December
22, 2006: While about three thousand U.S. troops have died in Iraq since 2003,
only about 300 have died in Afghanistan, since 2001. That includes 35 percent
of the fatalities that were from non-combat causes. Elsewhere in the war on
terror (Guantanamo Bay, Djibouti, Eritrea, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan,
Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Yemen) there have been
61 deaths (including four CIA agents) since 2001, but only two of these were
the result of hostile action. .
Afghanistan
is a very different war, compared to Iraq. For one thing, there are seven times
as many American troops in Iraq, and the tempo of combat is heavier as well.
But the main difference is fewer troops. There are also fewer hostiles in
Afghanistan, and the Taliban are not as well trained as the opposition in Iraq.
Most of the mayhem in Iraq is organized and carried out by thousands of secret
police veterans of Saddams government. The Taliban were never much more than
tribal militias, and remain a primitive and less effective force than their
Iraqi counterparts.
The
differences between Iraq and Afghanistan, and the growth of Iraqi security
forces (police and army) to over 300,000 troops (compared to about 100,000 in
Afghanistan, a nation with the same size population), make it seem a reasonable
proposition that if the United States just told the Iraqis to take care of
Saddam's people themselves and pulled most Americans out, there would be a lot
fewer U.S. casualties. The problem with that, and few politicians want to
discuss this angle, is that, with American troops gone, the Sunni Arab minority
in Iraq would be attacked, and the survivors driven out of the country. This is
already happening, in slow motion (about a third of the Sunni Arabs are already
dead or in exile). The Sunni Arabs have been earning this kind of retribution
for decades, as they slaughtered, starved and tortured the Kurds and Shia Arabs
(who comprise 80 percent of the population.) It's one of those things the rest
of the world simply condemned, and did nothing about. It's an ugly situation,
which would be a lot uglier if there weren't so many American troops in the
area.
