One more Memorial Day tribute

I just had to bring you one more Memorial Day tribute video, because this one is pretty good, plus it includes some war dead statistics that you may not have known. (I for one didn't know we lost that many in World War I and Korea.)

Desert Storm and the current Occupation of Iraq are the only two wars that I've lived through (full disclosure - I was born in 1971, so technically I lived through Vietnam, but not really). I'm a pretty enthusiastic student of history, and I look back with pride on how American society as a whole sacrificed during times of war during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. That's not the case now. While I don't believe in the Occupation of Iraq at all and think it's highly immoral, I find it even more immoral that America isn't being asked to sacrifice anything, other than our futures because of the cost of this war.

When people dare to raise their voices in opposition, they are often shouted down, sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally, as being unpatriotic. To sell this war, this administration has resorted to slander, smear and fear, PR gimmicks and tactics and a slick marketing effort. And now, it's all collapsing, or is it? Bush continues to get his way, and his war funding.

When will it all end? Not soon enough, but according to Bush, Iraq may be another South Korea. From Reuters:

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush would like to see a U.S. role in Iraq ultimately similar to that in South Korea.

"The Korean model is one in which the United States provides a security presence, but you've had the development of a successful democracy in South Korea over a period of years, and, therefore, the United States is there as a force of stability," Snow told reporters.

He said U.S. bases in Iraq would not necessarily be permanent because they would be there at the invitation of the host government and "the person who has done the invitation has the right to withdraw the invitation."

"I think the point he's trying to make is that the situation in Iraq, and indeed, the larger war on terror, are things that are going to take a long time. But it is not always going to require an up-front combat presence," Snow said.

"The president has always said that ultimately you want to be handing primary responsibility off to the Iraqis," he said.

"You provide the so-called over-the-horizon support that is necessary from time to time to come to the assistance of Iraqis but you do not want the United States forever in the front."

Snowjob is back to his old self again. I wish I could say that's a good thing, because I hope he beats cancer.

But Iraq, like Korea? That's like comparing a bottle rocket to an ICBM.

Quickly now - how many American soldier deaths have there been in Korea since a cease-fire was declared in July, 1953? Without checking, I'd have to say zero, or very close to it. Certainly none from combat.

Anyone think that when the U.S. declares "victory" (which will be sometime next year, before the election, but more on that in a later post) that the senseless slaughter of U.S. troops will cease. If you think that, kindly go back to burying your head deep in the sand.