All We Are Saying

Okay. Time for a little arithmetic. Let’s tot up some numbers. Sort of like Spring Training for April 15. Only these are about costs of war. They’re all negative.


American Casualties:  Afghanistan 2001 - Present
                                 1,894 Dead, 14,342 Wounded
                                 Iraq  2003 - Present
                                 4,485 Dead  32,200 Wounded

Financial Costs:         Afghanistan  
                                 Operations  NA    Covert Ops NA
                                 Iraq
                                 Operattions  NA   Covert Ops NA
Note:                         NA means not available.  It probably
                                 should read NAE, meaning not avail-
                                 able ever.

There are no totals of Afghani civilian and combatant losses due to the guerrilla-like nature of combat between the Taliban/AlQuida and whatever Afghani government forces oppose them. And, of course, the fighting has not ceased. Public records are sparse, and there is little expectation of improvement. One estimate that is perhaps credible puts the number of displaced persons in Afghanistan at 37,208.

Current figures place the number of Iraqi civilian and combatant deaths at 102,000.

What has all the carnage gained us? After American forces left Iraq under cover of darkness one night in July, we maintained our presence in the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a fortress encompassing 104 acres from which most American occupants find it too dangerous to stray. It is the most expensive U.S. embassy ever built, and reportedly costs $6 billion dollars a year to maintain.

And what do you suppose it costs to maintain two fleets of the U.S. Navy, one patrolling the Mediterranean, the other plying the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf? What about air bases on the Horn of Africa, and in an arc around the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula? We garrison ground troops in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and who knows where else, all charged on the american [government] express.

Well, we succeeded in hanging one dictator, assassinating the chief Al Qeada terrorist, and watched while another dictator was run aground and killed by his opposition. And we secured, at least for now, American oil interests in the region. That, after all, was the whole point.

We still don’t know what to do about Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, or Lebanon. But we wait, hat in hand, for permission to accompany Israel in its looming pre-emptive war on Iran, which an Israeli journalist told the New York Times will happen in 2012. There’s some irony here. The only state in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons wants the U.S., which started the whole nuclear business, to join it in risking nuclear war to prevent a rival from attaining nuclear capability.

A song from the Viet Nam War asked, “When will we ever learn?’

Perhaps the answer is, now. Perhaps the most promising revolution of the 21st Century will prove to be the revolution in the world’s ability to communicate. When people around the planet can see each other and hear each other’s music and speak with each other by means and in ways that ordinary people could not imagine only a few years ago, we can’t help but learn.

We already know that so many people around the world need the basics; food, clothing, shelter, and medical service.

We already know that nearly as many need a government of the people, not a tyrant backed by military force.

Most of all, the people of the world need peace. That certainly includes the people of the dear old USA

Can we, here in what has long been considered the citadel of freedom, pause in our mad scramble to achieve the American Dream long enough to envision world peace? Or is the mere thought nothing more than hopeless naivete? Head in the clouds idealism?

Of course world peace is an ideal. But so is American democracy. A hundred forty-nine years ago, at Gettysburg,  A. Lincoln spelled it out when he said, “Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing to see whether that nation, or any other nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.”

We are still testing, still struggling. But the promise validates the struggle. Our country is still the hope of the world.

The goal of world peace is even more distant. The realization of it almost impossible to imagine. But, however naïve and idealistic, there is no worthier ambition.

The eloquence of John Lennon echoes, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”























Afghanistan Iraq Aghanistan Iraq



2001- present 2003-present 2001-present 2003-present



1,894 dead 4,485 dead Field Operations NA Field Operations NA

14,342 wounded 32,200 wounded Covert Ops NA Covert Ops NA



There are no totals of Afghani civilian and combatant losses due to the guerrilla-like nature of combat between the Taliban and whatever Afghani government forces oppose them. And, of course, the fighting has not ceased. Public records are sparse,

and there is little expectation of improvement. One estimate that is perhaps credible puts the number of displaced persons in Afghanistan at 37,208.



Current figures place the number of Iraqi civilian and combatant deaths at 102,000.



What has all the carnage gained us? After American forces left Iraq under cover of darkness one night in July, we maintained our presence in the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a fortress encompassing 104 acres from which most American occupants find it too dangerous to stray. It is the most expensive U.S. embassy ever built, and reportedly costs $6 billion dollars a year to maintain.



And what do you suppose it costs to maintain two fleets of the U.S. Navy, one patrolling the Mediterranean, the other plying the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf? What about air bases on the Horn of Africa, and in an arc around the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula? We garrison ground troops in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and who knows where else, all charged on the american [government] express.



Well, we succeeded in hanging one dictator, assassinating the chief Taliban terrorist, and watched while another dictator was run aground and killed by his opposition. And we secured, at least for now, American oil interests in the region. That, after all, was the whole point.



We still don’t know what to do about Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, or Lebanon. But we wait, hat in hand, for permission to accompany Israel in its looming pre-emptive war on Iran, which an Israeli journalist told the New York Times will happen in 2012. There’s some irony here. The only state in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons wants the U.S., which started the whole nuclear business, to join it in risking nuclear war to prevent a rival from attaining nuclear capability.



A song from the Viet Nam War asked, “When will we ever learn?’



Perhaps the answer is, now. Perhaps the most promising revolution of the 21st Century will prove to be the revolution in the world’s ability to communicate. When people around the planet can see each other and hear each other’s music and speak with each other by means and in ways that ordinary people could not imagine only a few years ago,

we can’t help but learn.



We already know that so many people around the world need the basics; food, clothing,

shelter, and medical service.



We already know that an equal number need a government of the people, not a tyrant backed by military force.



Most of all, the people of the world need peace. That certainly includes the people of the

dear old USA



Can we, here in what has long been considered the citadel of freedom, pause in our mad scramble to achieve the American Dream long enough to envision world peace? Or is the mere thought nothing more than hopeless naivete? Head in the clouds idealism?



Of course, world peace is an ideal. But so is American democracy. A hundred forty-nine years ago, at Gettysburg, A. Lincoln spelled it out when he said, “Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing to see whether that nation, or any other nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.”



We are still testing, still struggling. But the promise validates the struggle. Our country is still the hope of the world.



The goal of world peace is even more distant. The realization of it almost impossible to imagine. And, however naïve and idealistic, there is no worthier ambition.



The eloquence oft John Lennon echoes, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”