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Well, sure, they do, but they die in peacetime too. They die in automobile accidents, in falls, from illness and overdoses, in training accidents. I think it likely that a disciplined combat unit under good leadership, with the right procedures and adequate equipment, is safer in Iraq than left to their own devices in civilian life. That's all I am saying--cold hard actuarial data is lacking, so I can only guess. Those particular 500 who died of combat-related injuries might all be alive if they were not deployed to Iraq, but another 500 would have died of normal causes in their place, if they were all home.

Any death diminishes us, but we need to be realistic when we talk about the "500 who died in Bush's war." This is not an exceptional level of casualties for such a great gain.