Sure, and the rate of deaths from traffic accidents, killed as many Israelis in Israel, as Hezbollah did in Lebanon. Doesn't matter, people pigeon-hole them in different catagories, the Lebanon casualties were still unacceptable to Israel, so they withdrew in defeat.
Same thing will happen in Iraq. U.S. soldiers, and potential recruits, aren't going to do a cost/benefit analysis, and say, "my chances of being murdered, or dying in a traffic accident, in the U.S., are higher than the odds of dying in combat in Iraq, so I'll enlist." They'll say, "There is no good reason for me to volunteer to spend a tour of duty dodging RPGs in Baghdad."
This Administration has, with surprising speed, wasted all the goodwill the world showed us, post 9/11. Similarly, it will also waste the patriotism Americans had, and respect for the military, post 9/11. That energy and unity could have been directed constructively. A shame, to waste all that, for a pointless colonial adventure. |
