In the “Body Count” Stage

In reading Lew’s wonderful piece today on the dead in Iraq, I am reminded of what a friend who served as a medic in Vietname said to me about the state of the war when he started serving in 1969. He said that by then, “the war had deteriorated to giving the ‘enemy’ body count.”

Indeed, that is what we see today. After a clash with the “insurgents,” we read accounts of how many of them were killed. In other words, we are back to “body count” again. The idea is that if Americans read that “30 enemy were killed” in a firefight somewhere in Iraq and read it enough, that they will interpret all of that as a sign that “we are winning” the war.

Yes, the neo-cons (emphasis on “cons”) insist that “Iraq is not Vietnam.” However, we see many of the same patterns. Lessons? We don’t need no stinkin’ lessons!

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6:01 am on June 21, 2006