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War

"War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men."
~ Georges Clemenceau, French premier during World War I.

"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." ~ Winston Churchill

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May 9, 2008 [LINK / comment]

And throw away the key!

Just when the comedy movie Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay comes out, a real-life event transpires to remind us that the Gitmo detention facility still serves a needed purpose, and it still saves lives. A story in yesterday's Washington Post began

A Kuwaiti man who complained about maltreatment during a three-year stay in the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was involved in a deadly suicide bombing in northern Iraq last month...

Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi was only one of 500 or so former Guantanamo detainees released or transferred elsewhere, and many of the 270 who remain are in the process of getting out. If only that piece of scum had been kept behind bars where he belonged, some of those Iraqi bomb blast victims might still be alive today. (It's the opposite lesson to the one George Bailey learned in It's a Wonderful Life.) It's popular to make fun of U.S. counter-terrorism measures, as "Harold and Kumar" do, but this is a deadly serious matter. I'm against torture and I agree that we need better legal safeguards for those who are being kept at Guantanamo, but I see no alternative to the permanent incarceration of the religious fanatics who have sworn to destroy us.


April 30, 2008 [LINK / comment]

Combat deaths surge in April

After a lull that began last fall, a hopeful sign that the "Surge" policy was working, the number of U.S. combat deaths climbed to [50] in April, the most since last September (62). The U.S. offensive against the militia forces loyal to Moqtada al Sadr in Sadr City district of Baghdad is dragging out week after week. It is exactly the kind of urban attrition warfare that we have been trying to avoid all along, and there is a growing risk of alienating the local population if some of our soldiers fire at the wrong targets. In all such counterinsurgency campaigns, that risk must constantly be managed by military commanders. (See Washington Post.) In the south of Iraq, meanwhile, the offensive by government forces against the Shi'ite militiamen apparently gained very little. The virtual absence of the British army since earlier this year has left a power vacuum that the militias have eagerly filled.

Including fallen soldiers whose relatives have not yet been contacted, the total number of U.S. war deaths in Iraq crossed the 4,000 threshhold in March. It is sad that, as the frequency of news stories about Iraq declines, many Americans are paying less attention to the struggle.


U.S. war fatalities
in Iraq

Month Monthly deaths Cum. deaths
Mar. 2003 65 65
Apr. 2003 73 138
May 2003 37 175
June 2003 30 205
July 2003 47 252
Aug. 2003 35 287
Sept. 2003 30 317
Oct. 2003 43 360
Nov. 2003 82 442
Dec. 2003 40 482
Jan. 2004 47 529
Feb. 2004 19 548
Mar. 2004 52 600
Apr. 2004 135 735
May 2004 80 815
June 2004 42 857
July 2004 54 905
Aug. 2004 66 971
Sept. 2004 81 1052
Oct. 2004 63 1121
Nov. 2004 137 1258
Dec. 2004 72 1330
Jan. 2005 107 1437
Feb. 2005 58 1495
Mar. 2005 36 1531
Apr. 2005 52 1583
May 2005 79 1662
June 2005 77 1739
July 2005 54 1793
Aug. 2005 84 1877
Sept. 2005 48 1925
Oct. 2005 96 2021
Nov. 2005 83 2104
Dec. 2005 66 2170
Jan. 2006 61 2231
Feb. 2006 53 2284
Mar. 2006 30 2314
Apr. 2006 74 2388
May 2006 69 2457
June 2006 59 2516
July 2006 42 2558
Aug. 2006 65 2623
Sept. 2006 70 2693
Oct. 2006 100 2793
Nov. 2006 63 2856
Dec. 2006 105 2961
Jan. 2007 82 3043
Feb. 2007 81 3124
Mar. 2007 75 3199
Apr. 2007 102 3301
May 2007 121 3422
June 2007 98 3520
July 2007 75 3595
Aug. 2007 77 3672
Sept. 2007 62 3734
Oct. 2007 37 3771
Nov. 2007 35 3806
Dec. 2007 23 3829
Jan. 2008 40 3869
Feb. 2008 29 3898
Mar. 2008 37 3935
Apr. 2008 50 3985
*

NOTE: Includes all deaths, caused by enemy forces or not. Excludes military personnel (currently 72) whose names have not been released because their next of kin have not yet been contacted.

SOURCES: strategypage.com,
GlobalSecurity.org,
Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2004

Disclaimer: My military experience is limited to one semester of ROTC at the University of South Dakota.