Victory on the Iraqi Front! Some have declared the war over for a while now, but ZombieTime has declared today to be the victory celebration. Hurrah!
Some other claims (or near-claims) of victory:
- Bartle Bull, The Sunday Times (London, England), Sep. 30, 2007.
- Andrew Bolt, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), Nov. 2, 2007.
- Michael Yon, www.michaelyon-online.com, Jul. 14, 2008. (Michael Yon is a journalist who has been embedded in Iraq on several occasions with both American and British forces.)
- Alan Caruba, Canada Free Press (Toronto, Ontario), Jul. 23, 2008
- Robert Burns, Associated Press (via the Wenatchee World, Wenatchee, Washington), Jul. 26, 2008
- Bing West, Wall Street Journal (New York, New York), Aug. 12, 2008
And, of course, the Instapundit post that has inspired VI Day.
So, celebrate in any way you see fit, including thanking any Iraq veterans you run into — they’ve earned it!
Victory in Iraq Day: November 22, 2008
ZombieTime.com is declaring Saturday “Victory in Iraq Day” and lots of bloggers are joining in. I’ve been a supporter of our efforts in Iraq since the beginning, and it’s amazing to think that it’s now possible to think of declaring victory.
Opponents of the War in Iraq quite often bring up the number of U.S. casualties suffered, which, according to the New York Times, is up to 1,069. This number is accepted as a huge number of deaths to suffer, and for what? No weapons of mass destruction have been found, and experts continue to report that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein’s government and the Sept. 11 attacks. (John Kerry adds to this with his “wrong war, wrong place, wrong time” rhetoric.)
But these opponents fail to take into account how small a number 1,069 really is in the context of war.
- General William Tecumseh Sherman lost 1,800 troops in a day in a failed attempt to get to Vicksburg during the Civil War.
- 126,000 Americans were killed in about 19 months during World War I.
- 292,000 Americans were killed a little more than three-and-a-half years during World War II.
- 44,000 Americans were killed in about three years during the Korean War.
- 59,000 Americans were classified KIA or MIA during the 11 year involvement in the Vietnam War.
And while the loss of 1,069 Americans in this way is tragic, 17,013 people were killed in the US in 2004 in alcohol-related driving fatalities. 502,000 American die each year because of coronary heart disease. You can go on and on with these statistics.
We honor the sacrifice of these 1,069 (and those who follow) who gave their lives in the cause of freedom. But to say that there is a huge number of casualties, or that their sacrifice is not worth it, is completely wrong.