U.S. military deaths in Iraq have just passed 900. Since the June 28 handover, 46 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. I hesitate to make the following grim calculation, but it’s time for us to contemplate the future of this misadventure. 46 dead in 23 days works out to a rate of two per day. Should this rate hold, we will pass the 1,000-death mark in about 50 days, about a week after the Republican National Convention in NYC ends.
This milestone will undoubtedly get a lot of play in the press, the way all such arbitrary milestones do. (Remember Y2K?) But why must it hit 1,000 before America takes notice? When “combat operations” ended on May 1, 2003, the total was less than 150. When Saddam was captured, the total was less than 500. What will the total be by the time Iraq is a functioning liberal democracy?
