January 2011


-News- Let freedom ring:


American troops set to return home by August By Julia Marstell, Sports Editor


all U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by December 31, 2011. President Obama has released a recent statement order- ing all combative troops to be pulled out even earlier, by August 2011. Although major duty forces will


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be out, Obama has requested to leave 35,000 to 50,000 support troops on the ground in Iraq until they are requested to return to the home front. For nearly eight years, U.S. troops have been en- gaged in the War on Terror and have occupied various areas of war-torn Iraq and other Middle-Eastern countries. While it is time to head home, the mis- sion in Iraq is not over yet. American forces are now focusing even more on the final transition of handing Iraq’s se- curity back to the country itself. In March of 2003, the U.S. led a multinational coalition that crossed the boarder into Kuwait, Iraq, thus begin- ning Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, after extensive and prolonged combat that aided in the overthrow of the dic- tatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, Obama’s heavily debated request may give military commanders more flex- ibility and time to regroup in order to finish the mission. With the nation’s current state, many agree that it is con-


omplying with an agreement made by the Bush administration,


troversial to leave such a large number of non-combative troops in Iraq. How- ever, the United States still has a long- term commitment to Iraq. Troops who remain will be primarily focusing on supplies and logistics, as well as train- ing the Iraqi military as a means of se- curing the U.S. interests in that region. In almost a decade of war, roughly


4,415 American service members have lost their lives, and the amount of inno- cent Iraqis who are dead is even larger. This is just a glimpse of the sacrifice made by the men and women who are serving our country. Wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters and broth- ers are eagerly awaiting news of their loved ones return, the ones who have secured their freedom. While the na- tion is in a fragile state, these family members and loved ones are more than prepared to welcome their heroes back home.


People continually pray over and


give unlimited support to the Military families involved and associated with this school (elementary and second- ary). Many are wary of the future’s un- knowns, but for now, arms and hearts are open, ready to welcome home troops, with shouts of, “Let freedom ring!”


7


Tensions in Korea and Afghanistan continue to rise


By Connor Horn, Backpage Editor B


eing a world superpower is not an easy job, it seems.


As a nation seeking to hold the constant


forefront in global negotiations, the United States has involved itself in numerous inter- national ventures in attempts to bring peace and democracy to this era of sudden modern- ization. Korea and Afghanistan, it seems, are now the newest causes for the U.S. to rally behind. Not that any of these situations haven’t


been around for awhile, however. The con- flict in Afghanistan has been on-going since 2001, almost ten years ago, when a nation battered from the World Trade Center tragedy emerged to seek out those responsible and stem this new tide of terrorism. The Taliban regime, a hard-line group of traditionalist Muslims sympathetic to the cause of terror units like al-Qaeda, ran the country at the time, and were quickly conquered; however, setting up a democracy from scratch in the Af- ghan hotbed of political dissent has not been easy. Despite the best efforts of both native citizens and foreign auxiliaries like American troops, the Afghan state is still very fragile. With the U.S.’ involvement in Iraq ending, and the troops there subsequently freed up, President Obama has ordered troops into Af- ghanistan, hoping that an increased military presence can help speed up the system of domestic growth necessary for the fledgling government to thrive.


The issue in the Koreas has also been


around for a long time, ranging all the way back to 1950. A Korean nation tenuously emerging from the shadow of Japanese occu- pation found itself in a political dichotomy of opinion: one side felt the new nation should be a democracy, the other side felt that they should follow their Russian and Chinese neighbors in constructing a communist sys- tem for Korea. This devolved rapidly into war, a war that has consequences that are still reverberating today. Although the two Koreas have hated each other ever since the initial split, they have had a rougher period as of late. In March 2009, North Korea torpedoed a South Korean vessel called the Cheonen, kill- ing many sailors. More recently, North Korea has bombarded a South Korean border island, sending the nation into the highest alert it has ever been on since the signing of the armi- stice in 1953. As such, the tensions between the two nations have begun to bubble up into a fevered pitch, and since the U.S. has always honored its alliance with South Korea, it may soon get dragged into what could potentially become the largest global war since World War II.


Altogether, the United States is in a star-


tling situation geopolitically, and it is clear that whatever happens with the troops, it may be very life-changing for a lot of Americans, both military and civilians, including the families involved with the school.


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