Sig:
Comparing firemen and police to soldiers, and the relative willingness of different nation's citizens to die for their beliefs, is a bogus analogy.
Firemen and police do not expect to die on their jobs. Or, to be more exact, they know the risk is not zero, but it is quite small, under normal and expected circumstances. That applies to both American and Iraqi firemen. Probably doesn't apply to Iraqi police, as their role is quasi-military.
In a war, especially a long war where the side willing to suffer the most wins, a war of attrition, the risks of dying are far higher than any civilian occupation.
The correct comparison, is between the willingness of the American population to tolerate combat deaths of our soldiers, and the comparable willingness of our opponents. On current evidence, Americans are extremely sensitive to this, far more so than in the Vietnam War, or any previous wars. Every single combat death results in newspaper articles in every American newspaper. Maybe that's a sign we are becoming civilized.
For comparison, our opponents have developed tactics that use suicide bombers. So far in Iraq, we've killed (rough numbers) at least 12,000 Iraqis, while about 300 Americans have died there. A ratio of 40 to 1. And our population is over 10 times theirs. So, the rate of war deaths per million population, is in our favor by 400 to 1. Yet they keep attacking us.
Bottom line: Iraqis will keep killing us, as long as our soldiers are on their soil. This is true, whether we leave tomorrow, or in 30 years. Everything else is details. |
