Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Now the number is a selling point:After years of avoiding talk of the number of casualties in Iraq, Bush says this on Independence Day: (To a military audience at Fort Bragg) I'm going to make you this promise: I'm not going to allow the sacrifice of 2,527 troops who have died in Iraq to be in vain by pulling out before the job is done.
posted by Quiddity at 7/04/2006 11:03:00 AM
8 comments
Sure he uses the number to advance his cause, but so do you.
Well, to me, the number means something. 2,527 mothers, 2,527 fathers, 2,527 husbands and wives and brothers and sisters.
To Bush, the number might as well be the combination to his briefcase.
That's Bush being tricky. If we left now, would WMD's suddenly appear? Would Saddam get back into power? What would leaving undo? Of course, there's concern the government wouldn't support itself, but there's different ways of leaving. There's leaving South Vietnam (AKA "pull carpet out from under them") and leaving, say, the Phillipines. Not that that's an exact parallel, but you can withdraw most troops, leave some supporting the government in a few bases, and have a plan for withdrawing those remaining.
Now, Bush's plan is to just cover his butt until he leaves office.
Same as it ever was, the failure of the policy has become (for a long time now) the justification for the continuation of the policy.
OK. How about 3,527? 4,527? 10,000? How many does he want? 'Cause the number ain't going down.
Thinking like that brought us the unending slaughter of WW1.
"We lost so many, we can't quit now."
And with increased numbers there also come increased goals that have to be fulfilled in order to justify the sacrifices.
HB
See "7 Deadly Spins" by Mickey Z.
Saying the troops have to remain or else previous deaths "would have been in vain" is either number 4 or 5.
What is "the job" that needs to get "done"?
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