Today, John Kerry wrote, "Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work" (
Two Deadlines and an Exit,
New York Times, 4/5/6).
In a press conference last month, Bush refused to give a reporter a straight answer about whether there will, "come a day when there will be no more American forces in Iraq." Bush said, "That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future Presidents and future governments of Iraq." When pressed on this point, Bush could only say that plans for withdrawal by the end of his term would amount to a "timetable."
This morning, Scotty
reiterated Bush's stubborn arrogance by saying, "we are continuing to keep our focus on the strategy for victory that the President has outlined" ("White House Rejects Kerry Op Ed Call for Iraq Pullout,"
Editor and Publisher, 4/5/6).
Forget that this "strategy for victory" has been, and continues to be, a complete failure. Forget that the strategy seems to be based entirely on public relations and blaming the media for withholding "good news." Forget that military leaders have said we wont win militarily--the only way to win is through politics. Forget all that.
Forget reality: Bush is a stubborn, arrogant bastard. He's got a strategy that wont work, and he's sticking to it.
Which brings me full circle to what Kerry wrote this morning:
Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work.
Let's do the numbers.
Since the "end of major combat operations," the lowest fatality rate among coalition forces in a single month was 0.79/day (Feb. 2004). The highest was 4.7/day (Nov. 2004) and the average has been 2.29/day. It will be another 1020 days before a "future President" has the opportunity to do what Bush has been unable and unwilling to do.
Crudely multiplying these numbers together, it looks like we can expect somewhere between ~800 and ~4800 more military deaths before Bush leaves office. And if the fatality rate continues to follow the average, we are looking at another ~2335 killed before Bush goes back to Crawford.
To-date, there have been 2552 military fatalities in Iraq (2344 of those were U.S.) Assuming things don't significantly improve in Iraq, we can expect roughly that many more will die--another 2340 lives lost and families devastated--before a future President can begin to correct Bush's mistakes.
That's really all I have to say. It's not much, but it's what's been on my mind recently. Take from it what you will. I personally find it all quite shocking and profoundly sad. (Note: this diary was once a comment.)