Word: combats
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...slowly withdraws from Iraq, the flow of additional U.S. forces into Afghanistan--to what many in the U.S. military call the "forgotten war"--is on the rise. By late this summer, 32,000 American troops are scheduled to be in Afghanistan, the most in more than six years of combat. Beyond highlighting the resilience of the U.S. military, it also showcases the increasing irrelevance of NATO, which is supposed to be leading the fight. Some key alliance members--France, Germany, Italy and Spain--are refusing to send troops to battle the Taliban or placing "caveats" limiting their deployment to peaceful...
There are two important rules at Combat Outpost Rabiya, a tiny compound recently erected by U.S. troops on the west side of Mosul. First, do not urinate in any of the three wooden outhouses built over a ditch in the back. The waste has to be burned since there is no running water, and that is difficult to do when it's wet. Visitors are politely told to direct fluids into a hose leading downhill to a creek. Second, when going to the toilet--or anywhere away from the shelters of the camp's twin tents--always wear a helmet...
...areas where the surge has been concentrated, many find that their task has changed dramatically since their previous tours. Staff Sergeant Shane Plummer, 27, was an infantryman during the 2003 assault on Baghdad and was posted to the Diyala River Valley in 2005. These days, he's based at Combat Outpost Cashe, 12 miles (20 km) southeast of Baghdad, where he focuses more on building relationships with Iraqis than on fighting them. With each tour, he says, "the mission has changed more toward making friends than finding...
...What Abdullah certainly did promise was to combat graft and strengthen civil liberties during his tenure. The vows so pleased Malaysian voters that in the 2004 elections, less than five months after Abdullah became Prime Minister, the National Front won its largest-ever mandate. But the euphoria hasn't lasted. Abdullah has been criticized for everything from restarting several of Mahathir's extravagant megaprojects to rolling back press freedoms that he himself had granted. At the same time, his stolid image as a compromise candidate has come back to haunt him. "His performance is disappointing, unexciting," says Kuala Lumpur-based...
Chavez's harangues also have their effect. "Controls of these economic variables can work [to combat inflation]," says Orlando Ochoa, an economist and opposition sympathizer. "However, if you add an aggressive political speech [that threatens] private property... then things become worse, because the private sector becomes reluctant to invest and increase capacity." Indeed, business associations have already expressed concern that recent changes to the Law of Hoarding, Speculation and Boycotting could make it easier for the government to expropriate food-related businesses...