Iraq Numbers

Still A South sent me an email this morning that had a bunch of interesting tidbits about Iraq in it. It's a little long and contained too many pictures to post it all here, but a few of the items really do make you stop and go "hmmmmmmmmm". Some of the interesting "bullets":

A lot of arguments against the war in Iraq start something like this: "Iraq didn't attack us, why did we attack Iraq?" Well, did Germany attack us leading into WWII? I don't think so. It's an interesting point and should be made anytime someone starts with that question. I also don't remember Vietnam attacking us. Hmmmm. Did Korea ever attack us? Did Bosnia? Since when does somebody have to attack us before we are moved to action? I've been on record many times saying Bush should have just stated the obvious - we are going to show the world what happens when you even think about harboring terrorists...we will overthrow your government. like Dennis Miller said, there were 3 or 4 asshole leaders we could have proved our point with. Saddam was the most logical and drew the short straw. Now, maybe it hasn't been run 100% effectively since it started, but I loved the idea in the beginning and I still like the idea now. I will admit however that since it got bogged down a little - it will make it harder to get people on board the next time a good ass kicking is needed.

People call this another Vietnam. Um, not quite. You might want to hold off on that statement until about 2013 and 54,000 more US deaths. Then you can compare it to Vietnam.

Another interesting fact is the number of US deaths. Yes, every single one is important and none of them are trivial, but Detroit averages the same number of murders per month as US combat deaths in Iraq. Where is the outcry over that? What about other major US cities. What about minor cities? What about DUI deaths? What about incorrect prescription deaths? What about.....? What about......? What about.......? You get my point.

Anyway, not a political rant, but some good things to think about.

Lucy, Can You 'Splain This To Me?

It's all over the net today that the 2,500th US soldier has died in Iraq. That's in a little over 3 years. Tragic as it is, that's about 1 death every 13 hours. Don't get me wrong, I don't anyone to die serving our country - but if we are at war - 1 death every 13 hours is amazing if you ask me. I saw there is a huge protest going on in DC today with protesters hovering around coffins with flags draped over them. I wonder many things as I see this. I wonder if any of them watched "Baghdad ER" on HBO where wounded soldiers cried because they couldn't go back to their units. I wonder if they know there are guys out there who sign back up after their tours are completed because they feel it's the right thing to do. I wonder if they know that Cindy Sheehan's son RE-ENLISTED after his first tour. These people will tell you that 1 death is too many. That's a stupid comment in my opinion. Of course 1 death is too many. Why don't you tell me the sky is blue while you're at it. Here is what really gets me. A quick google search on causes of death will show you that over 15,000 people die every year (yes, every year, not every 3) from DUI related deaths. Thats 1 death every 33 minutes according to their data. Why aren't people parading in the streets about that? Seriously...why not? And I picked something WAY down the list. Heart disease kills over 600,000 people a year but it would be harder to prevent. People will say the Iraq deaths could be prevented by not having them there in the first place. Well, that's true. But it's not like they're not doing any good. Saddam is out of power and al-Zaridiot has been killed along with WhoDey and WeDey. A democracy in it's infancy today will be much stronger in 25 years. What do we get for the DUI deaths? Nothing. We can't prevent them, you say? I say "Bullshit" (I'm feeling very eloquent today). You're telling me a country that put a man on the moon in the 60's can't invent a device to tell if a driver has been drinking? Sure, but it might raise the cost of the car $50-100. Oh. My bad. If we got the best engineers in the world together, we couldn't come up with some device or some method of keeping people with blood alcohol levels of .10 from starting their engine? No, but we can build cruise ships that hold 4,000 people and bridges that go on for miles and jets that fly faster than the speed of sound. Driving a car after 12 beers....we can't stop that. We can put a device on your windshield that allows you to get turn-by-turn driving directions from Mr. T to the closest Italian eatery, but we can't stop you from driving again if you have 3 bottles of wine while you're there. You could also stop it with legislation. First offense, same as it is now if there are no injuries to anyone but yourself. Second? You're done driving forever. Or, you lose 10% of future earnings to be given to affected families. You want people to stop, how about the death penalty if you kill another person? How about the death penalty for 3rd offense whether anyone was killed or not (because at 3 offenses it's only a matter of time). I'm not saying these are the laws I want - I'm saying if you wanted to dial back the deaths a little - this would do it. Again, don't get me wrong, DUI and MADD are not my fights of choice (actually, cancer is my fight of choice) but I picked it because every 33 minutes some lunkhead is likely to hit another car full of a family going to a park or something and dramatically changing everyone's life that is involved and nobody is really mad about it anymore. These people hear 2 more soldiers die and they rant and rave and get all worked up when they are there doing good (in my opinion) and yet every night on the news they don't even register that 48 people died of DUI related accidents. What's my point? I don't really know except that I wish these people that claim they are only angry at the deaths would focus some of that energy on problems that kill way more people and aren't politicized. I say that because had Bill Clinton sent troops to Iraq, I'm not sure these same people would be out there today protesting.

Feel free to email this article along to anyone you think may agree...or disagree.