[Paleo Conservative]

True, but they are in much better health to begin with. I would imagine SARS would be even deadlier for ill fed civilians in Iraq. Also sanitary conditions in the war zone are probably terrible.

[Irene Adler]

Perhaps. But, as concerned as I am for ANY population which is victimized by an epidemic, my greatest concern is for our troops. Also, remember the Influenza epidemic during WWI killed thousands of soldiers, sailers and marines right along with many civillians. It spread like wildfire among troops who lived in close conditions. The Flu epidemic unaccountably killed many, many strong young people in the prime of life, and why it behaved that way has never been explained.