A Nice Round Number

Wednesday, 19 May 2010 08:48

US Marines carry the transfer case containing the remains of Marine Cpl. Kurt S. Shea of Frederick, Maryland, upon his arrival at Dover Air Force Base, 05/12/10. (photo: AP)

Reader Supported News | Perspective

1,000. A nice round number.

1,000. Doesn't even need a decimal point.

One thousand is just a number.

But what's in a number?

"A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy In The White House" by Arthur M. Schlesinger.

"Anne of The Thousand Days" by Maxwell Anderson.

One thousand is the number of words a picture is worth.

Yesterday 1,000 was a milestone - the number of US troops KIA in Afghanistan.

Whatever happened to the Six-Day War? Whatever happened to the Seven-Day War? Or even the 100-hour war of Desert Storm? Remember that one? It was live on television.

I guess like the TV Series "24," a day can last more than just a day so a war has lots of room to grow and expand without worry of a mid-season replacement by peace.

How many Afghans have died or been killed by hi-tech "smart" weaponry? Is it 1,000? More? How many Iraqis? Is anyone counting? Does anyone care?

What is the factor we multiply 1,000 by in order to know how many families, spouses, loved ones grieve and wish they had never opened the door to those two men in uniform or answered that phone?

What is the factor we multiply 1,000 by in order to know how many wounded and maimed must find new ways to live, to survive, to put it all behind them?

And what is the factor we use to multiply 1,000 by for the future lives that will wander America, lost and angry, asking anyone who will listen: What was it all for?

1,000 is a round number but before the end of the day or by tomorrow it will become an uneven number, a jagged number without symmetry and no longer worth noting until the next metric-defined milestone.

1,000 - a number that ends in sadness and death and tragedy.

War - one is too many and a thousand is never enough.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many JPEGS will it take to be able to utter three words?

Bring Them Home.

War Is Over.

Go In Peace.

Comments

-17 # Guest 2010-05-19 10:09

John - here are some numbers for you to contemplate: a.) Number of innocent civilians, male, female, children, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, agnostic . . . killed by radical Islamic homicide attackers worldwide and b.) Number of future victims if we all give up resisting them and say "War is Over." You are preaching to the wrong choir, friend.

+9 # Guest 2010-05-19 13:15

Roky boy, you need to do some reading. We invaded their world about 70 years ago when we discovered that they own most of the world's oil. All we have to do is figure out how to do without it. Then we need to bring our boys and girls home. You know what...??? They will stop sending their boys and girls to kill us. It is that simple.

+11 # Guest 2010-05-19 13:16

I would like to know the number of people that have been killed by terrorists. Though even one victim of terrorism is too many, I do believe that the deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis is not justified. Our forces have killed a hundred times more innocents that even the most vile terrorist. I know we must fight terrorism but that necessity does not give us license to kill with impunity.

+3 # annerhodes 2010-05-19 19:51

Quoting

I would like to know the number of people that have been killed by terrorists. Though even one victim of terrorism is too many, I do believe that the deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis is not justified. Our forces have killed a hundred times more innocents that even the most vile terrorist. I know we must fight terrorism but that necessity does not give us license to kill with impunity.

problem is troops have no direction - old generals from days gone.

and the war IS the "political" mantra of the Chenney gang for OIL and the fight against "terrorism" is simply the TITLE.

SEE ER ABOVE and google which oil companies are doing business in Iraq.....

bring the troops home and save the USA homeland ----

+3 # Guest 2010-05-20 08:39

Some of you don't get it. We ARE the terrorists. We ARE the invaders. I spent 20 years in the US Armed Forces. Our leaders are clueless, or when they have a clue, they don't care.

+4 # Guest 2010-05-20 08:26

The U.S.A. has been the greatest advertiser that some fringe Sunni groups who practice "terrorism" have ever had. I must explain I use the quotation marks because I believe shock,awe,and mass violence is never justified, but it is called different names depending on the group committing it, their wealth and power, and which side we're on.
Killing huge numbers of mainly Muslim men, women, and children in various countries in the Mideast and West Asia while supporting dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Egypt; let alone prominent Americans in government and civil society making statements that lead Muslims and others to read a policy of holy war against Islam as at least a part of their motivation, the Bush government's actions have probably served to radicalize more Muslim youth around the world than any other factor. ffective, are known, and relatively small.

+9 # Guest 2010-05-19 10:42

We went into Afghanistan to get bin Laden, he was allowed to escape. now, mostly forgotten,and probably thumbing his nose and middle finger at us, he too wonders what the hell are we doing in Afghanistan!
"Get" bin Laden has been replaced with "American interests".
Nation building?, spreading Democracy?, oil routes, equal rights for women?,
Someone please enlighten me!
Fernando
Brisbne CA

+11 # Guest 2010-05-19 11:07

Rock - do you seriously consider invading their countries and killing their people in those countries "resisting" them? They're resisting us. I'd call what "our" armies are doing stirring them up and ensuring none of this ever ends. Maybe that's the whole idea. Seems to be.

+6 # Guest 2010-05-19 11:59

Enedless war for finite peace

+7 # Guest 2010-05-19 12:50

Rock:

I don't understand all of the killing that is going on over there. A lot of it is because we are there, however. Some of it is to kill foreign occupiers. Some of it is to kill Iraqis and Afghanis that work for us and our allies. I think that if we leave the killing will greatly decrease. I do not know whether it will go to zero. I am sure of one more thing. If we continue to fight, more Americans will die and the wars are bankrupting us.

I doubt that we will get out of either war until large numbers of Americans are marching in the streets demanding that we leave. Since there is not a draft and the burden is being born by a small number of regular service persons, reservists and National Guards, we will not get out for a long time.

I hope that some day G.W. Bush and his cronies go to the Hague. He and his cronies lied us into this mess.

It's not a pretty picture.

-9 # paperpushermj 2010-05-19 14:38

Don
OK- I understand you emerged from your bunker and you do not know what is going on. So here goes. The United States is involved in a shooting war with radical Islamist who have brought death and destruction to americans around the world. At the heart of there religious war is that we do not worship at the feet of their god. No time for more. Googling 9/11/2001

+5 # Guest 2010-05-19 16:25

Quoting

Don
OK- I understand you emerged from your bunker and you do not know what is going on. So here goes. The United States is involved in a shooting war with radical Islamist who have brought death and destruction to americans around the world. At the heart of there religious war is that we do not worship at the feet of their god. No time for more. Googling 9/11/2001

Oh please. Radical Islam didn't become a problem until Radical American Imperialism became a problem. When are you going to quit using radical Islam as an excuse to commit global terrorism against Islam?...which, in case you didn't know it, happens to be as tame as Christianity is when left alone.

And haven't you heard yet? We've been bringing death and destruction to people all over the earth for a long time, especially when it comes to stealing the resources that belong to others, all in the name of "national security". I dare say we make "their" terrorism look tame.

-5 # paperpushermj 2010-05-19 18:31

Fletcher: I see you are a high achiever in the blame America First crowd. It's a shame there is no alternate reality world with out a United States of America, so you and your ilk would learn first hand what this country has meant for Human Kind. To bad.

+3 # Guest 2010-05-19 20:27

Quoting

Fletcher: I see you are a high achiever in the blame America First crowd. It's a shame there is no alternate reality world with out a United States of America, so you and your ilk would learn first hand what this country has meant for Human Kind. To bad.

Me? Blame America first? Give me a break! I blame YOU and people like you who believe that because we are America, we should be held to a different and more lenient standard. Far from it. Because we ARE America, we should be held to the very highest standards that can possibly be devised. We are capable of meeting these but people like YOU won't aspire to them.
The world could live without an imperial United States, should live without one, and rest assured, this will be corrected in time, if not by our own hand, by those of others. To bad for YOU. Your hubris blinds you to the FACT that our days as a great nation are over. Our greatness has already died and you're too numb to see it. Too bad indeed.

+3 # Guest 2010-05-19 22:25

No doubt it would be far, far better world. Too bad that you live in your little fantasy world where the United States of America can behave overseas like any banana republic dictator and have the insane belief that it is some how better than everyone else. By every measure, it isn't and it isn't about to be.

+5 # johncorye 2010-05-20 00:17

Quoting

Fletcher: I see you are a high achiever in the blame America First crowd. It's a shame there is no alternate reality world with out a United States of America, so you and your ilk would learn first hand what this country has meant for Human Kind. To bad.

Perhaps while you are Googling you might look for America and the United Fruit Company in Guatemala in the 1950's - originating the term "banana republic" -- or perhaps US overthrows democratically elected government of Iran in 1953 -- or US support of Israeli anti-Palestinian polices cause unrest in Middle East - or Reagan's fiasco in Beirut followed the criminal conspiracy of Iran-Contra and the lasting negative effects there and then perhaps you would be willing to rethink what this country has meant for Human Kind. For all the good we do accomplish - there is much blowback for our sins. Just a thought.

-2 # paperpushermj 2010-05-20 19:21

And as Oriana Fallaci warned before her death: "The hate for the West swells like a fire fed by the wind. The clash between us and them is not a military one. It is a cultural one, a religious one, and the worst is still to come."

+1 # Guest 2010-05-20 21:14

Quoting

And as Oriana Fallaci warned before her death: "The hate for the West swells like a fire fed by the wind. The clash between us and them is not a military one. It is a cultural one, a religious one, and the worst is still to come."

I quite agree. The worst is still to come when you pit our military industrial complex and our religious zealots against 12th century Islamic zealots who hate us because we immorally occupy their land and prop up repressive regimes for the sake of stealing their resources.
In the end though, I don't think they would be nearly as hostile to our culture if our culture would leave theirs alone. I mean, I doubt they invest much in prostelatizing us to convert to their faith, no matter what you hear. Frankly, I think they're tired of being bullied by us and would just as soon be left alone. It's not like they're trying to steal our resources like we steal theirs.

+3 # Guest 2010-05-20 08:40

I guarantee you: No Americans would be killed in Afghanistan if no Americans were stationed in Afghanistan. Duh!

-1 # paperpushermj 2010-05-20 18:37

How many Americans where in Afghanistan on 9/10/2001?

0 # Guest 2010-05-20 21:21

Quoting

How many Americans where in Afghanistan on 9/10/2001?

How many Afghani's were in America on 9/10/01? Seems to me, bin Laden, a Saudi, recruited mostly Saudi's, a Jordanian and another middle eastern national not from Afghanistan, so what's the point here?

Seems to me Afghanistan was splattered because Al Qaida was hiding out in their mountains near the Pakistani boarder. We let bin Laden get away. Too bad for Afghanistan since 9/11 was not their fault.

And how many Al Qaida members were in Iraq before our invasion? Answer: zero
How many after our invasion? Answer: Innumerable and growing like weeds thanks to our serving as primary recruitment incentive.

+3 # Guest 2010-05-19 13:18

Nice? I wouldn't use that adjective for our, or any, body count

+6 # Guest 2010-05-19 13:34

It's very sad to realize that no one seems to be keeping track of our perpetual wars any more, except the one-thousand families who have sacrificed. I know, I know, "We fight them there so we don't fight them here." That's a poor excuse for perpetual war.

+4 # Guest 2010-05-19 14:35

Dear Rock

The Pentagon is running this country and running it into the ground. The Pentagon has plans to rule the world. We will end up the way Germany did after World War II.

Incidentally, an outfit gets to add a pennant to its flag after each major battle. We are up over 200 pennants authorized now.

Billy Que

+6 # Guest 2010-05-19 14:58

Population of USA > 330,000,000
Dead in Afghanistan: 1,000
Population of Canada > 33,000,000
Dead in Afghanistan: 140

50% more Canadian dead per capita population. Our Prime Minister's an idiot for sucking up to Bush.

+4 # Guest 2010-05-19 20:48

A week or so ago I was watching an old Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was just home from fighting in Afghanistan. I cannot help but wonder home many of us here know anything about the history of all the wars in Afghanistan; know anything about the people or the culture of Afghanistan? The same question holds as true for Iraq, just as it did for Viet Nam. War is a failure of diplomacy, of communication; a failure of connection. Endless war is insanity. Bring them home, all of them, and learn the power of words to communicate across cultures. Endless war is simply endless failure on all fronts, especially on the battlefronts that we will never be able to satiate the blood lust of. Endless war is endless insanity.

+1 # Guest 2010-05-21 13:32

1970 I was 7 months, most in Kabul to film the buzkashi. Afghans, with their music, birds, kites, lush orchards, were sweet, poor, proud and liked US. A popular king, women without burkhas, hashish from a 7th generation farmer who served tea and poetry. Never saw a poppy field, knew of Chinese heroin. So, Nixon began attack on hashish, '73 coup deposed the king, civil war began, ‘79 USSR invaded -US armed the Taliban mujahadeen. The Russians withdrew. Civil war and a long terrible drought. Early '01 Taliban asked "aid for starving children" or they'd blow up the Bamiyan Buddha. We did nothing. Extremists stronger, people suffered. When we liberated Kabul, Afghans flew outlawed kites, dug up music instruments, and told the world how they saved forbidden art. Then we abandoned them again. Now they hate us. I'm disgusted by our military industry power, greedy sleezy corporate capitalism, its enablers, deranged and ignorant blowhards. I'm mourning the loss of Afghanistan, US ideals, Nature, hope.

+1 # Guest 2010-05-21 19:00

I can guarantee you that one solution in reducing major violence in the world today would be if the U.S. were to vanish tomorrow from this earth along with all of its military forces. I don't say that violence would disappear altogether, but it would be reduced tremendously. The U.S. arms most of the world with weapons. We are the major reason why the people of various countries have small arms weapons to fight each other. And, if no one was attempting to make war against other countries for control of their natural resources, as the U.S. has been doing for decades & continues to do, most of the violence would be local & not international. Our interest in Iran has nothing to do with their nuclear energy program, but with control of the 3rd largest energy reserves in the world. Iran could guarantee that all of its uranium is being processed by a friendly nation, but that won't stop Hillary & Obama from attempting regime change or an all out invasion of the country.

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