McManus: All quiet on the war front
Here's an important fact you haven't heard much about in the presidential campaign: The armed forces of the United States are at war in at least four countries, and that number could increase any day.
About 87,000 Americans are still fighting in Afghanistan, and some are likely to stay past 2014. We're at war in neighboring Pakistan too, mostly using unmanned drones but with a handful of people on the ground.
U.S. drone and special operations forces are also waging attacks in Yemen and Somalia, operations big enough that President Obama felt compelled to acknowledge them publicly last month in a letter to Congress.
In addition, theU.S. Navyis hunting pirates in the Indian Ocean and patrolling offIran'scoast in the Persian Gulf, and in both missions shots have been fired.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-wars-obama-romney-20120718,0,5595592.column
