A Little Bit on Combat Deaths

Between 1983 and 1996, 18,006 American military personnel died accidentally in the service of their country, a death rate of 1,286 per year which exceeds the rate of combat deaths in Iraq.

In accidents they died, at a higher rate than they are being killed in Iraq. (Granted, there are still accidental, non-combat deaths in the military at the same time, so I'm not making the argument that it is SAFER to be fighting a war than just sitting around, only trying to provide perspective.)

On September 11, nearly 3500 innocent, non-combatants lost their lives, not to mention the number of people who died in terror-related attacks during the Clinton Administration. Our number of civilian dead in the war on terrorism remains HIGHER than our troop death toll.

And it IS a toll. Contrary to what the left would have you believe, there aren't Rich White Neo-Cons gathered in back rooms, breaking open the bubbly everytime a young american soldier dies.

But, the idea that the country that would be so angry at Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor (a mostly MILITARY objective) - so angry that it would drop two atomic bombs, at least partially in retribution for such an attack - is wobbly in the knees after losing less than 2,000 soldiers who are fighting to stop things like an attack on a decisively non-military objective (the WTC)...No wonder our enemies are emboldend.

If we were to re-fight WWII with the "resolve" we have today, we would be in deep, deep trouble.