This guy does a pretty good job of putting things in perspective.
http://www.angrypatrioticbastard.com/politics.html
US Military Casualties During Operation Iraqi Freedom and Beyond (7/4/05)
OK, enough is enough. For months now I have listened to liberal pussies (pardon the redundancy) bitch about how the casualty rate of US military personnel in Iraq is out of control? how it is disgusting that many young American men and women are dying in this ?horrible? conflict. Part of me wants to say that you can?t really blame them since the liberal media perpetuates this idea with its constant reporting of US military casualties. The media reminds me of an overzealous sports announcer who must constantly narrate and dramatize every single detail of every damn player on the field. But then I realize that these are hippies we are talking about and of course they are culpable.
Let?s put some shit in perspective:
In the last ten years, total out-of-action, peacetime deaths in the US military have averaged about 900 per year. I think I need to repeat that, so that it isn?t lost? 900 US soldiers die per year in times of peace. That means, when this war ends, 900 US soldiers will die every year from accidents, murder, sickness, suicide or any other non-combat form of death.
According to recent mortality rate information, we have lost around 1,745 troops in Iraq thus far. Keep in mind the war started in March of 2003. This means that the war has been raging for 2.3 years. Therefore, on average, 759 US troops are killed each year in the war. But wait, 759 is less than 900?the average peacetime mortality rate of our military?!? How does that work? It doesn?t, or at least not logically. More troops die in peacetime than they do in war by war-related deaths.
A savvy hippie might interject at this point that peacetime deaths are independent of wartime deaths in the sense that people will still die of natural causes while ?at war?.
True. I admit that a certain number of non-combat deaths occur while at war, but I would also contest that not nearly as many occur while at war. See, while a soldier is doing his best to stay alive, he doesn?t have the time to commit suicide or murder and he doesn?t even really have time to get sick. People are at their healthiest and safest when their life is on the line, ironically. Additionally, I am not implying that more soldiers die in peacetimes. What I am trying to do is put things in perspective. 1,745 US military deaths over the course of 2.3 years is not considered to be ?a lot?.
Now am I saying that the loss of life is not tragic? Of course not. It upsets me that Americans have died. But I am just a big fan of perspective. When politicians and media cocksuckers try to make it sound like Iraqi streets are running deep with the blood of Americans, it pisses me off. By any statistical analysis, (and before anyone gets pissed, I should note that I am putting emphasis on ?statistical?) casualties in Iraq are negligible. Throughout the course of history, any general or chief executive would have loved to enjoy our current kill/death ratio as a function of our population.
And to all those people who claim Iraq is another Vietnam? Are you people even aware of what you are saying? Can you even fathom how ignorant you sound when you say that? Because it sounds to me like you folks had a sudden urge to get political but didn?t have the knowledge base requisite to make anything more than a stupid fucking comment??Iraq is another Vietnam.? Oh really?
See, like I said before, I am a big fan of perspective. A crucial part of perspective comes from data in the form of numbers. So why don?t you political savants help me reconcile some data? over 58,000 American military personnel died in Vietnam. About 1,745 have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Let me put it to you folks like this. Let?s say that one of you guys who says Iraq is another Vietnam is taking a shower at the gym. Your penis is 1.745 inches long. The guy next to you has a dick that is so long it is lying on the tile floor as he showers. In fact, it is 58 inches long?33 times the size of your dick. Would you actually have the audacity to compare your cock to his? Could you actually look at him and be like, ?Hey buddy, looks like we are working with pretty much the same hardware?? What reality do you semen-swindlers live in? How can you even compare Iraq and Vietnam in any manner? Hell, if you take the casualty figure as a function of population, Vietnam was 48 times as costly in terms of US military lives.** Oh, but wait, you people don?t actually think for yourselves. You just regurgitate liberal shit that you snarfed up off of some public access radio station or CNN. Well, allow me to offer a resounding FUCK YOU in your general direction! Our military is kicking ass and not even bothering to take names? because taking names would mean they have less time to kick ass. And they wouldn?t like that.
**(1.75/58) x (1970 US population/current US population) = M
1/M = 48
Where M stands for ?Math too difficult for stupid hippies?