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America's Lost 3,000 (In Iraq)
Time ^ | December 30, 2006 | NATHAN THORNBURGH

Posted on 12/31/2006 5:24:28 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

The death toll for U.S. soldiers in Iraq has reached 3,000, a number that's both unbearable and, compared to previous military operations, a pittance.

War can make poets. The British World War I soldier Wilfred Owen had lived as a minor disciple of literary giants until he was thrust into the abattoir of Europe's cataclysmic war to discover the brutal theme of his art. "Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War," he wrote. "My subject is War, and the pity of War." The war invested meaning into his words, giving them a dark significance that still evokes heartbreak.

But can war provide similar meaning to a number? What can now be derived from reaching the grim milestone of 3,000 American dead in Iraq? The public's contemplation of the number should have little to do with the right or the wrong of American occupation, nor with the viability of that seed of peace America is meant to be sowing there. Wars are always paid in blood and numbered in lives lost, the value of that sacrifice doesn't rise or fall like penny stock depending on the popularity of a mission. The 3,000th death is as the first — dying being the pitiable but inextricable consequence of war.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: antiamericanism; army; communists; defeatocrats; democrats; gop; iraq; lsm; marinecorps; military; peacecreeps; proterrorist; republicans; saddamites; timelifecnnknew; usefulidiots
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We lost more men on D-Day, or similar battles, yet this country can't take it? Where is the country my dad fought for in the Pacific?
1 posted on 12/31/2006 5:24:31 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Time is more upset that we did not reach the protesters' figure of "10,000 dead" by the 2004 or 2006 elections.


2 posted on 12/31/2006 5:29:25 PM PST by weegee
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Time magazine is not worth using as TP..IMHO

Meadow Muffin


3 posted on 12/31/2006 5:32:41 PM PST by rwgal
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Philadelphia Pennsylvania lost over 400 people just this year through crime. The liberal strongholds in the U.S. are far more dangerous than Iraq when you check out the number of dead each year. Go figure.
4 posted on 12/31/2006 5:34:45 PM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
This must be deliberate disinformation. Nobody could be this ignorant.

It is obscene to compare or even mention the Iraq war in the same breath as WWI, where the British alone suffered 100,000 casualties in ONE DAY in ONE BATTLE (the Somme). Total casualties, all sides, for the Somme: 1,120,000. That is not a typo. One million, one hundred twenty thousand.

5 posted on 12/31/2006 5:37:04 PM PST by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I hope the commentator can find his navel someday....
How about the 16,000 murders in the USA yearly dude?
where is your hankerchief now?
How about the many more who would (will) be murdered
by the jihadists yearly around the world...Somalia,
India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, France,
Egypt, Morrocco, Algeria (last count was in the hundreds
of thousands in Algeria, i believe)...tell this commentator
that we are no longer living on an island...if he wants
to get away from the human race he needs to join the
space program, or hide in a cave like Osama....


6 posted on 12/31/2006 5:38:36 PM PST by Getready (Truth and wisdom are more elusive, and valuable, than gold and diamonds)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

When the statistics on 2006 are closed, they will reveal that something on the order of 44,000 Americans died of influenza, as they did in 2005, 2004, and 2003, for a total of 176,000 during the period we have been in Iraq.
This little fact puts things in a little perspective.

This article, others like it, and the statistic itself is being used to manipulate public opinion towards the view of the press who favor surrender and retreat. Proof of this is in the number itself: 3000 only represents casualties in Iraq and includes non-combat deaths of disease and accident. The figure does not include combat deaths in Afghanistan, another theater in the same war. Did we so differentiate between Pacific and European theaters in WWII?

The dead cannot speak for themselves, but those who know them, served with them, and who truly mourn their passing can speak their minds far better than these journalists - and they say strongly that their sacrifice should not have been in vain.

If we walk away from this struggle, we will pay in blood for our folly, and the numbers will be like the influenza figures, if not ten times more.


7 posted on 12/31/2006 5:38:45 PM PST by centurion316 (Democrats - Supporting Al Qaida Worldwide)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Related...

U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 3,000
  Posted by ARealMothersSonForever
On News/Activism 12/31/2006 2:52:10 PM EST · 79 replies · 1,928+ views


AP via Yahoo ^ | December 31, 2006 | NA
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The death of a Texas soldier, announced Sunday by the Pentagon, raised the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq to at least 3,000 since the war began, according to an Associated Press count. Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.

U.S. Military Deaths In Iraq Top 3,000

  Posted by KeyLargo
On News/Activism 12/31/2006 6:47:48 PM EST · 34 replies · 473+ views


NBC5.com ^ | 12/31/2006
NBC5.com U.S. Military Deaths In Iraq Top 3,000 UPDATED: 2:25 pm CST December 31, 2006 The death of a Texas soldier, announced Sunday by the Pentagon, raised the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq to at least 3,000 since the war began, according to an Associated Press count. Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said. The grim milestone was crossed on the final day of 2006 and at the end of the deadliest month for the American military in Iraq in the past 12 months....

8 posted on 12/31/2006 5:41:05 PM PST by jdm
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The left wing antiwar groups have been salivating over this number. They have been working on a campaign surrounding this milestone for weeks.Leftie Plans for the 3000 Milestone

DC should see it's fair share of black arm bands. Bunch of ghouls.

9 posted on 12/31/2006 5:42:36 PM PST by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and Afghan Honor Roll students.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I get the feeling Nathan wrote this article some time ago, just waiting for the 3,000 mark before it was published.


10 posted on 12/31/2006 5:42:41 PM PST by operation clinton cleanup
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To: concerned about politics

True, true, true. About 50,000 people are killed in the US during criminal acts each year (thankfully, the vast majority are criminals themselves). I guess that makes America a place where body counts are greater than Iraq while at the same time the bad guys are getting killed at a much lesser rate. Seems to me that the MSM should pull up stakes and get yonder to a place of greater safety.


11 posted on 12/31/2006 5:43:10 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth
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To: concerned about politics
That's right add the total murders for Philly, NYC,DC, Detroit, Baltimore, Boston and LA and you probably would eclipse the 3,000 mark and then some.

That fact the US media celebrates the deaths of our military should show how sick this country has become.
12 posted on 12/31/2006 5:44:28 PM PST by The South Texan (The Democrat Party and the leftist (ABCCBSNBCCNN NYLATIMES)media are a criminal enterprise!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Just giving 3000 as a number doesn't provide sufficient information to evaluate the situation. How many terrorists were killed in exchange for those 3000 and how many lives were saved over the next 50 years because those terrorists were stopped and/or killed?


13 posted on 12/31/2006 5:44:43 PM PST by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

How many Americans die every year in auto accidents?


14 posted on 12/31/2006 5:46:19 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
They are not being nationalized to support the troops to get it done.

They have no war bonds, no anti-islam propaganda, no propaganda at all, no mass recruiting efforts to get more troops, no videos on the news of terrorist being terrorist, no effort to demonize the islamist by the gov't, no trials and punishment against the news media for leaking valuable documents.

We could go on and on.

Remember we were told to go shop. The decision has been made.
15 posted on 12/31/2006 5:47:52 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman ("If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

"Grim milestone" alert!!!!

You'd think the MSM would be embarrassed to see just about every one of their outlets use the exact same term.


16 posted on 12/31/2006 5:49:55 PM PST by Numbers Guy
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To: concerned about politics

There are 17,000.....seventeen thousand........murders in the US every year.


17 posted on 12/31/2006 5:51:06 PM PST by OldFriend (THE PRESS IS AN EVIL FOR WHICH THERE IS NO REMEDY)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

And they don't mention the many civilian lives saved by keeping the fight in the enemies house.

God bless the brave Warriors who sacraficed all for their fellow Americans. Including the bastards at time magazine who don't deserve it.


18 posted on 12/31/2006 5:53:06 PM PST by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Just another among a thousand reasons to boycott AOL-Time Warner and every company they own.

This clown quotes poets, but I can assure you that no poet ever won a war.

BOYCOTT EVERY company at this page: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/businesses/index.html and its subpages.

Including:

  1. AOL
  2. HBO
  3. New Line Cinema
  4. Time Inc., incl:
    1. Baby Talk
    2. Book-of-the-Month Club
    3. Coastal Living
    4. Cooking Light
    5. DC Comics comic books
    6. Entertainment Weekly
    7. Fortune
    8. Grupo Editorial Expansion
    9. Health
    10. Martha Stewart books
    11. Money
    12. Oxmoor House Books
    13. Parenting Magazine
    14. People
    15. Progressive Farmer
    16. Southern Accents
    17. Southern Living
    18. Southern Living books
    19. Sports Illustrated
    20. Sports Illustrated for Kids
    21. Sunset
    22. Sunset Books
    23. Teen People
    24. This Old House
    25. Time
    26. Time For Kids
    27. Time 100 Bookstore
  5. Time Warner Cable
  6. Turner Broadcasting System, incl:
    1. Adult Swim
    2. Atlanta Braves
    3. Boomerang
    4. Cartoon Network
    5. Cartoon Network Asia Pacific
    6. Cartoon Network Europe
    7. Cartoon Network Latin America
    8. Cartoon Network Studios
    9. Williams St. Studio
    10. CNN / U.S.
    11. CNN Airport Network
    12. CNN en Espanol
    13. CNN en Espanol Radio
    14. CNN Headline News
    15. CNN Headline News in Latin America
    16. CNN Headline News in Asia Pacific
    17. CNN International
    18. CNN Mobile
    19. CNNMoney.com
    20. CNN Newsource
    21. CNN Pipeline
    22. CNN.com
    23. CNNRadio
    24. CNNStudentNews.com
    25. CNN to Go
    26. GameTap
    27. NASCAR.com
    28. PGA.com
    29. Pogo
    30. TBS
    31. TCM Asia Pacific
    32. TCM Canada
    33. TCM Europe
    34. TCM Classic Hollywood in Latin America
    35. TNT HD
    36. TNT Latin America
    37. Toonami
    38. Turner Classic Movies
    39. Turner Network Television
  7. Warner Bros. Entertainment
BOYCOTT THEM ALL!
19 posted on 12/31/2006 5:54:31 PM PST by matt1234
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To: Pan_Yans Wife
I don't think that people should be talking about 3000 like it "not even that big of a deal. geez, only 3000...what about WW2." We should pay less attention to the number and more attention on what they have accomplished.
20 posted on 12/31/2006 5:55:23 PM PST by Tin Cup
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