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Originally Posted by irateplatypus
i said i wasn't concerned about civilian casualty figures because it is impossible to have figures that reflect the reality of the circumstances each death. and we are being the civilized ones. WE are wearing uniforms. WE aren't planting roadside bombs. WE aren't opening fire on unarmed iraqis waiting to sign up for governmental employment. the moral miasma is frustrating.
if you'll read my post earlier you'll see that i consider every innocent iraqi's death to be just as tragic as the death of a US soldier. however, deaths of those who are terrorizing their fellow civilians and our soldiers are indistinguishable from those of the innocent. that is why figures of total deaths hold little value for me.
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We should all be concerned with the total body count because the insurgents are definitely concerned about it. As it grows, it only strengthens their cause. Unlike Mr Rumsfeld, I don't think that the Iraqis will get sick of dying any time soon (that's his latest brilliant strategy....kill 'em 'til they stop coming....worked great in Vietnam, right?).
There have been some definite abuses by the US military in Iraq. For instance, a few weeks ago a Bradley was disabled in fighting. The crew fled without destroying it, so an Apache rained down fire on it to finish it off. Unfortunately, it was surrounded by Iraqi civilians. I saw US estimates of 60 killed....who are we supposed to be saving here? I'm not trying to morally equivocate between our soliders and the insurgents, but let's not pretend that our hands are completely clean here. War is filthy business, particularly war with guerilla combatants.