Mr.44's War

The war in Iraq has receded from the limelight as the US news media have effectively ended their coverage of events taking place. A search of the New York Times the other day revealed only this item about 44 meeting with some of his advisors about his plan to withdraw US troops within 16 months. Perhaps a latter day Captain Ahab needs to affix a gold sovereign, or whatever coin was used in Moby Dick to the mainmast and award it to the first sharp eyed reader who spots the word "victory" in any document produced by any politician of the Democrat persuasion. To be sure, victory in Iraq must be tempered by the realization that it is an unstable republican for whom democratic institutions are a new experience. There will be violence and turmoil for some time. But the aims of the Bush administration to midwife the birth of a viable alternative to the ruthless dictatorship of Saddam appear to be striking the target. Visions of an apocalyptic retreat from the embassy roof are going to have to be placed on hold, forever, one hopes. Yet there does not appear to be any joy in the writings of the opponents of the war. One senses an air of disappointment, almost, that the surge of troops into the country in 2007, succeeded in turning the tide. CBS News broadcast a report alleging that veterans committed suicide at a much higher rate than the general population, with the obvious inference that the [immoral] war in Iraq had transformed any number of mentally healthy soldiers into depressed, suicidal wrecks. A Columbia journalism professor writing on the Huffington Post went into great detail about how not only suicide, but homicides, sexual abuse and other maladies were all a direct consequence of the war. The CBS methodology attempted to separate suicides by non-veterans and veterans, which on the surface appears to be legitimate until one asks the question: what aged veterans are they talking about. Turns out the age group with the highest suicide rate in the country is males of 65 (29/100,000). Imagine how many of them are veterans? The CBS study implied that the Iraq war was an etiological factor, but really never addressed it from a statistical point of view.





Media reports on the carnage in Iraq are now relegated to the back pages. icasualties.org , a website that keeps track of military and civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, has counted four US military combat deaths so far this month. There have been nine deaths of US forces due to hostile fire or explosions in Afghanistan. Even as allegations of civilian deaths from coalition forces make their way into print, there has been no outpouring of outrage by the aggrieved doves in the US congressional delegations.

As the United States shifts more brigades into Afghanistan, watch what happens to the base of support 44 enjoys now as the body count increases and as more civilians die because terrorists use them as human shields. Finally, look how long it takes 44 to make any progress with the Gitmo detainees, especially if there are no countries willing to take them.