With Surge, Combat Deaths Soar to the Highest Levels Ever
More than
4000 US soldiers have now paid the ultimate price in Iraq. The administration
keeps insisting that we are "making progress," but the death toll continues
to rise. What's wrong with this picture?
In May, 2003, President Bush
declared an end of major combat operations in Iraq. But rather than seeing an
end of hostilities, the fighting continued, indeed, it intensified. Early in 2004,
with "transfer of sovereignty," the administration predicted that the
military situation would improve with Iraqi forces bearing a larger part of the
combat burden. Instead, hostilities escalated. More recently there have been the
elections and the installation of a new government, both cited by the administration
as indicators of more "progress," but the death toll continues to rise.
How much "progress" can our troops and the Iraqi people endure?
The number of US soldiers who have paid the ultimate price is now exceeds 4000.
But the largest sacrifice, by far, is being paid by Iraqi civilians who simply
happened to have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. The numbers
here are harder to come by, and estimates vary, but most agree that at least 100,000
civilians have been killed so far, probably far more. Some estimates run as high
as 250,000 Iraqi civilian casualties.
To this writer, administration
estimates of the progress of the conflict and its dire costs, both human and material,
are so far out of sync with reality that continuing support for the war within
some segments of the US population defies rational explanation. Even so, with
each passing month, fewer and fewer Americans support the war or the way it is
being waged. A strong majority of Americans now believe that this war has not
been worth the cost. For the latest polls as well as casualty figures, check the
websites listed below.
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The Rev. Charles P. Henderson is a Presbyterian minister and
Executive Director of CrossCurrents.
He is the author of God and Science (John Knox Press, 1986).
A revised and expanded version of the book is appearing here. God and Science (Hypertext Edition,
2005).
He is also editor of a new book, featuring articles by world class scientists and theologians, and illustrating the leading views on the relationship between science and religion: Faith, Science and the Future (CrossCurrents Press, 2007)
