http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/31/iraq.deathtoll/index.html Anyone who says that this is far fewer than Vietnam is too cold-blooded. 3000 American lives for what?
You have to look at the big picture, 3000 deaths is nothing. Car accidents, smoking, heart disease, etc. all take more than 3000 lives over a few years.
3,000 families without loved ones coming home. Then there are the ones already home without arms, legs, etc. For what? Iraq is even more of a terrorist breeding ground than before.
I've heard others like Pabst and steve46 make this same argument. It doesn't make any sense to me. In almost all of those cases, individuals make bad decisions and their deaths are the result. Tragic, yes, but not remotely comparable, IMO, to the death of a young man or woman who signs up to serve and then gets killed in a military action which is demonstrably off the rails. The last 1000 have died because of the inertia of the mission itself and for political reasons, and not because we're meeting strategic goals. That's totally different than someone who smokes himself to death. The last 1000 deaths are particularly galling in this sense, since it became clear at least 18 months ago that things were going badly wrong. It is this, as opposed to the original decision to go in, that the current administration will have to answer for in the fullness of time
The deaths are even more tragic because there is no viable plan for accomplishing our goals in Iraq. The Iraq war was destined to be a tragedy from the beginning. The administration is unable to set attainable goals and determine a strategy for reaching them. They are unable to admit that old strategies are no longer working and, in many cases, never did work. When Bush sees a fire spreading, his answer is to pour gasoline on it.
The death of number 3000 is no more, or less significant than number one. If we win...it was worth it. If we lose..they were all wasted. Problem is, what are we going to win? What will we have at the end of this that couldn't have been had by not going into Iraq at all? If the war was to teach radical Islam a lesson, then it should have been executed in a very different way. The tragic, but obvious conclusion is that all lives lost in this war are being wasted, from the first to the last.
I believe it's more a question to be asked of the troops then the people sitting here. Contrary to what you see on the news the American and British soldiers are doing some good over there. They are building schools and hospitals. Is that worth an American boy or girl's life? I don't think so but it's not up to me to answer that question in any meaningful way nor is it anyone else's whose not offering their life. Personally I did believe it was worth it but now I don't and I won't ever make the same mistake again and I'm very sorry I believed it in the first place. The Iraq disaster will be one of the biggest mistakes in modern history. The consequences will be felt long into the future, if it's one thing we should understand the muslim world has a very long memory and anger and hatred is akin to oxygen to the rest of us.