40 nations around the world provided intelligence, as well as bases from which the operations were conducted.

Bush touted the multinational effort as proof that America, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, was "supported by the collective will of the world." He also warned that the war in Afghanistan would likely be only the first front in a long struggle against terrorism. He vowed to continue to take what he called the "war on terror" to those countries that sponsored, harbored or trained terrorists.

12 Killed in 2001
49 Killed in 2002
48 Killed in 2003
52 Killed in 2004
99 Killed in 2005
98 Killed in 2006
117 Killed in 2007
155 Killed in 2008
317 Killed in 2009
499 Killed in 2010
418 Killed in 2011
310 Killed in 2012
127 Killed in 2013
48 Killed so far in 2014
2,349 Up to this day.
(Source ICasualties.org)

WE

LOST

MORE

VETERANS

THIS

YEAR

TO

SUICIDE

THAN

WE

LOST

13

YEARS

OF

COMBAT

COMBINED

INCLUDING

IRAQ

4,487

TOTAL 6,836
TOTAL SUICIDES 8,030
EST. EVERY YEAR