Last Wednesday Moscow News somberly noted the 17th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the course of the ten-year war, more than 14,600 Soviet soldiers died and some 50,000 were wounded. Since the US entered Afghanistan in 2001, 276 American soldiers have died. The scope of the US presence in Afghanistan is, of course, different from the Soviet Union’s aspirations there; and it should be kept in mind that much, if not most, of Afghanistan lies outside the control of the central Afghan government. The “war” goes on, as a sort of low-grade fever— “regime propping,” if you will.
It’s the Iraq war that more closely resembles the Soviet debacle in Afghanistan. According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, 2,270 Americans have lost their lives in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003; the number of wounded has reached 16,653. How does one interpret these numbers? One cannot. In an odd change of direction, the Tribune goes on to list vehicle “casualties”: 20 M1 Abrams tanks lost, 50 Bradley fighting vehicles, 250 Humvees, etc. There’s a point to be made, but it’s a dull one. Yes, stuff gets destroyed in war. The Tribune eventually circles back to the human toll (that is to say, the toll on US soldiers), and rightly so:
Equipment can be repaired or replaced. But nothing can replace a father or mother who has been killed in this war, or any war. Nothing can compensate for all the lives shattered when a soldier dies in combat. In Iraq it is estimated that the human toll includes nearly 1,000 spouses who have been left behind, alone, and more than 2,000 children who have lost a parent to the war.
Nor can you repair or replace what has been lost by hundreds of soldiers severely injured by powerful IED blasts and left double or triple amputees, blind or brain damaged, riddled by shrapnel. For them, and those who love them, life suddenly has become an unending struggle.
Remember them.
And remember the 30,000 (est.) Iraqi civilians killed so far. Does anyone know how many have been maimed? Is the ratio of wounds to deaths similar to that for US soldiers (~7:1)? That would be 210,000 Iraqi civilians injured by the war to date. Even if the number is far less, it’s astounding. And if the US strategy continues in the direction of an “air war,” things can only get worse for ordinary Iraqis.
