The Colonel notes Mr. Barbieri's mention of the huge losses suffered by the Russians during WWII. U.S. losses at 400,000 killed in WWII were terrible, yet were 1.4% of the Russian losses of 27,000,000.[1]
These numbers are worth bearing in mind in the debate over whether it's better to play an "away" game or a "home" game as one military blogger put it.
This gentleman certainly doesn't get it:
You can run through all the wildly varying rationales for this war: the weapons of mass destruction (that were never found), the need to remove the unmitigated evil of Saddam (whom we had once cozied up to), the connection to Al Qaeda (which was bogus), and one of President Bush's favorites, the need to fight the terrorists "over there" so we won't have to fight them here at home.[2]President Kennedy correctly observed that mistakes in domestic policy are remediable. Mistakes in foreign policy can be fatal.
If Russian experience is any measure, it would be a very, very good idea not to be wrong on this "home" v. "away" deal.
Correction: 292,000 American battle deaths.[3] Ergo, 1.1% of the Russian losses.
Notes
[1] Return to Russia! By Jim Barbieri, Bluffton, Ind. News Banner, 7/29/05 <-- Johnson's Russia List, no. 9212, 7/30/05. The Colonel highly recommends Johnson's Russia List for an interesting daily compilation of news and commentary on Russia.
[2] Oil and Blood, Bob Herbert, New York Times, 7/28/05.
[3] Today's Politicos Invent the Past. When references to history are totally wrong. By Victor Davis Hanson, 8/1/05.
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