Posted on 07/02/2004 12:58:32 AM PDT by Jaysun
The liberals like to say that Iraq is a failure. Some Conservatives say that things aren’t going “as good as we had hoped.” We can’t expect liberals to look at the facts and form honest opinions, but the view from some Conservatives is puzzling. I’ve grown tired of hearing how terrible things are from the liberals, and I’ve grown equally tired of the silence coming from Conservatives in response.
So I ask you, what is it that makes Iraq a failure? What makes Iraq not as “good as we’d hoped?” What makes Iraq anything less than an astounding victory?
Surely one wouldn’t argue that Iraq is sub par on the basis of accomplishments. Since the beginning of the war in March 2003, we’ve vaccinated 3 million children, renovated 2,356 schools, printed and distributed 8.7 million revised math and science textbooks, had generated 4,518 MW of power by October 6 (surpassing the pre-war level of 4,400 MW), put 4.62 trillion new Iraqi dinars into circulation, Captured the former dictator who now stands trial, killed his two sons, helped form and recently present a sovereign nation. Just to name a few. No, it can’t be the accomplishments that has everyone frowning.
Perhaps the military operation itself is the source of your disdain? How so? It took eighteen days for our forces to capture the airport and topple the leadership in Baghdad. Twenty three days later, on April 28, some 300 prominent Iraqis met in Baghdad under US direction to convene a national conference to create an interim government. Three days later, on May 1, major combat operations were declared over by President Bush. It’s worth noting that combat operations and being attacked by terrorist while handing out food and rebuilding schools are two different things. It is factually accurate to call the military operations in Iraq the most successful in the history of the world.
That leaves one other issue. The casualties. Before we dive into the issue of casualties, I’d like to say that I don’t wish to trivialize a single military death. All of the men and women that have died during their service to our country, no matter how their deaths came about, are highly respected and honored. During the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom there were 600 deaths. There were also 48 deaths during that same time period under Operation Enduring Freedom. The total is then 648 total hostile and no hostile casualties during the first year of combat. 648 sounds like a great number, until you observe the past number of Military deaths. I’ve made the following table to illustrate the number of deaths caused by accidents or illnesses since 1992.
| YEAR | ACCIDENTS | ILLNESSES | TOTAL |
| 1992 | 676 | 252 | 928 |
| 1993 | 632 | 221 | 853 |
| 1994 | 544 | 206 | 750 |
| 1995 | 538 | 174 | 712 |
| 1996 | 527 | 173 | 700 |
| 1997 | 433 | 170 | 603 |
| 1998 | 445 | 168 | 613 |
| 1999 | 436 | 149 | 585 |
| 2000 | 400 | 124 | 524 |
| 2001 | 422 | 175 | 597 |
| 2002 | 538 | 178 | 716 |
I made this table by using information obtained from the Department of Defense. You can access this information and more here. The average number of deaths by accident or illness over the above 10 years is 689 per year. During the first year of combat in Iraq the number of deaths was 648. In short, you’re more likely to die from an accident or an illness in the military than you are from a “quagmire” in Iraq.
I’d like to know what I missed. Is there something else that makes you feel like Iraq is anything less than an astounding success? If so, let me know. If not, do the right thing and set the ignorant among us straight.
"We Americans need to face the fact that we will always be loathed and hated by those who cannot possibly measure up to us."
I disagree in part because they CAN measure up to us if they're willing to make the necessary changes. That's what makes it so sad and frustrating. Japan measures up to us to a some degree, at least economically; and they could militarily if they wanted to, but for better or worse they trust us to protect them.
America is a nation not only of laws and ideals but of IDEAS, not of ubermen who have some sort of special DNA that allows us to do things no-one else can. ANY nation that pursues this same combination of ideals and ideas will meet with the very same type and degree of success.
And that's what pisses me off about France & Co. If they really couldn't help it, it would be unfair for us to be angry with them.
'648 whatever, how many of our enemies have been killed?That's the number I'm interested in.'
Quite difficult to find out. Most reliable looking figures I can find are from infoshout - a leftist source but the methodolgy of the facts they put out look like we can take them at face value.
Anyway: 4,895 to 6,370 Iraqi MILITARY deaths, and somewhere between 9451 and 11333 (the lowest and highest possible numbers for the counting methods used) civillian deaths.
Britain has lost 59 men by the way.
None of these figures include survived injuries. One of the consequences of improvements in medicine and body armour is that people are surviving traumatic episodes that would previously be fatal. The downside of this is that we will see proportionaly more seriously, long term wounded than has been the case in earlier wars. Apparently 4000 US tropps have been taken from Irag for treatment during the course of the war (according the Chanel 4 news in the UK) though I am suspicious of this figure as that would make the casualty figure around 3% which intuitivley sounds on the high side.
Good find and good reporting. Something the lame stream media just doesn't understand anymore. If it is NOT on their agenda it doesn't get reported. The ONLY conclusion that can be drawn from the losses we have taken in Iraq is "MIRACULOUS". Any student in the history of warfare, and any veteran of any war will agree.
check a police report in a city with a military base
bump
"And that's what pisses me off about France & Co. If they really couldn't help it, it would be unfair for us to be angry with them."
Those people don't eat their beef rare, they gush it down "black and blue", seared about 5 seconds per side. That is as good a mark of degeneracy as any, oops, IMO.
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