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Violence in Afghanistan continues to climb with at least two dozen people killed in various incidents across the country. The deaths were the results of US/NATO airstrikes, a pitched firefight, and a Taliban road-side bomb, that killed civilians, fighters, and US troops. The Defense Department announced that 615 members of the US military had died in Afghanistan since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom. President Obama has pledged to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and Congress is poised to pass a $92 billion supplemental spending bill on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A growing number of anti-war groups including Iraq Veterans Against the War, have lobbied against passing the bill. IVAW passed a resolution earlier this year calling for an end to the occupation of Afghanistan and reparations for the Afghan people. One member of IVAW, Victor Agosto, was recently ordered to serve a tour of duty in Afghanistan after spending 13 months in Iraq. Agosto refused to deploy, writing on his counseling papers from the Army, “The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect.” He has demanded a court martial so that he can make his case publicly. I spoke yesterday with Victor Agosto, at his home in Texas.

GUEST: Victor Agosto, US soldier refusing to be deployed to Afghanistan.

Read Dahr Jamail’s article about Agosto here: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46978