On July 9, 2005, I attached the following prefatory remarks to a shocking Op-Ed piece in the NYTimes by Robert Pape about terrorism and terrorists today:
Strange Bedfellows
I cannot get the image of W holding hands with the Saudi prince out of my mind. Would Churchill have embraced Hitler? Would FDR have held hands with Hirohito? I am ashamed. More than 15,000 of our volunteer troops have died in Iraq. The vast majority of the insurgent enemy in Iraq are not Iraqis. The vast majority of insurgents (and terrorists) are Saudis. That's right. Citizens of the kingdom whose leader W holds by the hand at the Crawford ranch. Excuse me while I go vomit. The Big Lie is alive and well and it can be found in the bullshit (See the book that has been on the NYTimes bestseller list for 16 weeks: On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt.) that W and his cronies spout. If this is the (fair & balanced) truth, so be it.
A kind reader sent me e-mail and told me:
Neil,
In your Blog on July 10, in your preface to the article "Strange Bedfellows" you state the following ". . .More than 15,000 of our volunteer troops have died in Iraq. . ."
I believe that you have one too many zeroes. The number is over 1,500 American troops have died. Hell, if it were 15,000 the University of Wisconsin would have radicals blowing up research buildings like in 1970. . . !
My chum in WI is exactly correct. According to CNN, the number of dead in W's Folly (aka Rummyworld, thanks to Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury") is now 1,943 coalition troop deaths, 1,755 Americans, 90 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Dane, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 25 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of July 12, 2005. The Iraqi civilian casualty estimates range from 22,000+ to 25,000+ and WE ARE NO SAFER TODAY THAN WE WERE WHEN THE TROOPS WENT IN.
Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves regrets the error; 1500 U.S. casualties, not 15,000. Perhaps the rage induced by the thought of W holding hands with the leader of the REAL source of terrorists and terrorism created a horrible premonition of the 15,000th coffin passing through DOver AFB for burial in the States. If this is (fair & balanced) righteous anger, so be it.
