‘Charlie, in early 1942, Americans had a much better chance of dying via car crash, shower slip ‘n fall, cancer, heart disease, etc. than at the hands of the German, Japanese, and Italians.’
As was the case in 1943, 1944, and 1945.
But somehow, talking about mortality rates and causes probably strays a bit too close to empirical reality for many posters here to accept.
Now of course, if 10% of your population dies or is wounded at the hands of Americans, Russians, British, and your own governement, etc., you might develop the idea that war, especially war fought for ideological and resource grabbing reasons, is not only criminal, as established in a massive tribunal after that war has been lost, but stupid.
You might even draw the conclusion that war is the worst alternative, and instead start to follow the example of a society which was founded on the idea of liberty, law, and which studiously avoided the evils of such things as a standing military or the use of torture.
And maybe, a generation or two down the road, you would realize that this was the right choice, and you would sadly wonder what had gone wrong in the society which had seemed to offer a better model of how to exist, even with its flaws.
Worse, you might wonder, after what had been done by your parents and grandparents, you are now being faulted for not participating in a war of occupation in a country which has little in the way of love for it occupiers, but lots and lots of oil.
Nonetheless, regardless of the screaming nightmares which seem to infect the minds of those who have little experience of what war really means, it seems as if a nation with true experience of war on a scale which makes islamo-whatever seem like a joke refuses to compromise it principles.
Sad to see that the U.S. has thrown away centuries of its principles because some people think their nightmares are real. Worse, by using torture, the nightmares are increasingly based on the fantasies of the tortured, who simply scream out whatever it takes to stop the torture.
