Numbers

“Just a number” said White House Press Secretary Tony Snow as the United States recorded its 2,500th death in Iraq. That phrase has ricocheted in my head for about 24 hours, like shrapnel that just won’t come to rest. I can’t think of a more contemptuous statement about American servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq, except maybe to say that they look forward to killing Iraqis (not true by any means). More than anything else, Snow’s dismissive words reflect the lack of any real feeling for the men and women BushCheney has sent to war.

Here is another little noted difference between Iraq and Vietnam. BushCheney and his minions display no grief or feeling toward the casualties they have caused. Whatever his other faults, I think Lyndon Johnson felt the pain of soldiers’ deaths; he regularly reviewed casualty reports and wept openly when talking about them with others. For this administration, casualties are “numbers”, the cost of doing business.

I take it personally. Had I been killed in Vietnam, I would have been among the 2,357 who died there in 1971. That would put me somewhere between numbers 53,841 and 56,198, (probably toward the lower end of the range since I was company clerk and relatively safe during the last half of my tour). However little my service contributed to America’s security, I don’t think my family and friends would have appreciated a Tony Snow glossing over my death as a statistic.

Fortunately, I didn’t die but others did. While I knew only a few of them, they were all individuals whose lives were lost in a pointless war that had nothing to do with America’s security. Just like Iraq . Remember too, that 1971 was the year American forces significantly withdrew from Vietnam. My commander welcomed me and the other newbies to Alpha Company with the greeting that “none of us should be among the last to die in Vietnam.” Despite the sentiment, almost 2,400 Americans died that year. Lost lives not numbers.

So Tony Snow’s words and the attitudes they reflect bother me immensely. I am no longer at risk but others are and a large part of me is there with them. I won’t die in Iraq but I understand what it means to risk life and limb for my country. I expect the leaders who put these men and women in harm’s way to show them far more respect.