Posted on 08/28/2008 9:16:32 AM PDT by subterfuge
Even using your numbers we are seeing combat or hostile action death on a daily basis. That is over 300 KIA per year, assuming that there is no Tet or Bulge event on the horizon (something nobody can predict).
"essentially" is meaningless, it's like saying almost pregnant. There are American KIAs or there aren't. As long as there are then the war is not over, certainly not just because you say it is.
We lost people from hostile fire after VE Day and VJ Day.
Even using your numbers we are seeing combat or hostile action death on a daily basis. That is over 300 KIA per year, assuming that there is no Tet or Bulge event on the horizon (something nobody can predict).
We lost 300 KIA in a week in Vietnam and in a few minutes in WWII. [I was in Vietnam during the Tet offensive.] As I said, one death is one too many, but we have to put this into perspective. During the past two months we have lost 19 people to hostile fire. The numbers are tapering off as we move out of our combat role and will continue to do so, even if there is an occasional blip.
The Iraqis are the ones now doing most of the fighting. During the months of July and August, the Iraqi security forces [military and police], lost 177 people plus 519 civilians. Since Jan 2005, Iraqi security forces have lost 7,283 KIAs compared to our 2,341.
"essentially" is meaningless, it's like saying almost pregnant. There are American KIAs or there aren't. As long as there are then the war is not over, certainly not just because you say it is.
Hell, we suffered American KIAs in Korea in the DMZ and in the air and on the sea [USS Pueblo] many years after the so-called Truce was signed and the possibility exists that we will suffer more. The war in Iraq will not end with the signing of a peace treaty on the USS Missouri. It will end with a wimper as the US withdraws gradually from its combat role and most of our forces are withdrawn. Iraq is part of the WOT, which will take generations to finish.
You may believe otherwise, but the facts show that essentially the war is over for the US in Iraq. Believe it or not.
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