THE UNSPEAKABLE TRUTH: U.S. Troop deaths in Iraq 'wasted lives'.?

Question

A recent editorial called 'The Unspeakable Truth' looked at four truths about the Iraq War.

The article received a lot of discussion tonight on CNN. I think if you google 'The Unpeakable Truth', you can probably find the article.

One of the four truths was something like this:

"U.S. troop deaths are wasted lives"

Do you agree wih this?

If you believe that the war was a mistake to begin with, then I guess these are all people who did not have to die. If you lose something that never had to be parted with in the first place, then that thing is wasted, isn't it?

The author of the article was asked if he thought it was insulting to say that the troops who died are wasted lives. He responded by saying that it wa a greater insult to continue using rhetoric to try and say that the soldiers died for a great cause.

Its a touchy subject, and I am not sure if I agree or disagree.

What do you think?

Actually, the article is called The Four Unspeakable Truths.

Here is the link:

http://www.slate.com/id/2161385/

It is really worth checking out.

I think that the issue of whether or not U.S. troop deaths are 'wasted lives' is a debate that is worth having for the country. On one hand, when you say that these are wated lives, people tend to respond by saying "these are human beings, how can you say that!?". On the other hand, that is exactly the poing: These ARE human beings, and maybe they never had to die.

Answer 1

I not only felt the war was a mistake from the beginning, I believe it was criminal.

Seriously, think about it. Al Qaeda was not in Iraq but they are now... they came after we did. We literally took a country that was no threat to us, turned it upside down and cost 100,000s of Iraqi lives...

Answer 2

Just because you dont agree with the war doesnt mean lives taken from it are a waste. Lets look back in history. Does why we or others got involved in a war necc matter in history? Or is it just the outcome that ends up really mattering in the end. We dont know the outcome of this war so how can anyone claim it was a waste. If in 10 years Iraq is a stable freer democracy and strong ally of the US in the mid east helping to curb terrorists, can you call it a waste? It is too soon to predict how this war will really play out.

Does it matter that France was only helping us in the Rev war to stick it to the British? Do we care about the why or the results?

It is soooo early to judge what the results of this war will truly bring about. We are all so about instant gratification nowadays that if we dont get what we want within a very short time then we cry foul and claim its not worth it.

I truly worry about what will happen if the US truly had to fight another world war type war. Look at the whining and the retreating over a couple thous deaths, not saying their lives arent worth anything, but in the scope of history, this war really has had very few casualties. Our country better toughen up and remember how important it can be to fight for something or we might be in big trouble later.

Answer 3

I don't really agree with the idea that U.S. Troops are over in Iraq in the first place. If we were given all the facts before we first went into Iraq, I don't think we ever would have gone into Iraq. What we have now is men and women shot, blown up or whatever (killed) for no reason. We aren't winning-we will not win. The Iraqis don't want to expend themselves to learn how to defend their country, so we probably will be there for sometime until that's figured out. The whole thing is resources & lives we are throwing away for no good reason. It is not a dieing for a great cause because we will never win, there will always be war in Iraq and we will always be there fighting the Iraqis battles.(this is my opinion for what its not worth)

Answer 4

Here is how I see it. We went into the the war with false pretenses. There couldn't have been a better time to get us to agree with a war this was not to long after 9 11. Americans felt they neeeded vengance for the loss of lifes. But look what that brought us more lost lives. less then 1 percent of Iraqis even want us in Iraq. Now everday you hear about people dying or helicopters being shot down. We have lost over 3000 men and billions of dollars. Its not only american lives being lost though it is estimated that over 600000 Iraqi civilliams have died. For what. The root of all evil MONEY who does this war benifit the most BUSH who is actually getting money from the war BUSH and who is paying the cost of the war NOT BUSH who is losing family members in the war NOT BUSH. I know not all people are going to agree with me and i know there will be some person who tries to prove me wrong with some statistics but if you look this up you will be suprised with what you find. So no I definitly do not agree with this war but you will never hear me talk bad about the soldiers that are fighting for us. They still deserve more respect than anybody in america. but here is what i say let bush fight his own wars he once said that "I do not beileve that US troops should be used for whats called nation rebuilding" that makes me think then what the hell are we still over there for??????????????? his subjects drives me crazy anymore lol. I just finished a 8 page research paper on this.

Answer 5

Speaking about it is like a Catch 22, but maybe it's best to say that they died believing that they were fighting for a just cause. I just wouldn't want to live in the conscience of George Bush or Dick Cheney, but then again I have come to believe that neither has a conscience.

Answer 6

The author is entitled to his opinion. His view point reflects his anti-war philosophy.

Whether of not the lives are "wasted" depends entirely on the out come of the war - and presently, no one can know that.

I believe if we leave before the job is finished - then, yes, they are truly wasted - and, worse, a victory against the United States will inevitably embolden the Islamic radicals and strengthen their resolve to continue on with their agenda of terror and indiscriminate murder.
If we are victorious in our objectives in setting up a democracy in the Middle East, then, no - the campaign will go a long way in stabilizing this volatile region.

Answer 7

Since I was there,in desert storm,and my son is in baghdad now,I think I am qualified to answer your question.
FACT #1 MORE soldiers died per year accidentally under the carter administration in PEACEtime than have died per year in Iraq.

FACT #2 Thjere WERE and ARE weapons of mass destruction in Iraq...I WAS THERE and helped destroy some of them.

Fact #3 Hussein murdered nearly a million people and by stopping him,we have saved hundreds of thousands of Iraqui lives.If you believe CNNs photo-shopped photos (yes,they already admitted faking the photos...) and the 1 sided socialist 'news reports' then you are a fool,plain and simple.We are happy and proud to serve in 'Bush's war' and I will be proud to give my life if necessary...IT IS THAT IMPORTANT !

signed SSGT, US Marines

Answer 8

I hate to say wasted lives. It's more like totally & utterly misused lives. I think even Bush now knows that he should never have invaded Iraq but if the civil war had never erupted once Saddam was captured I think the whole war would have been considered worth it. But unfortunalty that didn't happen & now US troops are stuck in a quagmire that will never end unless they leave Iraq. But the worse thing about the war is that it probably has produced more terrorists than it killed.

Answer 9

I guess the question boils down to whether you think getting jumped by every Islamic nutjob that wants to kill infidels is ok or not.

I don't.. and so I don't believe their lives were wasted. There are many valid reasons, but perhaps the most important is that if Islam is ever going to learn to coexist with the rest of the world.. it is going to have to be watered down with a bit of secularism. Which usually comes via a democratic, free society.

Answer 10

I wonder when I hear this type of talk. The news media loves to cause conflict so that they can sell more news.
Yet I wonder if they would want the fighting in their plants, TV stations in the U.S.?
Or maybe to news sake, more 9/11s, they loved the news of all the deaths of people here.
I hate the fact that we lose life of solders in foreign lands, but I think it better to fight it there than here.