Thursday, May 03, 2007

Are We Wimps?



According to Wikipedia, America has lost the following numbers of military men in battle. That does not count disease, dying in enemy concentration camps, etc.

American Revolutionary War: 8,000.

War of 1812: 2,260.

Mexican War: 1,733.

Civil War (Or War of Northern Aggression, if you prefer): 212,938 total, both North and South.

World War I: 53,402.

World War II: 291,557.

Korean War: 33,746.

Vietnam War: 47,355.

According to Yahoo News, there have been 3,350 military deaths so far in the war in Iraq. If you believed the liberally-biased media (all media are biased: the honest media come out and say what their bias is, unlike the liberally-biased media), the Iraq War is immensely unpopular with the American public. Let's say that's true. I definitely do not believe everything that comes out of the media, but let's grant them this.

Let me clarify something right now: are the 3,350 men who have died so far real casualties, and should we mourn them? Absolutely. Am I minimizing the loss here? Definitely not. But where is the real American spirit? Where is the American spirit that essentially won World War II on both fronts? The number of casualties there was almost two orders of magnitude more! And we have many fewer casualties from disease because of our modern medicine. Most of the casualties so far in the Iraq War have been in battle with insurgents. Lots of bombings, we hear. Fine. Why don't we honor the men who have died to protect our freedom? Why don't we give those who are still in harm's way the tools they need to finish the job?

Where is the spirit of Patrick Henry when he said, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"? There are things worth dying for! And if there are things worth dying for, there are things worth our loved ones dying for. That means there are things worth grieving for. The price we have paid in Iraq is indeed high, but it is not what we paid for World War II. And in World War II, we had the spirit that brought us out of the Depression (do not be deceived, Roosevelt's New Deal did its best to keep us in the Depression; it was the War that brought us out of it.)!

Let's give our troops all the money they need; if we need more troops, let's send them! Let's get the job done. Then we can really rest easy, knowing that 9/11/2001 is that much more unlikely to reoccur.


 
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