Hi Hawkmoon; Re: "Hmm... So if the Battle of the Bulge was NOT a "big deal" for US public opinion, then why are you so $*#$%*(@# concerned about Iraq, a war in which less than 300 soldiers have died, with another 800 or so wounded in the past 6 months??"
Simple. The battle of the bulge was during wartime. This is peacetime. Wars don't last very long, so the losses, while horrible, and a problem, are accepted by the population. Peace, on the other hand, goes on forever, so the losses in peace operations (like Vietnam) can mount up for decades with no forward progress.
It's the lack of forward progress that is getting the President in trouble, not the total death count. The basic problem is that we don't see a way out, just an indefinite waste of money and lives. And policing our own nation is something that we HAVE to do. Policing other people's nations is something that we can decide to do or not to do. BUSH STARTED A PREEMPTIVE WAR. UNLIKE WW2, AND UNLIKE THE POLICING OF US CITIES, BUSH'S WAR WAS NOT NECESSARY.
Re: "I guess [US police officers] live in a quagmire too."
If you run the numbers you'll quickly find that being a US soldier in Iraq is far more dangerous than being a US police officer. There are what, 140,000 troops in Iraq, and one of them is getting killed roughly every day or so. That means the death rate is about 260 per 100,000 per year. Compare:
...
The on-duty death rate average is about 21 deaths per 100,000 officers.
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ncpa.org
This explains why our soldiers are so nervous that they regularly shoot up innocent civilians, interpreters, and even cars filled with Iraqi police officers.
OUR GUYS ARE GETTING SHOT TO PIECES IN IRAQ AND YOU COMPARE IT TO A PROFESSION THAT IS 12 TIMES LESS DANGEROUS!
Hey, what would you say if, starting tomorrow say, the number of US police officers that were killed in the line of duty suddenly shot up by 12x? In my part of the country, any police officer that goes down makes big news. Imagine what it would be like if each announcement was for the death of a dozen officers instead. I'd say that that would be a major problem. Hell, I think that the number of officers that already get killed on duty is already a problem. So yeah, I think having our guys shot to pieces in Iraq, during peacetime, is a problem. And so does most of the rest of the American people, surprise surprise.
But this doesn't seem to bother you. Of course, you're not out there arresting trigger happy criminals, or sitting in the desert wondering when the Iraqis are going to drop a mortar with your name on it.
-- Carl |
