April 30, 2007
WHERE'S THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE WHEN YOU NEED THEM?:
What war?: At home, the economy soars and Americans let the good times roll. Meanwhile, Iraq burns. (Niall Ferguson, April 30, 2007, LA Times)
On Wednesday, fueled by seemingly limitless liquidity and reports of strong corporate earnings, the Dow Jones industrial average hit a record 13,000. The financial markets seem to have shrugged off their recent anxieties about so-called subprime mortgages, focusing instead on the megabucks being made at the other end of the income distribution scale. A survey by Alpha magazine revealed that three American hedge-fund managers earned more than $1 billion last year.Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Iraq burns. More than 3,100 Americans have died there, the equivalent of 100 Virginia Techs.
A more apt comparison for his point is that it's the equivalent of winning WWII while losing only three USS Indianapolis's of men the entire war. Or, to stick with his Vietnam example, at this rate we'd have to stay in Iraq for something like seventy years to match our losses in that earlier war. The war has had so little impact at home because in national and historical terms it is a pretty trivial exercise. Do Americans today even recall our fighting in the rather similar war in the Philippines? Posted by Orrin Judd at April 30, 2007 7:21 AM
Compared to the 7500 who died under Bubba's watch.....
Posted by: Sandy P at April 30, 2007 8:29 AMWTF? The Philippine insurrection is not considered a "war," but an occupation campaign following victory in a war. Let us have a rectification of names.
As they say, you could look stuff like this up.
http://www.army.mil/CMH/reference/picmp.htm
The term "war" has historical and legal significance. It is now being used as a substitute for the expression, "armed conflict."
Cam we see what is happening? Amateurs are being allowed to manipulate the terms, whether through malevolent design or through simple ignorance. To think clearly clearly about this question we must be prepared to defend to language.
Posted by: Lou Gots at April 30, 2007 12:07 PMOnly an expert is anal enough to think there's a difference. Normal people know wars when they see them.
Posted by: oj at April 30, 2007 12:15 PMCompared to the Boer war, the Tirah and Black Mountain campaigns, the retreat from Kabul in
1841,the seconf Afghan war including Maiwand the 14,000 casaulties of the first Mesopotamia incurision, before they even reached Baghdad the fall of Singapore; seriously Niall really needs some perspectives.
three-fifths of D-Day...
Posted by: Bartman at April 30, 2007 2:37 PM