07 February 2007
Death and Political Agendas
In recent news, at least nine deaths have been attributed to the cold snap enveloping the central and eastern United States right now. It struck me how that was a minor additional fact in the news about the cold weather, but if two soldiers were killed in Iraq by an IED, it'd be leading the Iraq news segment.
That got me started thinking about how little we hear of some human tolls. Take the European heatwave of the summer of 2003.
Certainly, it was news at the time, and there was attention paid to the deaths, but compared to the vociferous anti-war crowd, the silence is deafening. How bad was that heatwave- well, the casualties in Iraq pale in comparison.
"At the end of September 2003, the French National Institute of Health reported that in the first 20 days of August, heat had killed more than 14,800 people. During the peak of the heat, fatality rates topped 2,000 in a day."
We've been at war in Iraq for four years now, and we're looking at about one-third the KIA there compared to the heat related deaths in France alone in that heatwave. Which is worse, people dying of neglect because their relatives were on their socialistic society's mandated three week August vacation, or troops dying in the service of their country and for the people of a fledgling democracy?
If you go beyond France the death toll is truly staggering:
"Altogether, new data boost Europe’s heat-related mortality for the summer of 2003 by 17,000 over preliminary estimates, to a record 52,000 casualties."
That's practically Vietnam in one summer. People who could've been saved with air conditioning for God's sake. Yet people want to rail about the 'senseless loss' in Iraq, tell us how its all meaningless and 'too costly in blood and treasure'. Apparently, the anti-war crowd is all too eager to eager to use the deaths of our troops for their political agenda, but couldn't give a rat's behind about all those people who died tragically needless deaths in the european heatwave of 2003. It lays bare the truth.
That got me started thinking about how little we hear of some human tolls. Take the European heatwave of the summer of 2003.
Certainly, it was news at the time, and there was attention paid to the deaths, but compared to the vociferous anti-war crowd, the silence is deafening. How bad was that heatwave- well, the casualties in Iraq pale in comparison.
"At the end of September 2003, the French National Institute of Health reported that in the first 20 days of August, heat had killed more than 14,800 people. During the peak of the heat, fatality rates topped 2,000 in a day."
We've been at war in Iraq for four years now, and we're looking at about one-third the KIA there compared to the heat related deaths in France alone in that heatwave. Which is worse, people dying of neglect because their relatives were on their socialistic society's mandated three week August vacation, or troops dying in the service of their country and for the people of a fledgling democracy?
If you go beyond France the death toll is truly staggering:
"Altogether, new data boost Europe’s heat-related mortality for the summer of 2003 by 17,000 over preliminary estimates, to a record 52,000 casualties."
That's practically Vietnam in one summer. People who could've been saved with air conditioning for God's sake. Yet people want to rail about the 'senseless loss' in Iraq, tell us how its all meaningless and 'too costly in blood and treasure'. Apparently, the anti-war crowd is all too eager to eager to use the deaths of our troops for their political agenda, but couldn't give a rat's behind about all those people who died tragically needless deaths in the european heatwave of 2003. It lays bare the truth.
16 June 2006
Giving meaning back to our 2500 dead in Iraq
Some are wringing their hands over the 2500th U.S. death in Iraq, and saying yet again it’s time to cut-and-run.
Discussing death in this manner runs the risk of others viewing you as callous, or worse- but one has to put losses in perspective, or they truly are meaningless. I will not let that happen.
Here are some numbers to consider:
At Gettysburg, over 7000 killed in three days (both sides).
It is estimated that 4500 allied troops died on Normandy beaches on D-Day. The exact number is still not known. Add to that the 12000 Allied airmen killed in April and May of 1944 to prepare for the landings, as well as the 19000 civilians who died in those aerial bombardments. That’s over 35500 total deaths of Allied troops and civilians.
In ONE DAY, the Romans lost approximately 65,000 dead to Hannibal's forces at Cannae. ONE DAY.
That's nearly double what we lost in Korea in three years, and about 7000 less than we lost in Viet Nam in around eight years. It's TWENTY SIX times our losses in Iraq in the Three and a quarter years we've been there thus far.
Saddam may have killed as many as "between 70 and 125 civilian deaths per day for every one of Saddam's 8,000-odd days in power"
That's 780,000 give or take a few ten thousand.
780,000 is a big number, and it is difficult to fully comprehend what the numbers mean, but there are ways to bring it into the realm of understanding-- 70-125 per day is pretty tangible (2-4 high school classrooms), and 8,000 days is only 22 years- certainly tangible to anyone over 35 or so. Imagine- 3 high school classrooms of people led out to be executed every day for 22 years...
In 2002, in the United States, for the age range of 16-34 (covering the main ages of our military casualies in Iraq), 27,267 died just from Motor Vehicle Crashes and Homocides. More than THIRTY FIVE times our yearly average KIA in Iraq (as of 16 June 2006). I think everyone knows someone firsthand who either died as a result of a motor vehicle crash or a homocide, so we all understand personal tragedy. Multiply that personal tragedy times the population of Laramie, Wyoming, and you start to get the picture. Every year America wipes out a Laramie of 16-34 year olds in car crashes and homocides.
Does it really make sense to say things that imply that our military personnel are getting killed in unacceptable numbers in Iraq? Each individual death is a tragedy, immeasurable in it's own reach- but one has to see things in context... Death can mean something, and should- but if we do not look at it closely, and understand it, and get over any irrational fears about it, we will be paralyzed into inaction. If we are willing to allow 17,706 people from 16-34 to die in a year so we can drive cars, then we sure as hell can risk losing a few thousand in three years to change a dangerous world.
If one still holds to a belief that our losses in Iraq are too great, than I am sure you would also believe that over 17,000 deaths of 16-34's per year is far too many (that's more than TWENTY THREE times our yearly average killed in Iraq), and personal automobile transport should be severely limited, or even eliminated, right?
Our losses in Iraq are, by historical standards, phenomenally low. They are, to date, still fewer losses than we sustained to our civilian population on 9/11/01 alone. Anyone who contests that must be asked what their metric is for considering ‘acceptable’ losses. I’m sure their answer would be revealing.
Discussing death in this manner runs the risk of others viewing you as callous, or worse- but one has to put losses in perspective, or they truly are meaningless. I will not let that happen.
Here are some numbers to consider:
At Gettysburg, over 7000 killed in three days (both sides).
It is estimated that 4500 allied troops died on Normandy beaches on D-Day. The exact number is still not known. Add to that the 12000 Allied airmen killed in April and May of 1944 to prepare for the landings, as well as the 19000 civilians who died in those aerial bombardments. That’s over 35500 total deaths of Allied troops and civilians.
In ONE DAY, the Romans lost approximately 65,000 dead to Hannibal's forces at Cannae. ONE DAY.
That's nearly double what we lost in Korea in three years, and about 7000 less than we lost in Viet Nam in around eight years. It's TWENTY SIX times our losses in Iraq in the Three and a quarter years we've been there thus far.
Saddam may have killed as many as "between 70 and 125 civilian deaths per day for every one of Saddam's 8,000-odd days in power"
That's 780,000 give or take a few ten thousand.
780,000 is a big number, and it is difficult to fully comprehend what the numbers mean, but there are ways to bring it into the realm of understanding-- 70-125 per day is pretty tangible (2-4 high school classrooms), and 8,000 days is only 22 years- certainly tangible to anyone over 35 or so. Imagine- 3 high school classrooms of people led out to be executed every day for 22 years...
In 2002, in the United States, for the age range of 16-34 (covering the main ages of our military casualies in Iraq), 27,267 died just from Motor Vehicle Crashes and Homocides. More than THIRTY FIVE times our yearly average KIA in Iraq (as of 16 June 2006). I think everyone knows someone firsthand who either died as a result of a motor vehicle crash or a homocide, so we all understand personal tragedy. Multiply that personal tragedy times the population of Laramie, Wyoming, and you start to get the picture. Every year America wipes out a Laramie of 16-34 year olds in car crashes and homocides.
Does it really make sense to say things that imply that our military personnel are getting killed in unacceptable numbers in Iraq? Each individual death is a tragedy, immeasurable in it's own reach- but one has to see things in context... Death can mean something, and should- but if we do not look at it closely, and understand it, and get over any irrational fears about it, we will be paralyzed into inaction. If we are willing to allow 17,706 people from 16-34 to die in a year so we can drive cars, then we sure as hell can risk losing a few thousand in three years to change a dangerous world.
If one still holds to a belief that our losses in Iraq are too great, than I am sure you would also believe that over 17,000 deaths of 16-34's per year is far too many (that's more than TWENTY THREE times our yearly average killed in Iraq), and personal automobile transport should be severely limited, or even eliminated, right?
Our losses in Iraq are, by historical standards, phenomenally low. They are, to date, still fewer losses than we sustained to our civilian population on 9/11/01 alone. Anyone who contests that must be asked what their metric is for considering ‘acceptable’ losses. I’m sure their answer would be revealing.
26 May 2006
A tribute for Memorial Day- "A Warriors Flag"
A Warriors Flag
Men of virtue, always true
Resonate in a field of blue
With courage reaching far and wide
Alights from the sky in stars of white
But we know why the stripes are red
As we shed a tear and honor our dead
Made with care and thread and needle
It snaps out to show our people
Echoes of heroes, past and present
There, our proudly waving pennant
Our founding fathers, the men in blue
A greatest generation- born anew
As enemies rise to threaten our peace
We look for someone to face the beast
One band is always sure and steady
They step forward, arms at the ready
Our warriors shall heed the call-
To duty, to honor, to serve for all
And when that flag is folded tight
We know a man has left the fight
That small triangle, a nations sorrow
Has moved us toward a brighter tomorrow
We cannot know the families pain
The sacrifice, the pride, the rain
Of tears, but let us say out loud
Of our fallen, we are most proud.
Men of virtue, always true
Resonate in a field of blue
With courage reaching far and wide
Alights from the sky in stars of white
But we know why the stripes are red
As we shed a tear and honor our dead
Made with care and thread and needle
It snaps out to show our people
Echoes of heroes, past and present
There, our proudly waving pennant
Our founding fathers, the men in blue
A greatest generation- born anew
As enemies rise to threaten our peace
We look for someone to face the beast
One band is always sure and steady
They step forward, arms at the ready
Our warriors shall heed the call-
To duty, to honor, to serve for all
And when that flag is folded tight
We know a man has left the fight
That small triangle, a nations sorrow
Has moved us toward a brighter tomorrow
We cannot know the families pain
The sacrifice, the pride, the rain
Of tears, but let us say out loud
Of our fallen, we are most proud.
