Quote:
Originally posted by Cowperson@Sep 7 2004, 02:51 PM
"Is the 1000 number largely a politically symbolic one given 16,204 Americans were murdered within the borders of the USA in 2002, a single, average year for that country, more than 11,000 felled by gunfire or eleven times the number who died in Iraq? "
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I think military casualties are a big deal because they're usually preventable. Not in the sense that the exact situation they are in is avoidable (a grenade going off right next to you, etc), but that the country(s) involved in the conflict usually have a choice of whether or not to be involved. So by not even getting involved, all casualties associated with that conflict are avoided.
In the case of Iraq, it's significant because many people think the USA shouldn't be there in the first place. Many people also question what these soldiers are dieing for as well.
Someone posted above questioning the number of civilian deaths.
http://www.iraqbodycount.net lists them at between about 11 500 and 14 000. Before you question the source, this site is widely quoted and used in the media (
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/coverage.php) and it gathers it's information from various sources around the world...