How many is enough

I haven't posted anything for a while, mostly because I have been involved in things here at home. The bombing in Baghdad in the past few days as early voting begins there forced me to ask myself how many more have to die before this all ends. In addition, this article in the Charlotte Observer about a speech by General David Petraeus made this question even more pressing.
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Petraeus predicts 'a hard year' of war in Afghanistan
By Peter St. Onge
pstonge@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Wednesday, Mar. 03, 2010

America is about to embark on the longest campaign in its longest war, the commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East told a Charlotte audience Tuesday.

Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, told a crowd of more than 550 at the Westin Charlotte that a civil and military counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan, now revving up, will take about 12-18 months.

"This is going to be a hard year," he said.

Petraeus, armed with slides and laser pointer, took questions for about an hour at a luncheon hosted by the World Affairs Council of Charlotte. Most of the conversation centered on the war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001 and will pass the Vietnam War this month as the longest war abroad in American history, many historians say.

Petraeus was optimistic, however, of a positive outcome. The United States has learned from its counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq, he said, and many of that war's key figures are now in Afghanistan. They will be joined, eventually, by 30,000 additional American forces, as well as about 8,000 that NATO has committed.

Already, he said, the U.S. has killed "boatloads of bad guys" in Afghanistan, but cautioned: "You don't just kill and capture your way out." Recent strategy shifts emphasize limiting the loss of civilian lives, he said, helping the U.S. strengthen its relationship with Afghans.

The policy played a role in why the U.S. announced in advance the February invasion of one-time Taliban stronghold Marja. Some Taliban escaped in advance of the invasion, Petraeus acknowledged, but it allowed the U.S. to save the city from the destruction that full-scale fighting would have inflicted. "We didn't want to destroy Marja to save it," he said.

Petraeus, who did not answer questions from the media, was not asked by the audience about a NATO airstrike in February that killed at least 20 Afghan civilians. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, apologized for the deaths.

The war, Petraeus said, is a "hugely important endeavor," noting that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, took root in Afghanistan. "We can't let Afghanistan be a sanctuary or a safe haven again," he said.

Petraeus was asked about Iran's recent nuclear activity, which he said is prompting new sanctions and U.S. diplomatic pressure. "That's the focus right now," he said.

Also, one audience member asked about the general possibly running for president - a question posed regularly in political circles.

Petraeus, fresh off an appearance in Nashville, answered with a nod to country performer Lorrie Morgan, who sang: "What part of no don't you understand?"

As of Tuesday, March 2, 2010, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have claimed 5,383 young American service personnel. Another 36,837 have been wounded and many of them have what are euphemistically called “life altering injuries”. In other words, they have lost limbs or eyes (or both) or have suffered a traumatic brain injury that has wreaked havoc with their lives. MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) (when they are available) are saving the lives of our service personnel, but the ordinary M1A1 U.S. Service Member is still subject to devastating injury. Body armor and helmets do a pretty good job, but there are gaps in them and snipers have learned to exploit these vulnerabilities. There are many problems with the MRAPs—they’re big, unwieldy, extremely heavy, (72% of the worlds bridges won’t carry them) and they are hard to maneuver in the narrow streets of the cities, towns and villages our folks are fighting in.

In the ten years that the Soviets tried to subdue the Mujahideen, they lost just over 12,000 killed and some 35,478 wounded. No one knows how accurate these figures are, but they are very telling. And no one has a clue as to how many civilians were killed/maimed. Estimates run from just under 700,000 to over 2,000,000.

As to how many Afghanis and Iraqis have been killed in the latest wars is probably an onageristic estimate also. (This is my own term—an onager is a fast running wild ass of central Asia). The numbers look like this at last count (Feb 16, 2010):

Casualties in Afghanistan:

Afghan troops killed 8,587 Afghan troops seriously injured 25,761
Afghan civilians killed 8,309 Afghan civilians seriously injured 14,956
Total killed in Afghanistan: 16,896 Total injured in Afghanistan: 40,717
Casualties in Iraq:

Iraqi troops killed 30,000 Iraqi troops seriously injured 90,000
Iraqi civilians killed 815,411 Iraqi civilians seriously injured 1,467,740
Total killed in Iraq: 845,411 Total injured in Iraq: 1,557,740

(From “Unknown News” published by Helen and Harry Highwater: http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html)

How many is enough? Are we supposed to wait until we have enough deaths to justify building another memorial the size of the Vietnam Memorial, which has 58,261 names on it? Or will we be willing to settle for a smaller memorial listing those who did not have to die in a war that was fabricated and instigated with lies? Fifty-two thousand eight hundred seventy-eight is all we have to go. That’s about as many people as live in the Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MI area or the Lewiston, ID-Clarkston, WA area. It’s about as many registered Democrats as there are in all of Wyoming.

So again—How many is enough? I don't know, but would the last person who leaves please turn out the lights?