America’s War Dead in Iraq Tops 1,000

Four American military personnel died in Iraq on Wednesday. Depending on the exact time of their passing, the dubious honor of being the 1,000th American to die in a war about weapons of mass destruction, oil and/or democracy for Iraqis goes to: Spc. Clarence Adams III, 28, of Richmond, VA, 1st Lt. Timothy E. Price, 25, of Midlothian, VA, or one of two soldiers whose names have yet to be released pending notification of their next of kin. Their sacrifice is as great as any from Lexington-Concord and Yorktown through the Somme and Guadalcanal to Inchon, KheSan and Kuwait. But there is nothing patriotic, honorable nor noble about getting them killed for all the wrong reasons.

In war, young men die. A good officer is one who achieves his objective with the smallest butcher’s bill. Good politicians determine that those objectives are clearly articulated and vital national interests. The reason the Second World War is recalled as “a good war” (as if there could be such a thing) is the clarity with which Messrs. Churchill and Roosevelt explained to the Anglo-American people just what was at stake – national survival.

The war in Iraq, sadly, has been waged for objectives that are not clearly articulated nor are they vital to the national interests of the US. If the war is about weapons of mass destruction, it has been a fraud. If the war is about freedom for Iraqis, it is not about the national interests of the US – the system of government in Iraq does not threaten the US regardless of what it is because Iraq lacks and has lacked for more than a decade the ability to do any harm to the US. If the war is about oil, the denials from the White House are making that far from clear.

Worse, though, is the fact that there is a war still going on in Iraq. From Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s insistence on a small American force to fight the war to the botched occupation underlined by the secret ceremony that restored “sovereignty” to Iraq, the US forces have not had what they needed to pursue the objectives the government gave them. When there isn’t enough body armor to go around, troops die due to bad planning. That is why neophytes talk about tactics, the amateurs discuss strategy, and the pros worry about logistics. One wonders if treason includes getting US troops killed through poor planning.

The worst part, though, is that there is no way out. Sending more troops is politically impossible, but likely necessary. Reducing troops levels can’t happen while warlords like the mullah Moqtada al-Sadr are commanding paramilitary groups. And getting out entirely would result in all out civil war (as opposed to the limited civil war currently fought), a failed state or group of statelets, and greater terrorism worldwide. Mr. Bush almost deserves to be re-elected just so he has to live with this shame for four more years.



© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.



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