[Austin Willard Wright]

The comparison betweeen post-war Germany and post-war Iraq should be considered fallacious as long as those who make it refuse to answer a simple question which can prove the case one way or the other: how many American troops died in post-war guerrilla action in Germany?

To be sure, some Germans, Wolverines, etc. took potshots.....but I have seen no evidence to indicate it was on a scale even close to the current bloodletting of Americans in Iraq.

I have called the Center for Military History (the main federal military history agency) and they too think it is fallacious.

[ellery]

To quote Rummy, "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." The fact that there is no readily available statistic on post-WWII casualties does not mean that the comparison breaks down. It seems far more meaningful that in both cases, there were/are guerilla movements aimed at fighting the occupation. In the case of WWII, this did not in the long run impede successful reconstruction. Time will tell whether Iraq can be reconstructed.

The fact that every postwar occupation period entails some guerilla action should not surprise us, nor reflect negatively on the prospects for long-term stability.