U.S. military casualties in wars since 1775.

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January 1, 2006

SouthAmerica: Believe it or not, but there is an economic cost related to waging wars – and Americans have had a constant love affair with wars since 1775.

The table below it does not mention the current war in Iraq.

Current Iraq Fiasco, (March 2003 - December 2006) = 3,002 dead, and 22,032 wounded so far.

If Americans play their cards right and follow the fools of the Bush administration the US can prolong its involvement in Iraq for another decade and they can escalate the conflict to cost another US$ 1 trillion dollars to US taxpayers (mostly borrowed money from foreign countries) and increase the number of deaths of American soldiers to the tens of thousands and the number of wounded to another ridiculous high number.


Note: The U.S. Defense Department it does not like to put the spotlight into the fact that even though only 58,209 American soldiers died during the Vietnam War, since the troops returned home in 1973 an additional 200,000 American veterans become subsequent casualties of the Vietnam War when they committed suicide, and today half of the homeless people around the United States are Vietnam War veterans.

Americans love a war, and since its inception in 1775 the United States spent 43 years of its life or 20 percent of its existence as a nation fighting one war or another.

Americans go to war on a blink of an eye without first stopping and thinking about the consequences of their actions in the short-term and also in the long run.

Americans have been trained and conditioned to react just like “Pavlov’s dog” regarding its general mindset and its desire to go to war – any war. (In case you don’t know what I am trying to say: The phrase "Pavlov's dog" is used to describe someone who merely reacts to a situation rather than trying to use his/her critical thinking.)

Just talk about going to war and most Americans start salivating - today it is Iraq and Afghanistan – and tomorrow maybe: Iran, North Korea or even better - World War III.



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FACTBOX-U.S. military casualties in wars
Reuters - Sun Dec 31, 2006

Dec 31 (Reuters) - The number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq has reached 3,000, according to the Web site www.icasualties.org on Sunday.

Following is a list of other wars, how long the United States was involved in each and the number of U.S. military casualties.

Revolutionary War, (1775-1783) = 4,435 dead, 6,188 wounded.

War of 1812, (1812-1815) = 2,260 dead, 4,505 wounded.

Mexican War, (1846-1848) = 13,282 dead, 4,152 wounded.

Civil War, (1861-1865) = (Union forces only; authoritative statistics for Confederate forces unavailable; incomplete tallies show 133,821 Confederate deaths), 364,511 Union dead; 281,881 Union wounded.

Spanish-American War, (1898) = 2,446 dead, 1,662 wounded.

World War One, (1917-1918) = 116,516 dead, 204,002 wounded.

World War Two, (1941-1946) = 405,399 dead, 671,846 wounded.

Korean War, (1950-1953) = 54,246 dead, 103,284 wounded.

Vietnam War, (1964-1973) = 58,209 dead, 153,303 wounded.

Gulf War, (1990-1991) = 382 dead, 467 wounded.

(Source: U.S. Department of Defense)


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Thanks for the gut check. I always thought many more gave their lives giving us and defending, and the rest of the world, our freedom and liberty. God bless every one of them and all our military forces doing the same today.

 

Actually US has been quite isolationist in its history, unwilling to get involved in war. How long did it take them to get involved in WWI and WWII? The Vietnam conflict began more than 10 years before US committed a significant amount of troops under Kennedy.

Get your facts straight before spewing envious hatred.
The US has been more restrained than any other superpower in history.

 

"Just talk about going to war and most Americans start salivating - today it is Iraq and Afghanistan – and tomorrow maybe: Iran, North Korea or even better - World War III. "

Or maybe we'll choose South America!

 

The only winners of war are the bomb manufacturers, I'm becoming increasingly suspicious that all war is manufactured just for that sole purpose

 

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested."

- Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, At the time of his death in 1940, the most decorated US Marine in history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

 

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Clacy:
"Just talk about going to war and most Americans start salivating - today it is Iraq and Afghanistan – and tomorrow maybe: Iran, North Korea or even better - World War III. "

Or maybe we'll choose South America!


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January 1, 2007

SouthAmerica: I heard a million times on television on the news and in all kinds of television programs about Americans kicking ass of everybody including the Soviet Union, in Vietnam, in Grenada, in Panama, against the contras, in Somalia, in Bosnia, in the Gulf war, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq. This is just a short list, but the US military is involved in everybody’s business around the world.

By the way, the United States military is involved in South America – the US military has been involved in the Colombian civil war since the Colombians found oil in Colombia a few years ago.

The US has been involved in all kinds of dirty business in South America and the US was a supporter of the Argentinean dictatorship of the 1980’s and the US was involved in the overthrow of Allende in Chile in the 1970’s. The US was also involved when they did try to overthrow Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and so on.


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bsparkyman: Thanks for the gut check. I always thought many more gave their lives giving us and defending, and the rest of the world, our freedom and liberty. God bless every one of them and all our military forces doing the same today.


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SouthAmerica: The numbers become even more meaningful when you put it in the proper perspective – when you compare it with the total US population at the time of each conflict.

In my opinion the job of the military is to protect the country, and the lives of American soldiers are not supposed to be wasted in conflicts such as the one that we have in Iraq today.


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Ixor: The Vietnam conflict began more than 10 years before US committed a significant amount of troops under Kennedy.

Get your facts straight before spewing envious hatred.
The US has been more restrained than any other superpower in history.


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SouthAmerica: I know that, and the French were very happy to find a sucker to replace them in Vietnam.

You said: “The US has been more restrained than any other superpower in history.”

If your statement is true, then I ask you: why today the United States has US military personal scattered in over 100 countries around the world?


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Those in power wanted to be at war right away. It was just a matter of coaxing the masses to let their children march to the death. Hence, events were created.
Did you know that JP Morgan was heavily invested in UK defense manufacturers in WWI. He desperately needed US to enter the war to beat down Germany. Hmm, you can find some ties between him and the media promoting US entering the War.
What about Standard Oil, who supplied Hitler with oil even while the US troops were involved.

What conflict? Ho Chi Mihn actually appealed to the US to build a democratic type society. Yet US ignored him and supported the South Vietnamese dictator instead, who besides being corrupt, was incompetent and careless. Mihn was left with USSR, even though he was not in agreement with a communist society.
Can you even look up what officially started the Vietnam War? It's complete nonsense.

I think you are the one that needs to do some reading before spewing mainstream propaganda.

In direct conflicts, maybe. US is smarter than that, those in power will simply support individuals & situations that promote conflicts, wars, genocides & other human rights abuses. Names like Pinochet, Saddam, Noriega, Pol Pot, Bin Laden and many more. How about looking up Iran-Contra, fun fun stuff.

The world is not how you thought it was, huh?

 

War is big big business. Loans to countries during wartime are around 15-30% interest, secured by everything the country has. The defense/industrial complex becomes a big cash also, nowdays you have huge corporations providing the weapons at high prices with great profit margins.

There is a lot of money involved in war, directly. Then there are the geopolitics.

 

The European division of the Rothschild's bankrolled Hitler and the western division bankrolled the allies... whats wrong with that picture?