4,000!!!

Half of me wants to write a post about how exciting it is to count up to a number so high... I mean, geez! 4,000! That's a big number for some things. Like career hits or RBIs. Or maybe the number of days since ... something ... happened in April 1997. Or maybe the final announced height of the Burj Dubai.

But no. 4,000 is nothing to be excited about. At least, not in that way.

There've been 4,000 recorded "coalition" fatalities in Iraq, now. In just over five years. That's basically two soldiers every day with an extra one thrown in each week. For five years.

So maybe this is something to get excited about, but not in a good way. Maybe we Americans really need to be irate with our government for the sheer stupidity of invading Iraq.


On September 11th, 2001, 19 men hijacked airplanes and flew them into U.S. landmarks. On that day, 3,017 people died as a direct result of the hijackings.


In the months following this tragic event, the executive branch of our government hijacked the entire country, manipulating the U.S. Constitution in ways that left everyone else powerless to stop it. During the five years that followed, 4,000 Americans died as a direct result of the hijacking.


And lord know how many Iraqis have died. It's not like the American deaths are any more tragic than the Iraqi deaths. It's just a matter of perspective. I talk about tragic American deaths because I'm an American and the military keeps count of such things. Who's counting Iraqi deaths?


Well, there are a few groups counting Iraqi deaths and the deaths of security forces and of contractors, etc. The estimate posted in Wikipedia is that as of August 2007, there were 1,033,000 deaths resulting from the U.S. invasion of Iraq.


So. 4,000 surely is nothing to be proud of, but it does get me excited. Especially when you realize that the 4,000 represents only a few tenths of a percent of the fatalities in Iraq.


We need to take this country back!