It is very disturbing that 1,432 U.S.
soldiers and marines have been killed in Iraq as of February 3, 2005, because that's an average of 747
killed per year (or two deaths per day); however, most of America's major wars have been far more
bloody. In Vietnam (1963-1973), for example, official Pentagon figures list 58,169 Americans killed in
action. That's an average of 5,817 soldiers killed each year of that war which lasted from 1963 to
1973. In other words, the death toll in Vietnam was 78 times greater than the war in Iraq, at least, so
far. If we continue to lose soldiers at the current rate in Iraq, it would take another 76 years for us to
equal the death toll of Vietnam. But Vietnam was nothing compared to World War Two (1941-1945)
which actually shed about five or six times more blood. In that war against Germany and Japan we
lost a total of 298,964 soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines. We would have to keep fighting in Iraq
for about 400 years more to equal the total battle deaths of World War Two. The bloodiest of
America's wars, however, was the Civil War of 1861-1865, and the casualties in that conflict stagger
the imagination. Official figures show that 508,092 Americans died in that war; that's 139,564 deaths
per year (or 382 deaths per day) during the four years that war lasted. We are averaging two battle
deaths per day in Iraq, so we would have to keep losing troops at that rate in Iraq for another
678 years -- that's right, 678 years! -- before we would lose as many troops as we lost in the Civil
War. If such a lengthy war were going on today, it would have started back before Chaucer was even born! Of course it is sad when any American soldier dies, but compared to our other wars the present
war in Iraq is not a very bloody war.
